Drawing as Knowledge: Practice, Theory and History

Submission Deadline: Monday 13 July 2026, 11.59pm (BST)
Conference date: 16-17 September 2026

Later this year, the Paul Mellon Centre (PMC) will announce the completion of the cataloguing of the archive of Deanna Petherbridge (1939–2024). Petherbridge was an artist, writer, curator and educator, above all known for her artistic practice in, and writing on, drawing. To mark this moment, the Centre will also be showing a display of materials from the Petherbridge archive, accompanied by a number of her artworks from private collections (29 July to 30 October 2026). This follows closely on the heels of the publication in 2026 of the new Thames & Hudson edition of her landmark book, The Primacy of Drawing: Histories and Theories of Practice (first published in 2010). Petherbridge completed the revised edition as an associate fellow at the Warburg Institute, which also holds her celebrated ink-drawn triptych, The Destruction of Palmyra (2017).

This conference will explore Petherbridge’s concept of “drawing as visual thinking” within the context of British art history. We are seeking proposals for twenty-minute papers that engage with British drawing, in any period, and in its most diverse and international contexts. We encourage proposals that engage with matters of medium: on the supports, materials, tools, scales and spaces of different kinds of drawing and drawing practice. Our primary concern is to explore drawing as an active process of knowledge acquisition and formation – as a tool for thinking through the world, beyond a means of representation. As such, we hope to commemorate Petherbridge’s lifelong dedication to promoting drawing as a rich and complex nexus of practice, theory and history.

Topics could include, but are by no means restricted to:

• the purposes and functions of drawing practice
• the significations of line, particularly, but also tone and colour
• issues of power and control in drawing as a means of knowledge formation; this could include the colonial gaze, for example, or the dynamics of the life class
• drawing as a means of knowing the human body
• the role of drawing in understanding people; this could include the drawing of portraits within social gatherings, for example, or caricature and satire
• the role of drawing in understanding and interpreting the natural world, from the molecular to the celestial
• drawing as a prominent technology in interpreting landscapes, through topographical practice
• drawing as a means of knowing the built environment
• the role of drawing in understanding the imagination, creativity and expression

The conference is being organised by Alixe Bovey (the Courtauld), Kate Retford (the Paul Mellon Centre) and Flora Dennis (the Warburg Institute).

Submission Guidelines

We welcome contributions from across disciplines and professional fields, as long as the proposal is focused on drawing within artistic practice, as a means of knowledge formation.

Please submit the following by 11.59pm (BST) on 13 July to events@paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk with “CFP Drawing as Knowledge” in the subject line:

• a maximum 450-word abstract describing your proposed contribution
• a 250-word biography

Please combine your abstract and biography into a single Word document and send it as an email attachment. Incomplete or late submissions will not be considered.

Successful contributors will receive a speaker’s fee of £200 and reasonable travel and accommodation costs will be covered. If you have any access requirements, please let us know.

A collaboration between the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art and the Warburg Institute, London

Image caption: Deanna Petherbridge’s drawing In the Shadow of the Mandra: Terraces, Sikinos, c 1968. Courtesy of the Artistic Estate of Deanna Petherbridge