Antony Griffiths

Antony Griffiths
Name	Antony Griffiths
Occupation	Curator, Historian, Print Scholar
Employer	British Museum
Notable works	A History of British Printmaking, Prints and Printmaking: An Introduction to the History and Techniques
Awards	various honours

Antony Griffiths is a British curator and print historian known for his long tenure at the British Museum and for shaping modern scholarship on prints, printmaking, and graphic arts. He has held curatorial responsibilities for collections and exhibitions, contributed to cataloguing projects, and authored influential works used by institutions, libraries, and universities internationally.

Early life and education

Born and raised in the United Kingdom, Griffiths studied history and art-related subjects at institutions that connect to the legacy of King's College London, Courtauld Institute of Art, University of Oxford, and the tradition of British art historical training associated with Victoria and Albert Museum. His formative training included interaction with curatorial practice at national collections such as the British Museum and methodologies practiced at archives like the National Archives (United Kingdom), and libraries such as the British Library, fostering links with curators and scholars from institutions including the Ashmolean Museum, Tate Britain, and the National Gallery. Influences in his education drew on scholars from the circles of Rijksmuseum, Bibliothèque nationale de France, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, whose cataloguing standards and provenance research informed his approach.

Career at the British Museum

Griffiths's career at the British Museum spanned decades, where he worked within departments responsible for prints, drawings, and graphic materials alongside staff connected to the Department of Prints and Drawings, collaborating with curators from the V&A, National Portrait Gallery and international institutions like the Prado Museum and the Hermitage Museum. He managed acquisitions, cataloguing, conservation, and curatorial teams while liaising with external bodies such as the Courtauld Institute of Art, the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, and university departments at University of Cambridge and University of Edinburgh. His work required engagement with collections policies similar to practices at the Smithsonian Institution, the Getty Research Institute, and the Yale Center for British Art.

Contributions to print history and scholarship

Griffiths advanced scholarship on prints by producing catalogues raisonnés, methodological essays, and teaching resources employed by museums and departments including the Ashmolean Museum, National Gallery of Art (United States), and the Biblioteca Nacional de España. His research intersected with studies of artists and printmakers related to figures held in collections at the British Museum such as Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt van Rijn, Francisco Goya, William Hogarth, and James Gillray, while also informing scholarship on printers and publishers connected to houses like the Plantin Press and the Gutenberg tradition. Collaborations and exchanges with researchers at the Warburg Institute, Institute of Historical Research, and the Royal Society of Arts supported interdisciplinary work linking provenance, iconography, and technical analysis used by conservators at the Courtauld Institute of Art and scientists at the National Gallery (London) conservation departments.

Major exhibitions and curation

As a curator, Griffiths organized and contributed to exhibitions involving works by printmakers represented in collections at institutions such as the British Museum, Tate Modern, Royal Academy of Arts, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Exhibitions under his guidance connected to themes shared with shows at the Victoria and Albert Museum, retrospective programs at the National Portrait Gallery, and touring collaborations with museums like the Ashmolean Museum and the Fitzwilliam Museum. He worked with curatorial teams on loan arrangements involving holdings from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Louvre, the Prado Museum, and the Hermitage Museum, and contributed catalogues accompanying exhibitions that drew on research standards practiced at the Getty Museum and the National Gallery of Art (Washington).

Publications and selected works

Griffiths authored and edited major texts used by practitioners and students, aligning with publishing efforts of academic presses and museum publishing programs similar to the British Museum Press, the Yale University Press, and the Oxford University Press. His writings addressed print history techniques, cataloguing, and artists' oeuvres connected to historic figures such as Albrecht Dürer, Francisco Goya, William Hogarth, and Rembrandt van Rijn. He contributed essays and entries in volumes associated with the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, exhibition catalogues for the Royal Academy of Arts, and handbooks used by departments at the V&A and the Courtauld Institute of Art.

Awards and honours

Griffiths received recognition and honours from organizations active in art history and museum practice, analogous to awards from bodies like the British Academy, the Society of Antiquaries of London, and the Print Council of America. His work earned esteem among peers at institutions including the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Courtauld Institute of Art, and international partners such as the Rijksmuseum and the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Category:British curators Category:Printmakers scholars