Aleks Koutny
@koutny.bsky.social
art historian | author | tutor at cambridge uni | VISUAL CULTURES OF DEATH IN CENTRAL EUROPE (out now) | https://societyofauthors.org/soa-member/aleks-koutny/ | photo by Philippa James
An excellent online resource: Cambridge Digital Library brings together many of the University's collections @theul.bsky.social
: cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk
: cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk
Cambridge Digital Library
cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk
February 7, 2026 at 11:57 AM
An excellent online resource: Cambridge Digital Library brings together many of the University's collections @theul.bsky.social
: cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk
: cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk
Highlights from the Jane Austen display currently @bodleianlibrary.bsky.social Marking the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth, Dancing with Austen explores how important dance was to Austen’s society and its crucial role in her creativity. #exhibition
February 6, 2026 at 7:36 PM
Highlights from the Jane Austen display currently @bodleianlibrary.bsky.social Marking the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth, Dancing with Austen explores how important dance was to Austen’s society and its crucial role in her creativity. #exhibition
Reposted by Aleks Koutny
Happy Birthday to James Joyce!🎉 🎂
Joyce was born on 2nd February 1882 in Rathgar, Dublin. Joyce loved having a big celebration for his birthday.
Come and catch the exhibition of James Joyce’s personal archive at University of Reading Special Collections @themerl.bsky.social !
Joyce was born on 2nd February 1882 in Rathgar, Dublin. Joyce loved having a big celebration for his birthday.
Come and catch the exhibition of James Joyce’s personal archive at University of Reading Special Collections @themerl.bsky.social !
![A telegram to James Joyce in Paris on his 49th birthday, sent from Dublin by Samuel Beckett. Beckett wishes James Joyce a happy birthday using a quote from ‘Work in Progress’ (later known as Finnegans Wake). [SSJ A/1/2/1]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:qm6izhyu7dijf25zwlysdkmh/bafkreihxdb5wudpnw55nl4lulk6psswqdrgddqrwohupv27zkwakux4ay4@jpeg)
![A fountain pen with a gold charm given to Joyce on his 57th birthday in 1939 by his family to celebrate the forthcoming publication of his book ‘Finnegans Wake’. [SSJ-OBJ/002]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:qm6izhyu7dijf25zwlysdkmh/bafkreidkw3d3d2s6pb37ldktql3ec6o656xglggbfz4fjud2sucrcyvnfe@jpeg)
![A fountain pen with a gold charm given to Joyce on his 57th birthday in 1939 by his family to celebrate the forthcoming publication of his book ‘Finnegans Wake’. [SSJ-OBJ/002]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:qm6izhyu7dijf25zwlysdkmh/bafkreia55alkcwdfkesw3uglm3do6e2vg3mraiypaseeuzb6bqk6fxqx2q@jpeg)
February 2, 2026 at 10:37 AM
Happy Birthday to James Joyce!🎉 🎂
Joyce was born on 2nd February 1882 in Rathgar, Dublin. Joyce loved having a big celebration for his birthday.
Come and catch the exhibition of James Joyce’s personal archive at University of Reading Special Collections @themerl.bsky.social !
Joyce was born on 2nd February 1882 in Rathgar, Dublin. Joyce loved having a big celebration for his birthday.
Come and catch the exhibition of James Joyce’s personal archive at University of Reading Special Collections @themerl.bsky.social !
Starts tomorrow at The Wallace Collection, London: a new, free trail 'Marie-Antoinette: An Eye for Beauty' - www.wallacecollection.org/whats-on/exh...
February 1, 2026 at 11:28 AM
Starts tomorrow at The Wallace Collection, London: a new, free trail 'Marie-Antoinette: An Eye for Beauty' - www.wallacecollection.org/whats-on/exh...
Lady Chatterley's Lover display, currently at #Oxford Brookes University library. Various editions, all published by @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social
January 30, 2026 at 11:05 AM
Lady Chatterley's Lover display, currently at #Oxford Brookes University library. Various editions, all published by @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social
Another #exhibition on my must-see-soon list: 'Expecting: Birth, Belief and Protection' @wellcomecollection.bsky.social features a birthing scroll from 1500 CE: wellcomecollection.org/exhibitions/...
Expecting: Birth, Belief and Protection
This display features a rare medieval birth scroll and explores protective practices and beliefs around pregnancy, childbirth and infertility past and present.
wellcomecollection.org
January 29, 2026 at 9:26 AM
Another #exhibition on my must-see-soon list: 'Expecting: Birth, Belief and Protection' @wellcomecollection.bsky.social features a birthing scroll from 1500 CE: wellcomecollection.org/exhibitions/...
Scanning the NYT archive, I found the 1996 London shows I built sets for, age 15: A Plague on Both Your Houses@Bloomsbury Theatre and They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?@The Place - both directed by the late Ed Wilson, who I've just realised was also from the North East. www.nyt.org.uk/get-tickets/...
Production Archive - National Youth Theatre
Find out about the 100s of productions we've commissioned, staged and toured at some of the world's leading venues since we were formed in 1956.
www.nyt.org.uk
January 28, 2026 at 12:49 PM
Scanning the NYT archive, I found the 1996 London shows I built sets for, age 15: A Plague on Both Your Houses@Bloomsbury Theatre and They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?@The Place - both directed by the late Ed Wilson, who I've just realised was also from the North East. www.nyt.org.uk/get-tickets/...
Reposted by Aleks Koutny
Grants!
We are offering small grants (maximum £500 each) to support projects in book history & bibliography. We particularly encourage early-career applicants and projects that use Oxford collections.
Application is brief; deadline is 27th February 2026.
Details at oxbibsoc.org.uk/grants/
We are offering small grants (maximum £500 each) to support projects in book history & bibliography. We particularly encourage early-career applicants and projects that use Oxford collections.
Application is brief; deadline is 27th February 2026.
Details at oxbibsoc.org.uk/grants/
Grants
Previous grant recipients If you would like to help us support early career scholars in bibliography, please email our Treasurer (treasurer@oxbibsoc.org.uk) to discuss how you can help. Any donatio…
oxbibsoc.org.uk
January 8, 2026 at 11:52 AM
Grants!
We are offering small grants (maximum £500 each) to support projects in book history & bibliography. We particularly encourage early-career applicants and projects that use Oxford collections.
Application is brief; deadline is 27th February 2026.
Details at oxbibsoc.org.uk/grants/
We are offering small grants (maximum £500 each) to support projects in book history & bibliography. We particularly encourage early-career applicants and projects that use Oxford collections.
Application is brief; deadline is 27th February 2026.
Details at oxbibsoc.org.uk/grants/
Can't wait to see this: 'Hawaiʻi: a kingdom crossing oceans', #exhibition, now on @britishmuseum.bsky.social : www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/...
Hawaiʻi: a kingdom crossing oceans
Be swept away by the extraordinary history and dazzling artistry of this Pacific Island nation.
www.britishmuseum.org
January 22, 2026 at 10:39 AM
Can't wait to see this: 'Hawaiʻi: a kingdom crossing oceans', #exhibition, now on @britishmuseum.bsky.social : www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/...
Excited that this iconic listed building in the centre of Newcastle will be renovated to create affordable housing after standing derelict for twenty years: www.twbpt.org.uk/building/kee...
Keelmen’s Hospital. eighteenth century almshouse
Buildings Keelmen’s Hospital was built in 1701, not as a hospital in the modern sense but as an almshouse. Almshouses provided food and shelter for the town’s poor. Keelmen’s Hospital was set up…
www.twbpt.org.uk
January 20, 2026 at 5:06 PM
Excited that this iconic listed building in the centre of Newcastle will be renovated to create affordable housing after standing derelict for twenty years: www.twbpt.org.uk/building/kee...
My review of this fascinating book about Lady Charlotte Schreiber (1812-1895), much of whose important collection is now in the British Museum and V&A, will be published later this year. I will post a link to the open-access review here once it is available.
Today is the anniversary of the death in 1895 of Lady Charlotte Schreiber, also called Charlotte Guest. Last Sept @carolinemccaff.bsky.social published an excellent book about this fascinating woman:
Lady Charlotte Schreiber, Extraordinary Art Collector
www.lundhumphries.com/products/lad...
Lady Charlotte Schreiber, Extraordinary Art Collector
www.lundhumphries.com/products/lad...
January 19, 2026 at 10:35 AM
My review of this fascinating book about Lady Charlotte Schreiber (1812-1895), much of whose important collection is now in the British Museum and V&A, will be published later this year. I will post a link to the open-access review here once it is available.
It's been a busy start to the year on this site! Welcome to all my new followers and here's some more info about my writing and teaching (I work on topics relating to histories of art and display): societyofauthors.org/soa-member/a...
Aleksandra Koutny - The Society of Authors
Art historian and writer
societyofauthors.org
January 14, 2026 at 10:44 AM
It's been a busy start to the year on this site! Welcome to all my new followers and here's some more info about my writing and teaching (I work on topics relating to histories of art and display): societyofauthors.org/soa-member/a...
Reposted by Aleks Koutny
Art Herstory has begun the 2026 edition of our annual post about exhibitions of art by women of the 16th to c. mid-20th centuries!
Museum Exhibitions about Historic Women Artists: 2026
artherstory.net/museum-exhib...
We'll continue to add entries to this list as art museums announce new shows.
Museum Exhibitions about Historic Women Artists: 2026
artherstory.net/museum-exhib...
We'll continue to add entries to this list as art museums announce new shows.
January 12, 2026 at 4:44 PM
Art Herstory has begun the 2026 edition of our annual post about exhibitions of art by women of the 16th to c. mid-20th centuries!
Museum Exhibitions about Historic Women Artists: 2026
artherstory.net/museum-exhib...
We'll continue to add entries to this list as art museums announce new shows.
Museum Exhibitions about Historic Women Artists: 2026
artherstory.net/museum-exhib...
We'll continue to add entries to this list as art museums announce new shows.
Reposted by Aleks Koutny
Coming up Jan 22 -
Virtual Conversation with Artist Shahzia Sikander
americanart.si.edu/events/virtu...
Sikander & curator Saisha Grayson will conduct a virtual conversation about the artist’s multimedia practice, including the video The Last Post, recently acquired by SAAM and now on view.
Virtual Conversation with Artist Shahzia Sikander
americanart.si.edu/events/virtu...
Sikander & curator Saisha Grayson will conduct a virtual conversation about the artist’s multimedia practice, including the video The Last Post, recently acquired by SAAM and now on view.
January 10, 2026 at 7:12 PM
Coming up Jan 22 -
Virtual Conversation with Artist Shahzia Sikander
americanart.si.edu/events/virtu...
Sikander & curator Saisha Grayson will conduct a virtual conversation about the artist’s multimedia practice, including the video The Last Post, recently acquired by SAAM and now on view.
Virtual Conversation with Artist Shahzia Sikander
americanart.si.edu/events/virtu...
Sikander & curator Saisha Grayson will conduct a virtual conversation about the artist’s multimedia practice, including the video The Last Post, recently acquired by SAAM and now on view.
'Pembooks' by Patrick Hughes, 2025: a new 'solid hollow' artwork (an optical illusion that looks convex, but is concave) on display at Pembroke College, Oxford, to celebrate the college's 400th anniversary. It features books linked to the college, including one by poet Patience Agbabi, an alumna.
January 11, 2026 at 4:56 PM
'Pembooks' by Patrick Hughes, 2025: a new 'solid hollow' artwork (an optical illusion that looks convex, but is concave) on display at Pembroke College, Oxford, to celebrate the college's 400th anniversary. It features books linked to the college, including one by poet Patience Agbabi, an alumna.
Reposted by Aleks Koutny
If you're looking for #history networks on BlueSky in 2026, our Starter Pack - recently updated - has details of 150 leading societies, organisations and groups active in the UK and Ireland bit.ly/4ptl0On
#Skystorians
#Skystorians
Societies & groups for historians, UK and Ireland
Join the conversation
bit.ly
January 7, 2026 at 1:39 PM
If you're looking for #history networks on BlueSky in 2026, our Starter Pack - recently updated - has details of 150 leading societies, organisations and groups active in the UK and Ireland bit.ly/4ptl0On
#Skystorians
#Skystorians
Just published open-access (free to download in full as a PDF): this edited collection discusses power, religion and language in the literature of the Slavic Christian world, including sections on saints in Early Rus’: www.peterlang.com/document/140...
Peter Lang Verlag - Saints in the Slavic Christian World
This landmark edited collection offers a new series of studies of power, religion and language in the literature of the Slavic Christian world. The ...
www.peterlang.com
January 6, 2026 at 11:33 AM
Just published open-access (free to download in full as a PDF): this edited collection discusses power, religion and language in the literature of the Slavic Christian world, including sections on saints in Early Rus’: www.peterlang.com/document/140...
Reposted by Aleks Koutny
Art Herstory has begun the 2026 edition of our annual post about exhibitions of art by women of the 16th to c. mid-20th centuries!
Museum Exhibitions about Historic Women Artists: 2026
artherstory.net/museum-exhib...
We'll continue to add entries to this list as art museums announce new shows.
Museum Exhibitions about Historic Women Artists: 2026
artherstory.net/museum-exhib...
We'll continue to add entries to this list as art museums announce new shows.
January 1, 2026 at 7:15 PM
Art Herstory has begun the 2026 edition of our annual post about exhibitions of art by women of the 16th to c. mid-20th centuries!
Museum Exhibitions about Historic Women Artists: 2026
artherstory.net/museum-exhib...
We'll continue to add entries to this list as art museums announce new shows.
Museum Exhibitions about Historic Women Artists: 2026
artherstory.net/museum-exhib...
We'll continue to add entries to this list as art museums announce new shows.
A slightly belated Happy New Year! I started mine with a trip to the V&A in London - the Marie Antoinette exhibition again, this time with family. Looking forward to continuing to share stories of art, museums and writing here in 2026 and wishing everyone a healthy and happy New Year!
January 2, 2026 at 10:22 AM
A slightly belated Happy New Year! I started mine with a trip to the V&A in London - the Marie Antoinette exhibition again, this time with family. Looking forward to continuing to share stories of art, museums and writing here in 2026 and wishing everyone a healthy and happy New Year!
Today I've been exploring the digitalized collections of Czech museums and galleries available at: en.esbirky.cz
eSbirky.cz
en.esbirky.cz
December 30, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Today I've been exploring the digitalized collections of Czech museums and galleries available at: en.esbirky.cz
Still on at the National Museum, #Warsaw: Olga Boznańska (1865–1940) #exhibition, showcasing nearly thirty paintings from the museum's collections
December 28, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Still on at the National Museum, #Warsaw: Olga Boznańska (1865–1940) #exhibition, showcasing nearly thirty paintings from the museum's collections
Exquisite toy theatre by Martin Engelbrecht, c. 1721 - tiny stage sets and characters in costume, with scenes of a street, garden and woodland. Currently on display at the 'Wright of Derby: From the Shadows' #exhibition @nationalgalleryuk.bsky.social
December 20, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Exquisite toy theatre by Martin Engelbrecht, c. 1721 - tiny stage sets and characters in costume, with scenes of a street, garden and woodland. Currently on display at the 'Wright of Derby: From the Shadows' #exhibition @nationalgalleryuk.bsky.social
'Coastal scene' (c. 1892) by Belgian artist Théo van Rysselberghe - one of my favourite paintings from the 'Radical Harmony: Helene Kröller-Müller's Neo-Impressionists' #exhibition on until 8th Feb @nationalgalleryuk.bsky.social
December 20, 2025 at 7:10 PM
'Coastal scene' (c. 1892) by Belgian artist Théo van Rysselberghe - one of my favourite paintings from the 'Radical Harmony: Helene Kröller-Müller's Neo-Impressionists' #exhibition on until 8th Feb @nationalgalleryuk.bsky.social
Listening to the raindrops as I write made me think of 'Cab in the Rain' by Polish artist Józef Pankiewicz. Painted in 1896, but it feels so immediate. This artwork is in the collections of the National Museum in Kraków. Can you spot the cab?
December 4, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Listening to the raindrops as I write made me think of 'Cab in the Rain' by Polish artist Józef Pankiewicz. Painted in 1896, but it feels so immediate. This artwork is in the collections of the National Museum in Kraków. Can you spot the cab?
Reposted by Aleks Koutny
We are very excited to announce the launch of our new digital library platform which will host all of our digital content, including curated exhibitions and featured collections. Find out more here: https://soas.quartexcollections.com/?cid= #EYADigital
December 4, 2025 at 2:05 PM
We are very excited to announce the launch of our new digital library platform which will host all of our digital content, including curated exhibitions and featured collections. Find out more here: https://soas.quartexcollections.com/?cid= #EYADigital