Enfilade

From the Call for Papers:

Drawing as Knowledge: Practice, Theory, and History

Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, London, 16–17 September 2026

Proposals due by 13 July 2026

Later this year, the Paul Mellon Centre will be able to announce the completion of the cataloguing of the archive of Deanna Petherbridge (1939–2024). Petherbridge was an artist, writer, curator, and educator, known above all for her artistic practice in and writing on drawing. To mark this moment, the Centre will also be showing a display of materials from her archive, accompanied by a number of Petherbridge’s artworks from private collections (29 July to 30 October 2026).

This follows closely on the heels of the publication in 2026 of the new Thames & Hudson edition of her landmark book, The Primacy of Drawing: Histories and Theories of Practice (first published in 2010). Petherbridge completed the revised edition as an Associate Fellow at the Warburg Institute, which also holds her celebrated ink-drawn triptych, The Destruction of Palmyra (2017).

Held in collaboration with the Warburg Institute, this conference will explore Petherbridge’s concept of “drawing as visual thinking” within the context of British art history. We are seeking proposals for 20-minute papers that engage with British drawing, in any period, and in its most diverse and international contexts.

We invite proposals on any topic, but are particularly interested in the following themes:
• the purposes and functions of drawing practice
• the significations of line, particularly, but also tone and colour
• issues of power and control in drawing as a means of knowledge formation. This could include the colonial gaze, for example, or the dynamics of the life class
• drawing as a means of knowing the human body
• the role of drawing in understanding people, including the drawing of portraits within social gatherings, for example, or caricature and satire
• the role of drawing in understanding and interpreting the natural world, from the molecular to the celestial
• drawing as a prominent technology in interpreting landscapes, through topographical practice
• drawing as a means of knowing the built environment
• the role of drawing in understanding the imagination, creativity and expression

We welcome contributions from across disciplines and professional fields, as long as the proposal is focused on drawing within artistic practice, as a means of knowledge formation.

Please submit the following to events@paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk with the subject line “CFP Drawing as Knowledge”:
• An abstract (450 word maximum) describing your proposed contribution
• A 250-word biography
Please combine your abstract and biography into a single Word document and send it as an email attachment before Monday, 13 July 2026, 11.59pm (BST). Incomplete or late submissions will not be considered. Successful contributors will receive a speaker’s fee of £200, and reasonable travel and accommodation costs will be covered. If you have any access requirements, please let us know.