Professor Pat Kirkham
Faculties, departments and locations
- Kingston School of Art
- Department of Critical and Historical Studies
- School of Creative and Cultural Industries
Professor: Design History (0.3)
- Email:
- [email protected]
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
Structures of feeling: contemporary research in women's film and broadcasting history
Kirkham, Pat, Ball, Vicky and Porter, Laraine, 2020, Women's History Review (29), 5pp 759-765, Published
Introduction
Kirkham, Pat and Lichtman, Sarah A., 2019, Interiors (10), 1-2pp 1-6, Published
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), 1-2pp 103-122, Published
Vertigo (title sequence), Alfred Hitchcock (1958)
Kirkham, Pat, 2009, Design and Culture (1), 2pp 218-222, Published
Issues in interior design history: guest editors' introduction
Aynsley, Jeremy, Kirkham, Patricia and Sparke, Penny, 2008, Studies in the Decorative Arts (16), 1pp 3-6, Published
Humanizing modernism: the crafts, 'functioning decoration' and the Eamses
Kirkham, Pat, 1998, Journal of Design History (11), 1pp 15-29, Published
Dress, dance, dreams and desire: fashion and fantasy in Dance Hall
Kirkham, Pat, 1995, Journal of Design History (8), 3pp 195-214, Published
Introducing Ray Eames (1912-1988)
Kirkham, Pat, 1990, Furniture history (26)pp 132-141, Published
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, Published
Recollection of furniture makers: oral history, labour history and furniture studies
Kirkham, Pat, 1978, Furniture history (14)pp 23-30, Published
Exhibition as interior, interior as exhibition: spaces of display within and beyond the museum and gallery
(2025). UK: [Published]
Interiors in the era of Covid-19: interior design between the public and private realms
(2023). London, U.K.: [Published]
Screen interiors: from country houses to cosmic heterotopias
Kirkham, Pat and Lichtman, Sarah A. (2021). [Published]
20 iconic film posters by Saul Bass
Kirkham, Pat (2016). London, U.K.: [Published]
Eva Zeisel: life, design and beauty
(2013). San Francisco, U.S.A.: [Published]
History of design: decorative arts and material culture, 1400-2000
(2013). London, U.K.: [Published]
Saul Bass: a life in film & design
Bass, Jennifer and Kirkham, Patricia (2011). [Published]
Charles and Ray Eames: designers of the twentieth century
Kirkham, Pat (1995). Cambridge, U.S.: [Published]
Harry Peach: Dryad and the DIA
Kirkham, Pat (1986). London, U.K.: [Published]
William and John Linnell: eighteenth century London furniture makers
Hayward, Helena and Kirkham, Pat (1980). London, U.K.: [Published]
"At home" with the Eameses: performance, hosting and hospitality
Kirkham, Pat (2015). In: Ince, Catharine, Johnson, Lotte, (eds.), London, U.K.:pp 112-128 [Published]
Ray Kaiser Eames
Kirkham, Pat (2015). In: McLeod, Mary, Rosner, Victoria, (eds.)[Published]
Eva Zeisel: design legend 1906-2011
Kirkham, Pat (2013). In: Kirkham, Pat, (eds.), San Francisco, California:pp 9-44 [Published]
Latin America 1830-1900
Kirkham, Patricia, Lara-Betancourt, Patricia, Larsen, Christian. A and Perez, Jorge F. Rivas (2013). In: Kirkham, Pat, Weber, Susan, (eds.), New York, U.S.A., New Haven U.S.A. and London, U.K.:pp 456-463 [Published]
At home with California modern, 1945-65
Kirkham, Pat (2011). In: Kaplan, Wendy, (eds.), Los Angeles, U.S.:pp 147-177 [Published]
Furniture, patterns and perfection: the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum's interiors
Kirkham, Pat and Perkins, Scott (2009). New York, U.S.A.:pp 111-118 [Published]
New environments for modern living: 'At home with the Eameses'
Kirkham, Patricia (2009). In: Sparke, Penny, Massey, Anne, Keeble, Trevor, Martin, Brenda, (eds.), Oxford, U.K.:pp 171-182 [Published]
Saul Bass: a life in design and film; Saul and Elaine Bass: a collaboration in film and life
Kirkham, Pat (2009). In: Aynsley, Jeremy, Atkinson, Harriet, (eds.), Oxford, U.K.:pp 143-155 [Published]
Keeping up home front morale: "beauty and duty" in wartime Britain
Kirkham, Pat (2005). In: Atkins, Jacqueline M., (eds.), New Haven, Conn., USA; London, UK:pp 205-227 [Published]
The firm: Morris & Company
Kirkham, Pat (2003). In: Waggoner, Diane, (eds.), London, UK:pp 32-63 [Published]
William Morris: a life in design
Kirkham, Pat (2003). In: Waggoner, Diane, (eds.), London, UK:pp 20-31 [Published]
"A woman's place..."?: women interior designers 1900-1950
Kirkham, Pat and Sparke, Penny (2000). In: Kirkham, Pat, (eds.), New Haven, USA:pp 305-316 [Published]
Designing Hollywood: women costume and production designers
Kirkham, Pat and Landis, Deborah Nadoolman (2000). In: Kirkham, Pat, (eds.), New Haven, USA:pp 247-267 [Published]
Preface
Kirkham, Pat (2000). In: Kirkham, Pat, (eds.), New Haven, USA:pp 14-23 [Published]
"Three strikes against me": African American women designers
Kirkham, Pat and Stallworth, Shauna (2000). In: Kirkham, Pat, (eds.), New Haven, USA:pp 123-143 [Published]
Women designers in the USA 1900-2000: diversity and difference
Kirkham, Pat and Walker, Lynne (2000). In: Kirkham, Pat, (eds.), New Haven, USA:pp 49-83 [Published]
Women jewelry designers
Kirkham, Pat and Greenbaum, Toni (2000). In: Kirkham, Pat, (eds.), New Haven, USA:pp 201-221 [Published]
Fashion, femininity and 'frivolous' consumption in World-War-Two Britain
Kirkham, Pat (1999). In: Attfield, Judy, (eds.), Manchester, U.K.: Manchester University Presspp 143-156 [Published]
Four little women: three films and a novel
Kirkham, Pat and Warren, Sarah (1999). In: Cartmell, Deborah, Whelehan, Imelda, (eds.), Oxford, U.K.:pp 81-97 [Published]
Absolutely fabulous: absolutely feminist?
Kirkham, Pat and Skeggs, Beverley (1998). In: Geraghty, Christine, Lusted, David, (eds.), London, U.K.:pp 287-298 [Published]
Fashioning the feminine: dress, appearance and femininity in wartime Britain
Kirkham, Pat (1996). In: Gledhill, Christine, Swanson, Gillian, (eds.), Manchester, U.K.:pp 152-174 [Published]
Beauty and duty: keeping up the (home) front
Kirkham, Pat (1995). In: Kirkham, Pat, Thoms, David, (eds.), London, U.K.:pp 13-28 [Published]
"If you have no sons": furniture-making in Britain
Kirkham, Pat (1995). In: Attfield, Judy, Kirkham, Pat, (eds.), London, U.K.:pp 109-130 [Published]
Loving men: Frank Borzage, Charles Farrell and reconstruction of masculinity in 1920's Hollywood cinema
Kirkham, Pat (1995). In: Kirkham, Pat, Thumim, Janet, (eds.), London, U.K.:pp 94-112 [Published]
Me Jane
Kirkham, Pat and Thumim, Janet (1995). In: Kirkham, Pat, Thumim, Janet, (eds.), London, U.K.:pp 11-35 [Published]
Women and the inter-war handicrafts revival
Kirkham, Pat (1995). In: Attfield, Judy, Kirkham, Pat, (eds.), London, U.K.:pp 174-183 [Published]
You Tarzan
Thumim, Janet and Kirkham, Pat (1993). In: Thumim, Janet, Kirkham, Pat, (eds.), London, U.K.:pp 11-26 [Published]
Furniture history
Kirkham, Pat (1992). In: Conway, Hazel, (eds.), London, U.K.:pp 58-85 [Published]