Natalia Sassu Suarez Ferri

Natalia has a PhD from the University of St Andrews, an MA in Modern Art from Università Ca’ Foscari (Venice), and an MA in Arts Management from Anglia Ruskin University (Cambridge). She completed her undergraduate studies on Cultural Heritage Science at Università Cattolica (Milan). She holds an education focused position in the School and offers Honours modules on Modernism, Postmodernism and Contemporary Art in Latin America.

Natalia specialises in Latin American art of the 20th century, with a specific focus on Venezuelan Kineticism and the art of Carlos Cruz-Diez. Her research focuses on Kinetic and Op art; transcontinental links between Latin America and Europe; colour theory; and the emergence of abstraction. Her PhD looked at the transition from figuration to abstraction in the work of Carlos Cruz-Diez. This involved a focus on archival work and primary sources, as most of the artist’s figurative production is unpublished and has rarely been explored. Most recently, she has directed her research to the added value that Venezuelan kinetic public art has acquired due to the current socio-political situation in the country. Parallel research interests include the life and work of Henri Matisse, on which she worked as a researcher for Laurence King Publishing (London), and the Italian 20th century group Corrente, as part of her curatorial work in Milan for Associazione Amici dell’Arte di Aligi Sassu.

Latin American art of the 20th and 21st century; transnational links between Europe and Latin America; kinetic art; colour theory; the emergence of abstraction; modernisms.