James Quarterman

I’m in my third and final year of undergraduate study, where I have specialised in the history of artworks produced in fifteenth and sixteenth-century Italy and Northern Europe, and nineteenth-century European capitals (with a bit of twentieth/twenty-first century British and American modern art on the side). These periods of art history have always interested me for their great impact on how we understand art today – the concept of the “artist” as we understand it was defined in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and the foundations of contemporary society, and the ways in which it expressed itself, were laid down in the nineteenth century. If everything goes to plan, I will be taking another year of higher level tuition, either a Master of Arts at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, or a Master of Philosophy at Cambridge University. I will be using this extra year to further specialise in fifteenth and sixteenth-century Italian art. Biddle & Webb has been a useful part-time job while studying, and I’ve been able to put my art analysis skills to use through valuing art that comes into our salerooms (with the experience of Jeremy Thornton and Megan to aid me of course!).

Mimi Buchanan

I am currently in the final year of my undergraduate History of Art degree at the University of Birmingham. Analysis of art is important as it can shed light on political, social and economic changes throughout history. My dissertation explores Surrealist artist Leonor Fini who explored the complex and changing nature of femininity during the mid-twentieth century. I am fascinated by how Fini used complex and ambiguous layers of imagery to depict her dreams. I have enjoyed my undergraduate degree so thoroughly that next year I plan to undertake a Masters in Art History with Curating, also at the University of Birmingham. Offering a gallery placement and the opportunity to curate an exhibition at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, this course will equip me with the skills to pursue a career in gallery work, preferably in a Learning and Engagement Department.

I am a part-time Saleroom Assistant at Biddle & Webb. My role involves cataloguing items for the monthly Interiors Sales, ranging from furniture to ornaments, toys, militaria and coins. I enjoy doing something different everyday! On sale days I operate the online auction system on the Biddle & Webb website.