Ann Sumner
{{short description|Art historian, exhibition curator}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2015}}
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| occupation = Museum / Gallery Director
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Ann Sumner is an art historian, exhibition curator, author and former museum director. She is currently Visiting Professor at Manchester Metropolitan University {{cite web |last1=Sumner |first1=Ann |title=Visiting Professor |url=https://www2.mmu.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/story/?id=12343 |website=mmu.ac.uk|date=18 May 2020 }} and Chair of the Methodist Modern Art Collection.{{cite web |title=MMAC Management Committee |url=https://www.methodist.org.uk/our-faith/reflecting-on-faith/the-methodist-modern-art-collection/introduction/mmac-management-committee}}
She was the Head of Public Engagement at the University of Leeds, where she led the Public Art Programme (2015–2017).{{cite web |title=A Champion for Public Art |date=10 April 2015 |url=https://www.leeds.ac.uk/news/article/3681/university_appoints_a_champion_for_public_art}}{{cite web |title=Key New Culture Role at the University |date=30 May 2022 |url=https://www.leeds.ac.uk/forstaff/news/article/5092/key_new_culture_role_at_the_university}}
She was Historic Collections Adviser at Harewood House Trust, where she led the Chippendale 300 celebrations (2015–2018).{{cite web |title=Chippendale 300 celebrations (2015–2018) |url=https://harewood.org/about/blog/tagged/professor-ann-sumner}} In 2018 she was made a Fellow of Aberystwyth University in 2018 {{cite web |title=Art historian and museum director Professor Ann Sumner honoured as Fellow |url=https://www.aber.ac.uk/en/news/archive/2018/07/title-214918-en.html}}
She was the executive director of the Brontë Society,{{cite web|url=http://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/news/07122012-ann-sumner-resigns-birmingham-museums-trust|title=Ann Sumner resigns as director of Birmingham Museums Trust|work=Museums Association|date=7 December 2012 |accessdate=8 July 2013}}{{cite web|url=http://www.museumsassociation.org/museums-journal/news/04072014-ann-sumner-steps-down-bronte-society|title=Ann Sumner steps down from Brontë Society|work=Museums Association|date=4 July 2014 |accessdate=4 July 2014}} a director of the Barber Institute of Fine Arts at the University of Birmingham, England{{cite web| url=http://www.barber.org.uk/ourstaff.html| title=The Barber Institute of Fine Arts| date=2010-02-01| publisher=Barber Institute| accessdate=15 February 2012| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205072915/http://www.barber.org.uk/ourstaff.html| archive-date=5 February 2012| url-status=dead}} (2007–2012),{{cite web|url=http://birminghamnewsroom.com/2012/02/birmingham-museums-trust-appoints-first-director/|title=Birmingham Museums Trust appoints first director|work=birminghamnewsroom.com|last=Coleman|first=Geoff|date=2012-02-15|publisher=Birmingham City Council|accessdate=15 February 2012|archive-date=30 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121130191920/http://birminghamnewsroom.com/2012/02/birmingham-museums-trust-appoints-first-director/|url-status=dead}} and the first director of the Birmingham Museums Trust, comprising the merged Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and Thinktank, from 2012 until 2013.
Education
Sumner studied History of Art at the Courtauld Institute, University of London, and obtained a PhD in History from Newnham College, University of Cambridge.
Career
She started her career at the National Portrait Gallery and has held curatorial positions at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Dulwich Picture Gallery, Harewood House, and the Holburne Museum. Before her directorship at the Barber Institute, University of Birmingham, she was Head of Fine Art at National Museum Wales, for seven years (2000–2007). In 2007 she became Barber Professor of Fine Art and Curatorial Practice.{{cite web|url=http://www.download.bham.ac.uk/buzz/Buzz_100.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2014-10-26 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026152419/http://www.download.bham.ac.uk/buzz/Buzz_100.pdf |archivedate=26 October 2014 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.download.bham.ac.uk/buzz/Buzz_101.pdf |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2014-10-26 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026153712/http://www.download.bham.ac.uk/buzz/Buzz_101.pdf |archivedate=26 October 2014 |df=dmy }}
Her specialist areas of interest are 17th-century British portraiture and miniature painting, French 19th-century painting, the art of Wales, and Public Art; she has long had an interest in art inspired by the game of lawn tennis. She contributed a chapter on International Tennis Art to the Routledge Handbook of Tennis in 2019 {{cite web |title=Routledge Handbook of Tennis History |url=https://www.routledge.com/Routledge-Handbook-of-Tennis-History-Culture-and-Politics-1st-Edition/Lake-Osborne/p/book/9781138691933}} Her current research interests include public art by the American sculptor Mitzi Cunliffe in the 1950s and her book on Cunliffe in Manchester will be published by Manchester Metropolitan University Press in autumn 2020.
She was a founding member of the Steering Group for Pre 1900 European Paintings Specialist Subject Network, is the current Chair of the Methodist Art Collection of Modern Art, a Trustee of Leeds Art Fund, Trustee of the Museum of Bath at Work and was a member of the panel from the Leverhulme Art History Prize 2010/11, She sits on the Curatorial Advisory Group for the Ironbridge Gorge Museums and is a member of the Advisory Committee for the School of Art Gallery & Museum, Aberystwyth University. At the University of Leeds she led the Yorkshire Year of the Textile public engagement programme inspired by the rich textile heritage of the county.{{cite web |title=Yorkshire Year of the Textile |url=https://www.leeds.ac.uk/news/article/3872/year-https://www.leeds.ac.uk/news/article/3872/year-long_celebration_of_textiles_finds_a_common_thread_for_arts}}
Books by (or edited by) Ann Sumner
- Court on Canvas: Tennis in Art (with Kenneth McConkey, Susan Elks and Robert Holland). Philip Wilson Publishers, 2011. {{ISBN|978-0-85667-706-9}}.
- The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham: Director's Choice. Scala Publishers, 2010. {{ISBN|978-1-85759-652-6}}.
- Sisley in England and Wales (with Christopher Riopelle). National Gallery Company Ltd, 2008. {{ISBN|978-1-85709-4138}}.
- Colour and Light: Fifty Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Works at the National Museum of Wales. National Museum of Wales, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7200-0551-5}}.
- Thomas Jones: An Artist Rediscovered (with Greg Smith, Christopher Riopelle, Charles Nugent, Peter Bower, Lindsay Stainton, Kate Lowrey, Bethany McIntyre and Oliver Fairclough.) Yale University Press in association with National Museum of Wales, 2003. {{ISBN|0-7200-0534-5}}.
- John Brett: A Pre-Raphaelite on the Shores of Wales (with Christopher Newall, David Cordingley and Kate Lowrey.) National Museum of Wales, 2001. {{ISBN|0-7200-0507-8}}.
- Objects of Affection: Pre-Raphaelite Portraits by John Brett (with Christiana Payne.) The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham, 2010. {{ISBN|978-0704-427-35-8}}.
- Death, Passion and Politics: Van Dyck's Portraits of Venetia Stanley and George Digby (with Giles Waterfield, Polly Amos, Oliver Millar, Caroline Bowden, Beverly Southgate and Claire Gittings.) Dulwich Picture Gallery. {{ISBN|1-898-51907-2}}.
- In Front of Nature: The European Landscapes of Thomas Fearnley (with Greg Smith, Ernst Haverkamp, David Jackson and Kate Lowrey.) The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham, 2012. {{ISBN|978-1-907804-10-6}}.
- Mitzi Cunliffe's Man-Made Fibres Commission in Context: The American Sculptor's Work in 1950's Britain Paperback – The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery 2016 {{ISBN|978-1-874331-58-2}}.
- Connecting Threads – (with Jane Scott, Elizabeth Gaston & Linda France). Edit the Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery 2017
- The Great Artists: Claude Monet (Arcturus Great Artists Series) London 2019 {{ISBN|978-1-78828-566-7}}.
References
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Category:Directors of museums in the United Kingdom
Category:Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art
Category:Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge
Category:Academics of the University of Birmingham