Jon Leaver

Jon Leaver received his MA from the Courtauld Institute (University of London) and completed his PhD at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom, twice receiving an Arts and Humanities Research Board Fellowship.

Jon has taught both in Britain and the United States, at the University of Bristol, Otis College of Art & Design and Loyola Marymount University. His teaching has encompassed both undergraduate and graduate levels. In the UK he explored the changing identity of the artist from the Middle Ages until the present, interrogating ideas of genius, gender, and contemporary theories of artistic intention. Since his relocation to California, Jon's teaching has covered a wide range of western art history and visual culture from the pre-historic through to contemporary art, specifically examining the impact of urban experience on cultural and artistic expression, as well as the significance of the World's Fairs in the artistic and cultural life of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Jon's research focuses on nineteenth century French art and criticism as well as twentieth century art and critical theory. He is currently working on projects examining the painting of Edouard Manet, and the aesthetic theory of Charles Baudelaire.