Peter Fuller
Encyclopedia
Peter Michael Fuller was a British art critic and magazine editor who was educated at Epsom College
and Peterhouse, Cambridge
.
In the early 1970s he wrote for the radical Black Dwarf
and Seven Days
newspapers and freelanced elsewhere subsequently. Originally a follower of writer John Berger
, he moved to the political right in mid-life, coming into conflict with his former allies Art & Language
.
Peter Fuller was the founding editor of the art magazine Modern Painters
, launched in February 1988, reflecting his admiration for the aesthetic principles of John Ruskin
. In the spring of 1989 he was appointed art critic of The Sunday Telegraph. Along with such prestigious books as Art and Psychoanalysis, Fuller wrote regularly for Art Monthly UK and New Society for nearly two decades. The archive of his letters, journals and writing is held at the Tate Gallery in London. The Peter Fuller Memorial Foundation, a registered English charity (no.1014623), was set up in 1991. The Foundation hosts an annual lecture at the Tate Gallery and runs the online art magazine Art Influence.
He died in a car accident on the M4 motorway
in Berkshire on 28 April 1990. Peter Fuller is buried in Stowlangtoft
, Suffolk
, UK
. His son Laurence Fuller is currently in development with a film about his life and the art world between 1970 and 1990.
Epsom College
Epsom College is an independent co-educational public school in Epsom, Surrey, England, for pupils aged 13 to 18. Founded in 1853 to provide support for poor members of the medical profession such as pensioners and orphans , Epsom's long-standing association with medicine was estimated in 1980 as...
and Peterhouse, Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
.
In the early 1970s he wrote for the radical Black Dwarf
The Black Dwarf (Ali)
The Black Dwarf was a political and cultural newspaper published between May 1968 and 1972 by a collective of socialists in the United Kingdom...
and Seven Days
Seven Days
Seven Days is a science fiction television series based on the premise of time travel. It was produced by UPN from 1998 to 2001.The television channel Sleuth started syndicating all of the episodes as of August 2, 2009....
newspapers and freelanced elsewhere subsequently. Originally a follower of writer John Berger
John Berger
John Peter Berger is an English art critic, novelist, painter and author. His novel G. won the 1972 Booker Prize, and his essay on art criticism Ways of Seeing, written as an accompaniment to a BBC series, is often used as a university text.-Education:Born in Hackney, London, England, Berger was...
, he moved to the political right in mid-life, coming into conflict with his former allies Art & Language
Art & Language
Art & Language is a shifting collaboration among conceptual artists that has undergone many changes since its inception in the late 1960s. Their early work, as well as their journal Art-Language, first published in 1969, is regarded as an important influence on much conceptual art both in the...
.
Peter Fuller was the founding editor of the art magazine Modern Painters
Modern Painters (magazine)
Modern Painters is a monthly art magazine published in New York City by Louise Blouin Media. The magazine is published 10 times per year; it includes profiles on two international artists per issue; columns by international contributors; interviews with and articles by contemporary artists and...
, launched in February 1988, reflecting his admiration for the aesthetic principles of John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
. In the spring of 1989 he was appointed art critic of The Sunday Telegraph. Along with such prestigious books as Art and Psychoanalysis, Fuller wrote regularly for Art Monthly UK and New Society for nearly two decades. The archive of his letters, journals and writing is held at the Tate Gallery in London. The Peter Fuller Memorial Foundation, a registered English charity (no.1014623), was set up in 1991. The Foundation hosts an annual lecture at the Tate Gallery and runs the online art magazine Art Influence.
He died in a car accident on the M4 motorway
M4 motorway
The M4 motorway links London with South Wales. It is part of the unsigned European route E30. Other major places directly accessible from M4 junctions are Reading, Swindon, Bristol, Newport, Cardiff and Swansea...
in Berkshire on 28 April 1990. Peter Fuller is buried in Stowlangtoft
Stowlangtoft
Stowlangtoft is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England two miles south-east from Ixworth. Located around five miles north-east of Bury St Edmunds, in 2005 its population was 270.-St George's:...
, Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
, UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. His son Laurence Fuller is currently in development with a film about his life and the art world between 1970 and 1990.
Books
- Die Champions: Psychoanalyse d. Spitzensportlers, Frankfurt am Main: S. Fischer, 1976.
- The Champions: The Secret Motives in Games and Sports, Urizen Books, 1977; London: Allen Lane, 1978
- The Psychology of Gambling (with Jon Halliday), Harmondsworth: Pelican, 1977
- Art and Psychoanalysis, London and New York: Writers and Readers, 1981; The Hogarth Press, 1988
- Beyond the Crisis in Art - Writers and Readers;, 1981.
- Robert Natkin, New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1981
- Seeing Berger: A Reevaluation of Ways of Seeing, Writers & Readers, 1981
- Aesthetics After Modernism, Writers and Readers, 1983.
- The Naked Artis: 'Art and Biology' and Other Essays, Writers & Readers Publishing, 1983
- Images of God: The Consolations of Lost Illusions, London: Chatto and Windus, 1985; London: The Hogarth Press, 1990
- The Australian Scapegoat: Towards and Antipodean Aesthetic, University of Western Australia Press, Western Australia, 1986
- Henry Moore, (with Susan Crompton and Richard Cork), London: Royal Academy of Arts / Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1988
- Seeing Through Berger, Claridge Press, 1988
- Theoria: Art and the Absence of Grace, Chatto and Windus, 1988.
- Left High and Dry: the Posturing of the Left Establishment, The Claridge Press, 1990
- Marches Past, The Hogarth Press, 1991
- Peter Fuller’s Modern Painters: Reflections on British Art, (edited by John McDonald), London: Methuen, 1993
- Henry Moore: An Interpretation, Methuen, 1994.
Films
Peter Fuller made a number of documentaries with film maker Mike Dibb, including;- Somewhere over the Rainbow - art and psychoanalysis with Robert Natkin and Peter Fuller, 50 minutes, BBC 1979
- Fields of Play - series exploring the role of play in every area of our lives from childhood and learning to gambling and war games, 5x60 minutes, BBC 1979
- Naturally Creative - wide-ranging film essay on the origins of human creativity, 90 minutes, Channel 4 1986/7