Congratulations to Professor Lynda Nead, Visiting Professor of History of Art at the Courtauld Institute, who has been appointed by Prime Minister Kier Starmer as a Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery Board for a term of 4 years from 1 November 2026 – 31 October 2030.
The NPG Board of Trustees determines policy and, together with the Director and senior Gallery staff, sets the strategic direction for the National Portrait Gallery.
Professor Nead, who has perviously been Pevsner Professor of History of Art at Birkbeck, University of London, has published widely on the history of British art and culture and on gender, sexuality, the city and visual representation. Lynn’s approach to visual images is interdisciplinary and intermedial; examining art in its historical and social context and in relation to other visual media in the period. She also has an interest in film as a research output and has collaborated with colleagues in the field on video essays arising from her recent research.
Lynn is a Fellow (and Member of Council) of the British Academy (FBA), the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA), the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS) and of the Academy of Europe (MAE). In 2021, she was made a Fellow of the Association for Art History (AAH). She has had a number of governance roles in British museums and art galleries, including Trustee of the Victoria & Albert Museum and is currently a Trustee of the Holburne Museum in Bath and of Campaign for the Arts, a lobbying group that champions widening access to the arts and culture.
