Curator, historian, teacher, writer and painter, born in Yorkshire, a co-curator of the major Matisse Picasso exhibition at Tate Modern in 2002. He studied at University of Manchester school of architecture, 1961–2; University of Leeds department of fine art, 1962–6; taught at Winchester School of Art, 1966–70; was awarded a Harkness Fellowship, research in history of art, at Yale University, 1970–1; researched at Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1971–2; and from 1972 studied at Courtauld Institute, gaining his doctorate. Taught art at University of Leeds, 1973–5. From 1975 was on the staff of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 2003, Elderfield was appointed chief curator of the department of painting and sculpture, the Museum’s most senior position.