Professor Pat Kirkham
Faculties, deparments and locations
- Kingston School of Art
- Department of Critical and Historical Studies
- School of Creative and Cultural Industries
Professor: Design History (0.3)
- Email:
- p.kirkham@kingston.ac.uk
About
I greatly enjoy working at KU. In February 2016 I was appointed Professor of Design History with a research brief to work within MIRC and the school, and initially also to help forge links between design and film.
Following three symposia co-hosted by MIRC and Parsons/The New School, New York (two at Kingston; one in the USA), the latter project led to a co-edited scholarly anthology (Screen Interiors, 2021) and Screen and Stage (special issue of Interiors: Design. Architecture. Culture, 2019), to which KU staff contributed.
Since graduating with a degree in history and completing an interdisciplinary doctorate in history and design history, I have researched and written widely on design (including interiors and furniture), gender, and film. Before moving to Kingston, I was a Professor at the Bard Graduate Centre: Design History, Decorative Arts, Material Culture in New York and, prior to that, Professor of Design History and Cultural Studies at De Montfort University, Leicester.
Qualifications
- BA Honours History (First Class) University of Leeds
- PhD History University of London
- Certificate in French Studies, Middle Grade, University of Poitiers, France.
Domains
My main research interests are in the fields of design, film and gender. I am currently working on a book, Charles and Ray Eames and Hollywood: Design, Film and Friendships, that includes discussion of Eames films as well as Hollywood films to which they contributed in a variety of ways, as well as the ways in which their friendships with people in the US film industry brought commissions outside the film industry. Unfortunately, an exhibition I was curating on this topic scheduled for 2021 in New York was cancelled. I am preparing a book chapter on the Eames House, its interiors and its home studio for a book on models for domestic living, and am currently part of a MIRC group on a major grant application for a broad study of interiors and well being from c. 2010 to 2020/21. My KU colleague Stephen Knott and I are proposing the first critical study of home studios used for crafts (from the dining table or garage to specified spaces for making) in relation to recreation, rehabilitation, wellbeing, gender, and use. I am also working on a scholarly journal article about the biography of the Goddard House, Leicester (1954-55 - to the present). Designed by architect, Brenda Walker, who trained at Kingston School of Architecture in the 1940s before working for the Cubitt firm and Fello Atkinson, who trained at the Architectural Association (AA). Besides the biography of the building, interiors, furnishings and garden, the article will also discuss the various links between Kingston's School of Architecture, part-time KU staff who were AA trained and the Cubitt firm.
Qualifications
- Design History
- Gender Studies
- Film and Media Studies
- Craft History
- Labour History
Specialisms
- Design History
- Film and Television Studies
- Craft History
- Gender Studies
- Labour History
Scholarly affiliations
- Associate Research Fellow, Cinema and Television History Research Institute (CATHI), De Montfort University,
- Professor Emerita, Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture, New York
Publications
Interiors in the era of Covid-19 : interior design between the public and private realms
(2023). London, U.K.: (Bloomsbury)
20 iconic film posters by Saul Bass
Kirkham, Pat (2016). London, U.K.: (Laurence King Publishing)
Eva Zeisel: life, design and beauty
(2013). San Francisco, U.S.A.: (Chronicle Books)
History of design: decorative arts and material culture, 1400-2000
(2013). London, U.K.: (Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History and Material Culture: Yale University Press)
Bass, Jennifer and Kirkham, Patricia (2011). (Laurence King Publishing)
Women designers in the USA 1900-2000: diversity and difference
(2000). New Haven, USA: (Yale University Press)
The gendered object
(1996). Manchester, UK: (Manchester University Press)
Charles and Ray Eames: designers of the twentieth century
Kirkham, Pat (1995). Cambridge, USA: (MIT Press)
Me Jane: masculinity, movies and women
(1995). London, U.K.:
War culture: social change and changing experience in World War Two Britain
(1995). London, U.K.:
(1995). London, U.K.: (The Women's Press Ltd.)
You Tarzan: masculinity, movies and men
(1993). London, U.K.:
Harry Peach: Dryad and the DIA
Kirkham, Pat (1986). London, U.K.: (The Design Council)
William and John Linnell: eighteenth century London furniture makers
Hayward, Helena and Kirkham, Pat (1980). London, U.K.: (Cassell Ltd.)
Structures of feeling : contemporary research in women's film and broadcasting history
Ball, Vicky, Kirkham, Pat and Porter, Laraine, 2020, Women's History Review (29), 5, pp 759-765
Introduction
Kirkham, Pat and Lichtman, Sarah A., 2019, Interiors (10), 1-2, pp 1-6
Living in a modern way in 'The Moon is blue' (1953, Otto Preminger) : mid-century modern architecture, interiors, and furniture
Kirkham, Pat, 2019, Interiors : Design/Architecture/Culture (10), 1-2, pp 103-122
Vertigo (title sequence), Alfred Hitchcock (1958)
Kirkham, Pat, 2009, Design and culture (1), 2, pp 218-222
Humanizing modernism: the crafts, 'functioning decoration' and the Eamses
Kirkham, Pat, 1998, Journal of Design History (11), 1, pp 15-29
Dress, dance, dreams and desire: fashion and fantasy in Dance Hall
Kirkham, Pat, 1995, Journal of design history (8), 3, pp 195-214
Introducing Ray Eames (1912-1988)
Kirkham, Pat, 1990, Furniture history (26), pp 132-141
Design reform in Austria and Germany c. 1900-1914: the 'Avant Garde' and wicker furniture
Kirkham, Pat, 1987, The Journal of the Decorative Arts Society 1850 - the present (11), pp 5-9
Recollection of furniture makers: oral history, labour history and furniture studies
Kirkham, Pat, 1978, Furniture history (14), pp 23-30
"At home" with the Eameses: performance, hosting and hospitality
Kirkham, Pat (2015). In: Ince, Catharine, (eds.) and Johnson, Lotte, (eds.), The world of Charles and Ray Eames. London, U.K.:, pp 112-128
Ray Kaiser Eames
Kirkham, Pat (2015). In: McLeod, Mary, (eds.) and Rosner, Victoria, (eds.), Pioneering women of American Architecture. Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation
Eva Zeisel: design legend 1906-2011
Kirkham, Pat (2013). In: Kirkham, Pat, (ed.), Eva Zeisel: life, design and beauty. San Francisco, California: Chronicle Books LLC, pp 9-44
Latin America 1830-1900
Kirkham, Patricia, Lara-Betancourt, Patricia, Larsen, Christian. A and Perez, Jorge F. Rivas (2013). In: Kirkham, Pat, (eds.) and Weber, Susan, (eds.), History of design: decorative arts and material culture, 1400-2000. New York, U.S.A., New Haven U.S.A. and London, U.K.: Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture: Yale University Press, pp 456-463
At home with California modern, 1945-65
Kirkham, Pat (2011). In: Kaplan, Wendy, (ed.), Living in a modern way: Californian design 1930-1965. Los Angeles, U.S.: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, pp 147-177
Furniture, patterns and perfection: the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum's interiors
Kirkham, Pat and Perkins, Scott (2009). The Guggenheim: Frank Lloyd Wright and the making of the modern museum. New York, U.S.A.: Guggenheim Museum Publications, pp 111-118
New environments for modern living: 'At home with the Eameses'
Kirkham, Patricia (2009). In: Sparke, Penny, (eds.), Massey, Anne, (eds.), Keeble, Trevor, (eds.) and Martin, Brenda, (eds.), Designing the modern interior : from the Victorians to today. Oxford, U.K.: Berg, pp 171-182
Saul Bass: a life in design and film; Saul and Elaine Bass: a collaboration in film and life
Kirkham, Pat (2009). In: Aynsley, Jeremy, (eds.) and Atkinson, Harriet, (eds.), The Banham Lectures: essays on designing the future. Oxford, U.K.: Berg, pp 143-155
Keeping up home front morale: "beauty and duty" in wartime Britain
Kirkham, Pat (2005). In: Atkins, Jacqueline M., (ed.), Wearing propaganda: textiles on the home front in Japan, Britain, and the United States, 1931-1945. New Haven, Conn., USA; London, UK: Yale University Press, pp 205-227
William Morris: a life in design
Kirkham, Pat (2003). In: Waggoner, Diane, (ed.), 'The beauty of life': William Morris and the art of design. London, UK:, pp 20-31
Kirkham, Pat (2003). In: Waggoner, Diane, (ed.), 'The beauty of life': William Morris and the art of design. London, UK:, pp 32-63
Designing Hollywood: women costume and production designers
Kirkham, Pat and Landis, Deborah Nadoolman (2000). In: Kirkham, Pat, (ed.), Women designers in the USA 1900-2000: diversity and difference. New Haven, USA: Yale University Press, pp 247-267
Preface
Kirkham, Pat (2000). In: Kirkham, Pat, (ed.), Women designers in the USA 1900-2000; diversity and difference. New Haven, USA: Yale University Press, pp 14-23
"Three strikes against me": African American women designers
Kirkham, Pat and Stallworth, Shauna (2000). In: Kirkham, Pat, (ed.), Women designers in the USA 1900-2000; diversity and difference. New Haven, USA: Yale University Press, pp 123-143
Women designers in the USA 1900-2000: diversity and difference
Kirkham, Pat and Walker, Lynne (2000). In: Kirkham, Pat, (ed.), Women designers in the USA 1900-2000: diversity and difference. New Haven, USA: Yale University Press, pp 49-83
Women jewelry designers
Greenbaum, Toni and Kirkham, Pat (2000). In: Kirkham, Pat, (ed.), Women designers in the USA 1900-2000: diversity and difference. New Haven, USA: Yale University Press, pp 201-221
"A woman's place..."?: women interior designers 1900-1950
Kirkham, Pat and Sparke, Penny (2000). In: Kirkham, Pat, (ed.), Women designers in the USA 1900-2000; diversity and difference. New Haven, USA: Yale University Press, pp 305-316
Fashion, femininity and 'frivolous' consumption in World-War-Two Britain
Kirkham, Pat (1999). In: Attfield, Judy, (ed.), Utility reassessed: the role of ethics in the practice of design. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, pp 143-156
Four little women: three films and a novel
Kirkham, Pat and Warren, Sarah (1999). In: Cartmell, Deborah, (eds.) and Whelehan, Imelda, (eds.), Adaptations: from text to screen, screen to text. Oxford, U.K.: Routledge, pp 81-97
Absolutely fabulous: absolutely feminist?
Kirkham, Pat and Skeggs, Beverley (1998). In: Geraghty, Christine, (eds.) and Lusted, David, (eds.), The television studies book. London, UK: Arnold, pp 287-298
Fashioning the feminine: dress, appearance and femininity in wartime Britain
Kirkham, Pat (1996). In: Gledhill, Christine, (eds.) and Swanson, Gillian, (eds.), Nationalising femininity: culture, sexuality and British cinema in the Second World War. Manchester, U.K.: Manchester University Press, pp 152-174
Perfume: pleasure, packaging, and postmodernity
Partington, Angela (1996). In: Kirkham, Patricia, (ed.), The gendered object. Manchester, U.K.: Manchester University Press, pp 204-218
Beauty and duty: keeping up the (home) front
Kirkham, Pat (1995). In: Kirkham, Pat, (eds.) and Thoms, David, (eds.), War culture: social change and changing experience in World War Two. London, U.K.:, pp 13-28
"If you have no sons": furniture-making in Britain
Kirkham, Pat (1995). In: Attfield, Judy, (eds.) and Kirkham, Pat, (eds.), London, U.K.: The Women's Press Ltd., pp 109-130
Loving men: Frank Borzage, Charles Farrell and reconstruction of masculinity in 1920's Hollywood cinema
Kirkham, Pat (1995). In: Kirkham, Pat, (eds.) and Thumim, Janet, (eds.), Me Jane: masculinity, movies and women. London, U.K.:, pp 94-112
Me Jane
Kirkham, Pat and Thumim, Janet (1995). In: Kirkham, Pat, (eds.) and Thumim, Janet, (eds.), Me Jane: masculinity, movies and women. London, U.K.:, pp 11-35
Women and the inter-war handicrafts revival
Kirkham, Pat (1995). In: Attfield, Judy, (eds.) and Kirkham, Pat, (eds.), London, U.K.: The Women's Press Ltd., pp 174-183
The designer housewife in the 1950s
Partington, Angela (1995). In: Attfield, Judy, (eds.) and Kirkham, Patricia, (eds.), A view from the interior: women and design. London, U.K.: The Women's Press, pp 206-214
You Tarzan
Kirkham, Pat and Thumim, Janet (1993). In: Kirkham, Pat, (eds.) and Thumim, Janet, (eds.), You Tarzan: masculinity, movies and men. London, U.K.:, pp 11-26
Furniture history
Kirkham, Pat (1992). In: Conway, Hazel, (ed.), Design history: a student's handbook. London, U.K.: Routledge, pp 58-85