Professor Peter Kidson | |
---|---|
Born | 1925 |
Nationality | British |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | University of Cambridge; The Courtauld Institute of Art |
Academic work | |
Discipline | History of Art |
Sub-discipline | Medieval architecture |
Peter Kidson (23 August 1925 – 10 February 2019) was a British Emeritus Professor and Honorary Fellow at the Courtauld Institute of Art where he lectured on Medieval Architecture until 1990.[1][2][3][4][5] In his obituary in The Telegraph, he was described as “the most influential historian of medieval architecture of his generation in the English-speaking world”.[6]
Kidson spent 1943 to 1946 on a scholarship to the University of Cambridge (interrupted by WW2 when he was conscripted into the Royal Navy). He graduated in 1950 with a BA. From 1950 to 1959 he studied at the Courtauld (MA & PhD) alongside Brian Sewell. Their tutors at the Courtauld included Anthony Blunt on whom Kidson wrote a memoir for The British Academy in 2016.[1]
Kidson taught at the Courtauld, also as a visiting lecturer at Cambridge and the University of East Anglia, and as a visiting professor at the University of Victoria, British Columbia in 1972. He was appointed full lecturer at the Courtauld in 1967 where he remained until his retirement as Professor of Medieval Architecture in 1990.[1]
Upon retirement he became Emeritus Professor and Honorary Fellow of the Courtauld Institute of Art.[3]
Photographs contributed by Peter Kidson to the Conway Library are currently (2020) being digitised by the Courtauld Institute of Art, as part of the Courtauld Connects project.[8]