I am a technical art historian with a specialisation in modern and contemporary painting practice. I teach the MA Special Option in History of Art “Painters at Work: Material Reinventions of a Medium, 1945 to Now” (not running in 2024/25, while I am on research leave) as well as on the BA History of Art and MA Conservation of Easel Paintings.
I hold a BA in art history from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich (1994), a Postgraduate Diploma in the Conservation of Easel Paintings from The Courtauld (1997) and a PhD in art technology from Technische Universität München (2004). Before joining The Courtauld in 2018, I worked as a researcher, paintings conservator and curator: I was a Senior Research Specialist and co-curator at The Getty, Los Angeles (2015-17) and a paintings conservator at Tate, London (2013-14), the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2003-05), The Menil Collection, Houston (1998-2000), and at the Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge (1997-98). My curatorial and research experiences include collection management for private collectors in Europe, as well as appointments/grants as a Getty Conservation Guest Scholar (2021), Caroline Villers Research Fellow in Technical Art History at The Courtauld (2012-13), Associate Curator at Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich (2011-12), Assistant Fine Arts Director at the German Academy Villa Massimo, Rome (2009-10), and Postdoc Research Fellow at Bibliotheca Hertziana, Max-Planck-Institut für Kunstgeschichte, Rome (2005-7).
My publications explore the relationship between an artist’s subject, materials, and methods, for which I often interview artists. Current research focuses on the Italian sculptor Pino Pascali (Fondazione Prada, 2024) and Chilean abstract painters. I am the author of monographs on (Blinky) Palermo and Lucio Fontana, the co-editor and author of books on US-American sculpture and drawing from the 1960s as well as Latin American art, and have written essays on the painting practices of a variety of contemporary European, US- and Latin American artists. A new book project for Getty Publications examines the role of tools in contemporary painting and will include artists from Argentina, Austria, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Ghana, Guyana, Hungary, Iran, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Pakistan, Spain, the US, and Zimbabwe.
I belong to The Courtauld’s Centre for American Art, the research cluster Technical Art History and the Sculptural Processes Group. I am also Editorial Board Member of Woman’s Art Journal. Professor Jo Applin and I co-host the yearly Artist’s Talk.
I welcome PhD applications from candidates interested in pursuing research in painting practices of modern and contemporary artists.
Research interests
- Modern and contemporary painting practice
- Modern and contemporary sculpture
- The relationship between science, industry, and art
- Concepts of creativity
- Materiality in historical perspective
- Migration studies
- Material culture
Publications
Books
Lucio Fontana: The Artist’s Materials, Getty Publications, Los Angeles 2012
The Act of Creating Space: Lucio Fontana, Technische Universität München, Anton Siegl Verlag, München 2008
Palermo: Inside His Images, Technische Universität München, Anton Siegl Verlag, München 2004
Edited Books
Purity Is a Myth: The Materiality of Concrete Art from Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, Z. Gilbert, P. Gottschaller, T. Learner and A. Perchuk (eds.), Getty Publications, Los Angeles 2021
P. Gottschaller, A. Le Blanc, Making Art Concrete: Works from Argentina and Brazil in the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, P. Gottschaller, A. Le Blanc, Z. Gilbert, T. Learner, A. Perchuk (eds.), exh. cat. Getty Publications, Los Angeles 2017
Der Raum der Linie. Amerikanische Zeichnungen und Skulpturen ab 1960, M. Semff, C. Thierolf, A. Klar with P. Gottschaller and B. Heid (eds.), exh. cat. Staatliche Graphische Sammlung/Pinakothek der Moderne, München 2011
Book Chapters
“Painting, Fast and Slow,” in: Painting, Fast and Slow. Malerei auf Papier der Sammlung Michalke, exh. cat. Metropol Kunstraum, Munich 2024, 4-14 (German/English)
“Ruins on Faux Fur: Materiality in Pino Pascali, 1964-68,” in: Pino Pascali, M. Godfrey (ed.), exh. cat. Fondazione Prada, Milan 2024 [in print, English/Italian]
“Eleonore Koch and the Brazilian Egg Tempera Revival,” in: Eleonore Koch, F. Pitta (ed.), Almeida e Dale Galeria de Arte, São Paulo 2024 [in print]
“Peter Joseph: Balancing The World on Two Nails,” in: Peter Joseph, A. Bacon (ed.), Lisson Gallery, London and New York 2024 [forthcoming]
“Materiality and Migration in Latin American Modernism: Caracas to Buenos Aires, 1944-50,” in: Between Point Zero and the Iron Curtain: International Cooperation in Art, E. Forgacs (ed.), Brill, Leiden 2024 [in print]
“Moyna Flannigan”, “Arturo Herrera”, and “Nyugen E. Smith,” in: Vitamin C+ Collage in Contemporary Art, R. Morrill (ed.), Phaidon Press, London 2023, 82-83; 104-107; 250-253
“Tess Jaray in conversation with Pia Gottschaller,” in: Tess Jaray. For Your Eyes Only, exh. cat. Karsten Schubert London, London 2023, 1-9
“Aspekte von Zeitlichkeit und Vergänglichkeit im Werk von Frank Auerbach, Lucian Freud, Liz Deschenes, Cy Twombly und Christian Bonnefoi,” in: Patina. Spuren der Vergangenheit in der Kunst der Gegenwart, I. Glanzer and A. Matyssek (eds.), Edition Metzel, München 2023, 47-65
“Crusader, Eden and Madame Renee,” in: Beat Zoderer. The London Soap Opera, exh. cat. Bartha Contemporary, London 2022, 4-8
“Your Trash is My Treasure,” in: Out Of Order. The Collages of Louise Nevelson, Y. Etgar (ed.), Fondazione Marconi and Mousse Publishing, Milan 2022, 37-53
“Art to Life, Industry to Art,” in: Geraldo de Barros – Imaginário, Construção e Memória, L. Mammi and M. Favre (eds.), exh. cat. Instituto Itaú Cultural, São Paulo 2022, 238-239 (Portuguese), 388-389 (English)
“Sacilotto’s ABC São Paulo,” in: Sacilotto, D. Mattar and G. Pérez-Barreiro (eds.), Almeida e Dale Galeria de Arte, Cosac Naify and Cecilia Brunson Projects, São Paulo and London 2021, 29-43 (English/Portuguese)
P. Gottschaller, T. Learner and J. Mazurek, “Hermelindo Fiaminghi’s Quadrature of the Circle between 1954 and 1959: From Concrete Enamel to Giotto’s Tempera,” in: Purity Is a Myth: The Materiality of Concrete Art from Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, Z. Gilbert, P. Gottschaller, T. Learner and A. Perchuk (eds.), Getty Publications, Los Angeles 2021,105-123
I. Alonso, P. Gottschaller, C. C. Marsh, A. Perchuk and L. Lee, “Energy, Legibility, Purity: Color in Argentine Concrete Art,” in: Purity Is a Myth: The Materiality of Concrete Art from Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, Z. Gilbert, P. Gottschaller, T. Learner and A. Perchuk (eds.), Getty Publications, Los Angeles 2021, 125-146
“The Migration of Concretist Thought between Latin America and Europe: Max Bill, Kázmér Fejér, Tomás Maldonado and Georges Vantongerloo,” in: Migrants: Art, Artists, Materials and Ideas Crossing Borders, L. Wrapson, V. Sutcliffe, S. Woodcock and S. Bucklow (eds.), Archetype Publications in association with the Hamilton Kerr Institute, University of Cambridge, London 2019, 44-58
“Looking through the Glass, and What Fontana Found There,” in: Lucio Fontana: On The Threshold, I. Candela (ed.), exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 2019, 67-73 (English/Spanish)
“Making Concrete Art,” in: P. Gottschaller, A. Le Blanc, Making Art Concrete: Works from Argentina and Brazil in the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, P. Gottschaller, A. Le Blanc, Z. Gilbert, T. Learner, A. Perchuk (eds.), exh. cat. Getty Publications, Los Angeles 2017, 24-59
And Then Again. A conversation between Pia Gottschaller and Dan Sturgis in his studio, exh. cat. Noshowspace, London 2014, unpag.
“Strange Things Can Happen—David Reed in conversation with Pia Gottschaller,” in: Heart of Glass. David Reed—Gemälde und Zeichnungen 1967-2012, exh. cat. Kunstmuseum Bonn, S. Berg and C. Schreier (eds.), Snoeck, Köln 2012, 60-68 (English), 89-112 (German)
“Tabula Rasa 1967,” in: Der Raum der Linie. Amerikanische Zeichnungen und Skulpturen ab 1960, exh. cat. Staatliche Graphische Sammlung/Pinakothek der Moderne, M. Semff, C. Thierolf, A. Klar with P. Gottschaller and B. Heid (eds.), München 2011, 29-35
“Gespräch mit dem Künstler Peter Soriano,” in: Der Raum der Linie. Amerikanische Zeichnungen und Skulpturen ab 1960, exh. cat. Staatliche Graphische Sammlung/Pinakothek der Moderne, M. Semff, C. Thierolf, A. Klar with P. Gottschaller and B. Heid (eds.), München 2011, 14-18
“Gespräch mit dem Sammler,” in: Der Raum der Linie. Amerikanische Zeichnungen und Skulpturen ab 1960, exh. cat. Staatliche Graphische Sammlung/Pinakothek der Moderne, M. Semff, C. Thierolf, A. Klar with P. Gottschaller and B. Heid (eds.), München 2011, 42-45
“Il mito del Vinavil,” in: Il confine evanescente. Arte Italiana 1960-2010, G. Guercio and A. Mattirolo (eds.), Maxxi Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI Secolo, Roma, Mondadori Electa, Milano 2010, 309-341
“The Rothko Chapel: Towards the Infinite,” in: Art and Activism: Projects of John and Dominique de Menil, J. Helfenstein and L. Schipsi (eds.), The Menil Collection/Yale University Press, Houston and New Haven 2010, 139-147
“The Diversity of One,” in: Palermo. To the People of New York City, L. Cooke and K. Kelly (eds.), Dia Art Foundation, New York, and Richter Verlag, Düsseldorf 2009, 132-143 (English/German)
“‘Vagaries and Uncertainties’ in Rothko’s painting process,” in: Rothko/Giotto, exh. cat. Gemäldegalerie Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, S. Weppelmann and G. Wolf (eds.), Hirmer, München 2009, 153-168 (English/German)
“New York Conversations about Blinky,” in: Palermo, exh. cat. Kunsthalle Düsseldorf and Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, S. Küper (ed.), DuMont, Köln 2007, 131-147 (English/German)
Essays
P. Gottschaller and J. Mazurek, “Jay DeFeo’s Dialectics of Painting,” in: Getty Research Journal, vol. 18, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 2023, 107-132
“Elizabeth Neel,” in: Burlington Contemporary, May 2022, https://contemporary.burlington.org.uk/articles/articles/elizabeth-neel
“Painting as Technology: Toolpaths and Pathways in Cheyney Thompson’s Work,” in: Journal of Contemporary Painting, vol. 7, issues 1 & 2, 2021, 115-161
“From Ruler to Tape: Stops and Starts in the History of Painted Abstraction,” in: Getty Research Journal, vol. 10, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 2018, 149-166
“Linking Neuroscience and a Psychophysical Test on Line Perception to the Use of Self-adhesive Tape in Contemporary Painting,” in: El Anuario del Instituto de Investigaciones sobre Patrimonio Cultural, Universidad Nacional de San Martín, Buenos Aires 2017, TAREA, 4 (4), 34-58
“Dig, slash and stitch: contemporary artists and their substrates,” in: Bright Light, Living the Substrate, vol. 2, D. Dibosa (ed.), ual: University of the Arts London Camberwell, London 2014, 43-51
“Recent Trends and Developments in the Conservation of Contemporary Art,” in: Zeitschrift für Kunsttechnologie und Konservierung, vol. 2, Worms 2012, 352-362
P. Gottschaller, N. Khandekar, L. Lee, D. Kirby, “The evolution of Lucio Fontana’s painting materials,” in: Studies in Conservation, International Institute for Conservation (IIC), London 2012, vol. 57, 2, 76-91
N. Khandekar, E. Nagy, J. Miller, P. Gottschaller, C. Mancusi-Ungaro, “The Re-Restoration of Donald Judd’s ‘Untitled, 1965’,” in: Modern Paints Uncovered, Proceedings of the London Symposium, Tate and Getty Conservation Institute, London and Los Angeles 2007, 157-164
“Palermo at Work,” in: Modern Art, New Museums, Contributions to the Bilbao Congress, International Institute of Conservation (IIC), London 2004, 174-178
C. Mancusi-Ungaro and P. Gottschaller, “The Rothko Chapel: Reflectance, Reflection and Restoration,” in: Zeitschrift für Kunsttechnologie und Konservierung, vol. 2, Worms 2002, 215-224
“Max Beckmann’s Painting Process,” in: Pre-prints of the 24th Annual AGPIC Conference, University of Ontario 1998, 57-74
“Max Beckmann’s Painting Materials and Technique,” in: Harvard University Art Museums Review, vol. VII, no. 2, Cambridge MA 1998, 8-10
