Benedict William Read (born 1945, Seer Green, Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire) is an English art historian, the son of the eminent art critic and poet Sir Herbert Read. Usually known as Ben Read, he is the author of numerous books, essays and articles on nineteenth and twentieth-century art history, and is probably the most authoritative writer on British Victorian sculpture alive today.
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Read studied English Literature at the University of Oxford and then studied art history at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. As well as teaching at the Courtauld Institute, he was Deputy Witt Librarian there until 1991, when he became Senior Lecturer in Art History at the University of Leeds. In 2008 he was made Senior Fellow in Fine Art at the University of Leeds.
Amongst his books are Victorian Sculpture[1] and Pre-Raphaelite Sculpture,[2] and he has contributed essays to numerous texts including the Albert Memorial,[3] The Houses of Parliament,[4] and The Edwardians: Secrets and Desires.[5] An extremely important essay by Read on British sculpture between the first and second world wars appeared in 1986 in the volume Sculpture in Britain Between the Wars.[6]
In addition, Benedict Read is external examiner for the Cyprus College of Art, chairperson of the editorial committee of the Sculpture Journal, former president of the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association, and Chairperson of the Leeds Art Collections Fund (the LACF) and a keen Arsenal supporter. He is also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.