Deborah Swallow

Swallow was born on 27 August 1948.[1] She was educated at the Perse School for Girls, an independent school in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire.[2] She studied English literature at New Hall, Cambridge, and graduated from the University of Cambridge with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree; as per tradition, her BA was promoted to a Master of Arts (MA (Cantab)) degree. She undertook postgraduate study in social anthropology at Darwin College, Cambridge.[2][3] In 1977, she completed her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree with a thesis entitled "Living Saints and their Devotees: a Study of Guru Cults in Urban Orissa".[4]

Swallow began her career at the University of Cambridge. From 1974 to 1983, she was an assistant curator at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. She was additionally a lecturer at Girton College, Cambridge from 1975 to 1980, and a Fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge from 1975 to 1983.[2] She then worked at the Victoria and Albert Museum as Keeper of the Asian Department and Director of Collections.[3]

In 2004, she was appointed Director of the Courtauld Institute of Art. She was made a professor in 2008.[2]

• "Production and control in the Indian garment export industry", in E. N. Goody (ed.), From Craft to Industry: the Ethnography of Proto-industrial Cloth Production, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1982, pp. 133–165.
• "The Arts of the Sikh Kingdoms: Collaborating with a Community" (with Eithne Nightingale), in Laura Peers and Alison K Brown (eds.), Museums and Source Communities, Routledge, London, 2003, pp. 55–71.
• "The Victoria & Albert Museum and its Asian Collections", in Louis Mezin (ed.), The Heritage of the East India Companies in European Museums and Public Collections, Cahiers de la Compagnie des Indes, no 5/6, Port Louis, 2000.
• "The India Museum and the British-Indian textile trade in the late nineteenth century", Textile History, 30 (1), 1999, pp. 29–45.
• "Colonial architecture, international exhibitions and official patronage of the Indian artisan", in Tim Barringer and Tom Flynn (eds.), Colonialism and the Object: Empire, Material Culture and the Museum, Routledge, London, pp. 52–67.
• "Curzon’s ivory chairs at Kedleston: a puzzle of patronage in Anglo-Indian furniture" (with Amin Jaffer), Apollo (April 1998), pp. 35–39.
• The Arts of India: 1550–1900 (edited with John Guy), London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1990.