Association for Art History Fellowship awarded to Professor Abigail Harrison Moore
Abigail Harrison Moore, Professor of Art History and Museum Studies at the University of Leeds, has been announced as an Association for Art History Fellow for 2026.
Now in its seventh year, the Association for Art History Fellowships seek to recognise and honour individuals who have made a significant contribution to the broad field of art history.
One of three Fellows announced for 2026, Abigail Harrison Moore’s research focuses on 19th and early 20th-century art and design history.
Abigail has worked in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies at the University of Leeds for over 30 years. She has also taught in a wide range of educational settings, including schools, museums and prisons.
Members of the Preservative Party plan for the podcast series at HELIX, University of Leeds. Photo by Krissie J Glover.
She is a campaigner for access to education in the arts and humanities, helping develop the curriculum for art history and art. She leads a range of projects for teachers and pupils, including Art Teachers Connect; the Discover ARTiculation Challenge and Discovery Days, and a national EPQ programme.
Her monograph, Fraud, Fakery and False Business (Continuum, 2011) considered the antiques market in 1920’s England. She currently leads an international project focused on illuminating women's roles in histories of energy and, with Ruth Sandwell, co-edited In a New Light: Histories of Women and Energy (McGill-Queen’s University Press) in 2021.
Abigail currently combines these two strands of her research and practice, working with Leeds Museum’s Preservative Party to co-produce histories of women and energy in the home.
Professor Abigail Harrison Moore discusses Whose Power? as part of a podcast series created at HELIX, University of Leeds. Photo by Andy Lord. Image © University of Leeds.
Through leading advocacy for and access to Art History for over 30 years, her work has generated significant, evidenced, impactful change.
Abigail has advanced the Art History Association’s values of inclusivity, excellence and advocacy in all of her work to ensure that every young person – irrespective of background or educational experience – has access to art history.
Abigail Harrison Moore and members of the Preservative Party installing 'Whose Power?' exhibition at the Discovery Centre in Leeds. Photo by Andy Lord. Image © University of Leeds.
Professor Abigail Harrison Moore FAAH said:
“I am delighted and honoured to accept the Fellowship of the Association for Art History. Looking at those who have received it to date makes this even more special. This includes colleagues and friends from academia and teaching, who I have learnt from and admire greatly.
“I am very grateful to my nominee, the Fellowship Committee and the Art History Association. I have worked with the Association for many years to advance access to Art History and am grateful to the team there who supported the development of Art Teachers Connect and shared my vision from the start.
Gallery visit for Art Teachers Connect 2024, with Rachel Prosser (Learning Manager, Paul Mellon Centre) in conversation with a teacher in the 2nd year of the PGCert in Developing Teachers’ Research and Practice. Photo Andy Lord. Image © University of Leeds.
“I am driven daily by the knowledge that, for many, Art History seems unreachable. I found the subject that I love by mistake thanks to an amazing art teacher in my comprehensive school in Yorkshire. A class trip to my first art gallery in 1988 set in train the critical questions about art and culture that have driven my career.
“Many young people still do not get access to an arts education or to our incredible cultural spaces in the UK. Our work as Art Historians is to continue to find ways to make our subject as accessible as possible.
Exploring the University of Leeds campus as part of Art Teachers Connect 2025. Photo by Andy Lord. Image © University of Leeds.
“I am very aware that everything I do within and for Art History is in collaboration with other people and organisations. I am thankful to have been able to work with many teachers, academics, students and pupils, who have inspired and taught me.
“I am particularly grateful to the Paul Mellon Centre (who I collaborate with to deliver Art Teachers Connect), the team who run Articulation, the Educational Engagement Team at the University of Leeds and my amazing co-producers of knowledge, the Preservative Party at Leeds City Museum.
Susan Coles (InSEA Vice President) presents Art Teacher Connect's InSEA Advocacy Award for Organizations to Abigail Harrison Moore, Sarah Turner, Esme Boggis and Rosie Jennings on 9 September 2025. Photo by Greta Zabulyte.
“I have had the joy of working in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies at the University of Leeds for over 30 years. From the day I joined, I was surrounded by people who believed in the project of a social history and practice of art.
“From the mentorship of Fred Orton and Griselda Pollock, to the incredible support I have had working with Joanne Crawford throughout our careers, it has always felt like a team effort, surrounded by colleagues and students who believe in making a difference through the critical study and practice of Art History.
“My Fellowship will be presented to me at the awards ceremony by art historian Caroline McCaffrey-Howarth, a curator and senior academic who gained her PhD from the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies in 2019.”
Professor Abigail Harrison Moore works with members of the Preservative Party in Special Collections at the University of Leeds. Photo by Andy Lord. Image © University of Leeds.
A total of three new Fellows have been appointed for 2026 in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the field. Joining Abigail Harrison Moore FAAH are independent curator and art consultant, Adrian Locke FAAH, and London-based artist, educationalist and University of Leeds alumna Sutapa Biswas FAAH.
Born in Santiniketan, India, Sutapa Biswas moved to the UK as a child and later studied Fine Art and Art History at the University of Leeds. There, as noted by art historian Griselda Pollock, Biswas transformed the course by challenging her tutors from the very first week to confront and redress its Eurocentric foundations.
For over 40 years, Biswas has taught in UK higher education, influencing generations of artists. Her work is held in major collections, including those of Tate, Bristol, and Sheffield Museums. Her accolades include fellowships at Yale University and The Banff Centre for the Arts, and awards from Art Fund UK and Art360 Recollect with DACS.
Installation shot of Sutapa Biswas’s work ‘Synapse 1’ (1987-1992) on display in 'Lessons In the Studio: Studio in the Seminar' exhibition at The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, Leeds, 2019-2020. Image credit Leeds University Library Galleries.
Professor Joanne Crawford, Head of the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, said:
“For many decades Abigail has been a fierce and determined advocate for art history. Her friends and colleagues at the University of Leeds are delighted that she is, at last, getting the recognition she deserves from the wider art historical community.
“Her dedication, combined with her clear and intelligent thinking, has not only enabled Abigail to achieve many wonderful things in her career, but has also greatly benefited the wider network of educators, students and researchers who have all had the privilege of working with her.
“I know that she will say that she has learned much more from them, but I think that she can and should, for once, accept the praise and be utterly proud of her achievements.
“This fellowship is so richly deserved. Many congratulations Abigail.”
Teachers participating in a Discovery Day with Abigail Harrison Moore on the University of Leeds campus as part of Art Teachers Connect 2025. Photo by Andy Lord. Image © University of Leeds.
The Association of Art History established the Fellowships in 2020. Fellows are chosen from among nominations by a panel of respected peers in the field, with two to three Fellows honoured each year.
In the first year of the programme, the Fellowship was awarded to eminent art historian Griselda Pollock – Professor emerita of Social and Critical Histories of Art at the University of Leeds – and educator and advocate Sarah Phillips who has been a lead contributor for Art Teachers Connect. University of Leeds alumnus Professor Gavin Butt (MA Social History of Art, 1989) was awarded a Fellowship in 2025.
Abigail Harrison Moore takes part in a workshop with art history and art teachers during an Art Teachers Connect Residential at the University of Leeds. Photo by Andy Lord. Image © University of Leeds.
The 2026 Fellows will be honoured at this year’s Art History Association’s Annual Conference, taking place at the University of Cambridge from 8 to 10 April.
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Professor Abigail Harrison Moore FAAH. Photo by Andy Lord.
