Two York academics win Philip Leverhulme Prizes
Posted on 19 December 2012
The prizes, with a value of £70,000 each, have been awarded to Dr Jo Applin, in the Department of History of Art, and Dr Kirsty Penkman, in the Department of Chemistry.
The prizes are awarded to outstanding scholars who have made a substantial and acknowledged contribution to their particular field of study, which has been recognised at an international level, and where the expectation is that their greatest achievements are yet to come.
The Prizes commemorate the contribution to the Trust’s work by Philip Leverhulme, the Third Viscount Leverhulme and grandson of the Founder.
Dr Applin was recognised for her work in modern and contemporary art since 1960. She is the author of two books, Eccentric Objects: Rethinking Sculpture in 1960s America (Yale University Press) and Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Room-Phalli’s Field (MIT Press and Afterall).
She will use the Philip Leverhulme Prize to work on two projects. The first is the completion of her third book, titled Lee Lozano: Not Working 1960-1972, which focuses on female artist Lee Lozano, who was a key member of the New York art world during the 1960s. Lozano produced a prolific body of significant work from raucous Pop art drawings of body parts and erotically-charged work tools to witty chaotic ‘Dialogue Pieces’ in which she documented her conversations with friends and other leading artists from the avant-garde art scene. In 1969, Lozano announced that she was going on ‘strike’ from the art world and, a year later, that she was also renouncing all contact with other women.
Dr Applin says: "My book tackles the ‘problem’ Lozano poses to art history head-on. It argues that by viewing the 1960s art world through the idiosyncratic lens of her work, new ways of thinking about Lozano, feminism and the New York art world emerge."
The second project is a major loan exhibition Dr Applin is co-curating for York City Art Gallery titled Flesh, which focuses on radically different representations of the body in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Dr Penkman was recognised for her work in the application of analytical chemistry to geochronology, archaeology and earth science. The rich fossil record from the last 2-3 million years (the Quaternary period) has revealed how plants and animals, including humans, responded to marked climate change in the form of a succession of glacial (cold) and interglacial (temperate) episodes. Recent advances in amino acid dating have revolutionised our ability to date this time period.
The ability to accurately measure the breakdown of proteins in fossil snails has already shed light on key geological and archaeological questions. Working with geologists, archaeologists, biologists and chemists from the Quaternary community has made this groundbreaking research possible.
Dr Penkman says: "The Philip Leverhulme prize will allow the development of amino acid dating frameworks across Europe. As well as exploring the use of additional novel fossil materials, we want to achieve methodological advances to provide faster analyses with improved resolution."
Notes to editors:
- More on the University of York’s Department of Chemistry at http://www.york.ac.uk/chemistry/
- More on the University of York’s Department of History Art at http://www.york.ac.uk/history-of-art/
- More on the Leverhulme Trust at http://www.leverhulme.ac.uk
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