91Ó°ÊÓ

Chris was on the faculty of 91Ó°ÊÓ 1969-2008, and was Deputy Director, 1986-9, and 2005-7.  He is internationally recognized as a leading specialist in European and British modernist art and architecture of the 20^th Century.  Among his major publications before leaving full-time teaching in 2008 are: Cubism and its Enemies: Modern Movements and Reaction in French Art, 1916-1928 (Yale University Press,1987), winner of the Mitchell Prize for a book on 20th century art; The European Avant-gardes: Twentieth Century Art in France and Western Europe from the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection (Zwemmer, London, 1995); Art in France, 1900-1940 (Yale University Press, Pelican History of Art, London & New Haven, 2000); and Picasso: Architecture and Vertigo (Yale University Press, London & New Haven, 2005).  He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1999.

He continued teaching the M.A course ‘Art, Artists and 20^th Century Modernism in Europe: Works, Contexts, Meanings’ until 2014.  Between 1974 and 2022 he supervised sixty-four Courtauld PhD dissertations; many of his doctoral students have gone on to successful careers in museums and universities in Britain and internationally.

Before 2008, Chris was also involved in curating exhibitions, among them: Le Corbusier: Architect of the Century, Arts Council of Great Britain, Hayward Gallery, London, 1987; Juan Gris, The Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, & the Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo, 1992-3; Art Made Modern: Roger Fry’s Vision of Art, 91Ó°ÊÓ Gallery, London, 1999-2000; and Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris, Tate Modern, London, The Grand Palais, Paris, and The National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C, 2005-6.

Since 2008, Chris has continued to be involved in exhibition projects, which have included: Objetos Vivos. Figura y Naturaleza Muerta en Picasso, Museu Picasso, Barcelona (2008-9); Modern Antiquity. Picasso, Léger, Picabia, de Chirico J.Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (2011-12); Mondrian/Nicholson. In parallel, co-curated with Barnaby Wright, Courtauld Gallery, London (2012); Picasso and Modern Art in Britain, Tate Britain, London (2012); Cubism and War. The Crystal in the Flame, Museu Picasso, Barcelona (2016); and Henri Rousseau: A Painter’s Secrets and Henri Rousseau: L’ambition de la peinture, co-curated with Nancy Ireson and Juliette Degennes, The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia and the Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris (2025-26).

In 2018, Chris was the first Distinguished Fellow at the Leonard A.Lauder Research Center for Modern Art in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, which led to the publication of his book Cubism and Reality: Braque, Picasso, Gris (Bloomsbury, 2025), one of two finalists for the 2026 Association of American Publishers PROSE award in Art History and Criticism.  He served as a member of the Lauder Research Center’s Advisory Committee from 2018 to 2024.