Dr Lucinda Towler

I was awarded a doctorate from Warwick University in 2023 having submitted my thesis Interpreting Tom Wesselmann's Nudes: Pop, Prurience and Pragmatism in 1960's New York.

I embarked upon my studies in the History of Art at Warwick in 1993, where I developed an interest in both American art and representations of the body. In 1996 I was awarded a bursary which enabled me to undertake my MA at the University of Central England (now Birmingham City University) where I attained a distinction for my work on Nostalgia and Mythmaking in the Comic Book Paintings of Roy Lichtenstein in 1998.

My research interests include:

My research widens the discussion of the work of American artist Tom Wesselmann beyond the existing narrative and constraints that a Pop Art label has imposed upon it. Focusing on his female nudes I examined these within the social, cultural and political landscape of 1960s America and explored the ways in which they adhered to, or subverted, gender roles and stereotypes.

I also examined Wesselmann’s work in relation to the pragmatist aesthetic theory posited by John Dewey in his seminal publication Art as Experience. I explored whether Wesselmann’s Great American Nudes can be seen as visual interpretations of having ‘an experience’ – the point at which Dewey believed everyday events could be seen in aesthetic terms and investigated how the erotic might be situated within this.

In 2018 I was awarded a DARO/HRC Fellowship which allowed me to travel to the Wesselmann Estate in New York to undertake research in the artist’s studio.

I have been a tutor for the first-year core module History of Art and Interpretation since 2017 which provides students with the opportunity to work with curators and examine objects within the National Trust property, Waddesdon Manor, developing visual and analytical skills and considering the impact that materiality, display and understanding changing historical context has on interpreting art.

I have also developed and taught the second-year module Art Since the 1960s which examines the emergence of Pop Art in England, the USA and globally as well as considering the impact of the Civil Rights protests; the Women's Movement; the Vietnam War and the AIDS crisis in America on artists and questioning gendered identities.

In 2016-2017 I was involved with the Tate Gallery’s research project Refiguring American Art funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art. I produced summaries which examined the making, meaning and reception of artworks in the Tate collection for publication on the gallery’s website.