dr. LE (Laura) Braden

Biography

Laura Braden is an Assistant Professor at the Departments of Arts and Culture Studies and Media and Communication of Erasmus University Rotterdam.

In addition, she is a fellow of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation for Women’s Studies, as well as a fellow of the ORDER program funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Before her employment at Erasmus University Rotterdam, she held a faculty position (VAP) at Emory University’s Sociology Department.

Her research focuses on differential recognition in the visual art world. Her dissertation examined the careers of modern artists and the factors that affected their valorisation in museum exhibition, textbooks, and the auction market in the USA from 1900 to 2010. This work was recognised by the Center for Research Libraries’ 2011 Primary Source Award for its innovative use of archival sources (1 award given each year internationally).

Her work has been published in journals and books dedicated to cultural and sociological research (e.g., Poetics) and she also has several publications in art criticism and social and cultural policy. Her current projects include research on the exhibition networks that aid artistic recognition and factors affecting the status of art collectors and collections.