John Boardman (art historian)
{{Short description|British classical archaeologist (1927–2024)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2015}}
{{Infobox academic
| name = John Boardman
| occupation = Classical archaeologist
| honorific_prefix = Sir
| birth_date = {{birth date|1927|08|20|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Ilford, England, United Kingdom
| image = John Boardman with book.jpg
| education = {{plainlist|* Chigwell School
| honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|OBE|FBA|size=100%}}
| workplaces = {{plainlist|* British School at Athens
| awards = {{plainlist|*Kenyon Medal
- Onassis Prize for Humanities}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|2024|05|23|1927|08|20|df=yes}}
| death_place = Woodstock, England, United Kingdom
| caption = Boardman {{circa}} 2010
}}
Sir John Boardman, {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE|FBA}} ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|ɔr|d|m|ə|n}}; 20 August 1927 – 23 May 2024) was a British classical archaeologist and art historian of ancient Greek art.[http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PAL/is_531_163/ai_n16462480 Interview with Diana Scarisbrick], Apollo Magazine, May 2006 {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070121220726/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PAL/is_531_163/ai_n16462480 |date=21 January 2007 }} Educated at Chigwell School in Essex and at Magdalene College, Cambridge, Boardman worked as assistant director of the British School at Athens between 1952 and 1955 before taking up a position as an assistant keeper at the Ashmolean Museum, part of the University of Oxford. He succeeded John Beazley as Lincoln Professor of Classical Archaeology and Art at the university in 1978, remaining in post until his retirement in 1994.
Boardman's academic work focused on the art and archaeology of ancient Greece, with a particular focus on Greek colonisation, jewellery and vase-painting. He was made a Fellow of the British Academy, which awarded him its Kenyon Medal in 1995. He was also awarded the Onassis Prize for Humanities in 2009.
Personal life and education
Boardman was born in Ilford, Essex, on 20 August 1927.{{cite news |title=Sir John Boardman, archaeologist and towering figure in the study of ancient Greek art – obituary |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2024/05/27/john-boardman-towering-figure-ancient-greek-art-obituary/ |access-date=29 May 2024 |work=The Telegraph |date=27 May 2024}} He was educated at Chigwell School (1938–1945); then Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he read Classics beginning in 1945. After completing two years' national service in the Intelligence Corps he spent three years in Greece, from 1952 to 1955, as the Assistant Director of the British School at Athens. He married Sheila Stanford in 1952 (died 2005), and had two children. He died in Woodstock, Oxfordshire on 23 May 2024, at the age of 96.{{cite news|url=https://www.carc.ox.ac.uk/gandharaConnections/news/Professor-Sir-John-Boardman-1927-2024|title=Professor Sir John Boardman (1927–2024)|website=Classical Art Research Centre|access-date=24 May 2024}}[https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/733894 Sir John Boardman, 1927–2024]
==Career==
On his return to England in 1955, Boardman took up the post of Assistant Keeper at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, thus beginning his lifelong affiliation with it. In 1959 he was appointed Reader in Classical Archaeology in the University of Oxford, and in 1963 was appointed a Fellow of Merton College.{{cite book|editor1-last=Levens|editor1-first=R.G.C.|title=Merton College Register 1900-1964|date=1964|publisher=Basil Blackwell|location=Oxford|page=537}} There he remained until his appointment as Lincoln Professor of Classical Art and Archaeology, a position previously held by John Beazley, and the concomitant Fellowship of Lincoln College in 1978. He was knighted in 1989 and retired in 1994, and was thereafter Emeritus Professor.{{cite web |url=http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/people/boardman.htm |title=John Boardman - The Classical Art Research Centre |website=Beazley.ox.ac.uk |date=2016-05-03 |access-date=2017-07-01 |archive-date=25 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160625085919/http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/people/boardman.htm |url-status=dead }}
Boardman was a Fellow of the British Academy, from which he received the Kenyon Medal in 1995.{{cite web |url=http://www.britac.ac.uk/about/medals/kenyon.cfm |title=Kenyon Medal | British Academy |website=Britac.ac.uk |date=2015-04-09 |access-date=2017-07-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302231015/https://www.britac.ac.uk/about/medals/kenyon.cfm |archive-date=2 March 2014 |url-status=dead }} He was awarded the Onassis Prize for Humanities in 2009.{{cn|date=May 2024}} He was an Honorary Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge, and of Merton and Lincoln Colleges in Oxford, as well as the holder of many other academic distinctions. He carried out archaeological excavations at many sites, including in Smyrna, Crete, Emporio on Chios and at Tocra in Libya. His voluminous publications focus primarily on the art and architecture of ancient Greece, particularly sculpture, engraved gems and painted vases.{{cn|date=May 2024}}
Boardman wrote the book The Greeks Overseas,[https://books.google.com/books?id=EqHAQgAACAAJ&sitesec=reviews&hl=el The Greeks Overseas: Their Early Colonies and Trade, Google Books review]; [http://www.librarything.com/work/278930/reviews/106384007 Library Thing review] on the ancient Greek diaspora throughout the Mediterranean, in which Greek populations from the Aegean region, Greek coastal mainland and Western Turkey settled the coastal regions of Italy, North Africa, southern France, reaching as far as southern Spain. The book has now undergone four editions, as new archaeological research emerges.{{cite book|author=John Boardman|title=The Greeks Overseas: Their Early Colonies and Trade|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EqHAQgAACAAJ|year=1999|publisher=Thames and Hudson|isbn=978-0-500-28109-3}}
Selected publications
- The Cretan Collection in Oxford (1961)
- Excavations at Emporio, Chios (1964)
- The Greeks Overseas (1st ed. 1964; rev. ed. 1973; 3rd ed. 1980; 4th ed. 1999)
- Excavations at Tocra (with J. Hayes, 1966, 1973)
- Archaic Greek Gems (1968)
- Greek Gems and Finger Rings (1970, 2001)
- Greek Burial Customs (1971) with D.C. Kurtz
- The Diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity
- Persia and the West (2000)
- The History of Greek Vases (2001)
- The Archaeology of Nostalgia (2002)
- Greece and the Hellenistic World (2002)
- The World of Ancient Art (2006)
- The Marlborough Gems (2009)
- The Relief Plaques of Central Asia and China (2009/10)
- The Triumph of Dionysos (2014)
- The Greeks in Asia (2015)
- Greek Art, 'The World of Art Library' series (first ed. 1964; latest ed. 2016)
- Alexander the Great: From His Death to the Present Day (2019)
References
{{Reflist}}
Sources
- Who's Who, 2006.
- [http://arthistorians.info/boardmanj Dictionary of Art Historians:Boardman, John]
- [http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/people/boardman.htm Beazley Archive] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160625085919/http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/people/boardman.htm |date=25 June 2016 }}
External links
- [http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20011126211033/http://www.magd.cam.ac.uk/alumni/boardman.html Magdalene College: Famous alumni]
- {{imdb name|1822038}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boardman, John}}
Category:English archaeologists
Category:English art historians
Category:British classical archaeologists
Category:English classical scholars
Category:Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge
Category:Fellows of Lincoln College, Oxford
Category:Fellows of Magdalene College, Cambridge
Category:Fellows of Merton College, Oxford
Category:Fellows of the British Academy
Category:Lincoln Professors of Classical Archaeology and Art
Category:English male non-fiction writers