Dr Matt Retallick
Lecturer, Art History and Curating
Dr Matt Retallick (Art Historian / Curator) is a Lecturer of Art History and Curating at Manchester School of Art. His research interests are broadly situated within a range of issues connected to modernism. He is interested in the slippages and transitional moments between art and artists, artistic movements, and ideologies. He examines hidden or little-known modernisms and aims to reframe standard art historical accounts. This includes a particular expertise in St Ives and Cornish modernism, but also British, Irish, and German contexts more widely. His doctoral research is the first in-depth scholarly study of the German/Cornish painter Karl Weschke (1925-2005).
Matt has worked in a curatorial capacity at a number of well-known cultural institutions, and galleries both public and commercial. In 2023, he became Curating Subject Lead at Manchester School of Art.
Matt welcomes enquires from prospective PhD students in all of these stated or related areas:
St Ives modernism
Cornish modernism / visual culture
British modernism / visual culture
Irish modernism / visual culture
German modernism / visual culture
Anglo-German modernism
German art (1920s – 1990s)
Art and subculture in divided Berlin (1961-1989)
The Austrian / Viennese avant-garde
Contemporary Curating
Curatorial histories
Exhibition studies
Qualifications:
PhD in Art History, Manchester Metropolitan University (2023)
MA Social Sculpture, Oxford Brookes (2014)
BA (Hons) Curation, Central Saint Martins (2009)
Professional Activities:
Membership of the Visual Culture Research Cluster (MMU), Association for Art History, International Council of Museums (ICOM), British Art Network (Tate / Paul Mellon / Yale), British Academy Early Career Research Network, and he is an honorary lifetime member of the Modernist Society (UK). Matt also writes for publications such as Art UK. In 2023 he became a trustee of The Royal Standard, Liverpool's largest community of artists, and Penwith Gallery in St Ives, home to the Penwith Society of Arts in Cornwall.
Research
Exhibitions
Retallick, M., 2025. Isaac Andrews: Love Letters, Noho Galleries, London, 1/5/2025 - 5/5/2025.
Retallick, M., 2025. Jack Eden: WALL WORK, Noordereiland, Rotterdam, 12/4/2025 - 21/6/2025.
Retallick, M., 2024. Alastair & Fleur Mackie: Selected Works, Projects Twenty Two, Rock, 8/11/2024 - 7/12/2024.
Retallick, M., 2024. Apparatus: Matthew Smith & Jason Tessier, Projects Twenty Two, Rock, 18/5/2024 - 22/6/2024.
Retallick, M., 2024. Jethro Jackson: Unearthing, Projects Twenty Two, Rock, 2/8/2024 - 15/9/2024.
Retallick, M., 2024. Kaleidoscope: an exhibition of contemporary art from Cornwall, Projects Twenty Two, Rock, 23/3/2024 - 7/5/2024.
Retallick, M., 2024. Presence: an exhibition of figurative works on paper, Projects Twenty Two, Rock, 28/6/2024 - 29/7/2024.
Retallick, M., 2024. Spencer Shakespeare: Pink Moon, Projects Twenty Two, Rock, 20/9/2024 - 2/11/2024.
Retallick, M., 2022. Ghostlines: Mads Floor Andersen & Cara Davies, PINK, Manchester, 30/5/2022 - 5/6/2022.
Retallick, M., 2022. Kevin Hunt: (lowkey), KARST, Plymouth, 30/6/2022 - 27/8/2022.
Retallick, M., 2022. Summer Show, Belgrave St Ives, 6/8/2022 - 31/8/2022.
Retallick, M., Hemelryk, C., 2021. Irish modernisms: legacies of modernism in the north, CCA Derry-Londonderry, 29/5/2021 - 18/9/2021.
Retallick, M., 2019. Liam Fallon: Supersymmetry, The Turnpike, 26/7/2019 - 7/9/2019.
Books
Retallick, M., 2025. 'Jonathan Michael Ray: Field Work', Bo Lee and Workman.
Retallick, M., Bassett, S., 2024. 'Samuel Bassett: The Birds', HEA.
Retallick, M., Madner, S., 2020. 'St Ives Modernism', The Modernist Society.
Book Chapters
Retallick, M., 2025. 'Irish artists in West Cornwall'. In Barber, F., Cullen, F. (eds.) The Routledge Companion to Irish Art, 11, Routledge.
Retallick, M., 2025. 'The Saint Peter's Loft School of Art'. In Karl Weschke and Cornwall's Lost Modernism, Ridinghouse.
Internet Publications
Retallick, M., 2024. 'Bernard Meadows: post-war fear, the human figure and the shadow of Henry Moore', https://artuk.org/discover/stories/bernard-meadows-post-war-fear-the-human-figure-and-the-shadow-of-henry-moore.
Retallick, M., 2021. 'From Germany to Cornwall: the life of painter Karl Weschke', https://artuk.org/discover/stories/from-germany-to-cornwall-the-life-of-painter-karl-weschke.
Non-Peer Reviewed Articles
Retallick, M., 2021. 'Cornishware: Cleanliness in design for the modern home', The Modernist, 38.
Retallick, M., 2021. 'Michel Majerus: if we are dead, so it is', Goblin Magazine, 3.
Conference Papers
Retallick, M., 2025. 'Cornwall's Creative Economies', Colquhoun's Cornish Context, The Institute of Cornish Studies, Falmouth University, 30/4/2025 - 30/4/2025.
Retallick, M., 2024. 'From Germany to Cornwall: the Painter Karl Weschke and his denazification in Post-War Britain', University of Essex, Colchester.
Retallick, M., 2023. 'Karl Weschke', Porthmeor Studios, St Ives.
Retallick, M., 2023. 'Saint Peter's Loft', Penwith Gallery, St Ives.