IVAN GASKELL
Harvard University Department of History
Welcome to my personal website. I am
a cultural historian working at the intersection of history, art history,
anthropology, museology, and philosophy. I incorporate philosophy of art and
artifacts into historical writing and museum practice.
New: Posted on Harvard University’s online publication, The Yard, an article incorporating a
video segment on my attempts to teach with tangible objects, “Learning from Harvard’s ‘Art
Whisperer’”—not
my title! Vital information that didn’t make the final cut is that the bow in
question is seventeenth-century Wampanoag or Nipmuc, reminding us of the
antiquity of human habitation in New England.
Please click on the headings for details.
I realize
that my combination of interests confuses people—it confuses me—but
interdisciplinarity, rather than narrow academic specialization, is our fate.
It’s also in my temperament to define and ask the question behind the question
(and the question behind that question). It annoys so many people.
Recent
Thoughts: January 1, and February 6, 2010. (For the
complete list, click the heading.)
In addition,
I pass on a quote from Amanda Palmer’s
blog concerning my (more than) slightly interesting son:
one clip of love:
leo gaskell is a video genius lexington high student who has been attending all
the rehearsals (you’ll recognize his name from the still shots i posted in the
last blog). he’s been videotaping everything and just put this awesome youtube clip together,
which includes an interview with me
In a career at London University’s
Warburg Institute, Cambridge University, and—since 1991—Harvard University, I
have written, edited, and contributed to a bunch of books and academic
journals, and published contemporary art criticism. My subject
matter is diverse because I am concerned with the principles of writing history
from art and artifacts. My work on early modern Dutch and Flemish art—notably Johannes Vermeer— attracts
some readers, while that on museum practice engages others. Yet others dip into
my philosophy contributions, notably Cambridge
Studies in Philosophy and the Arts, the book
series I edited with Salim Kemal.
I have curated numerous long-term
museum installations and art exhibitions. I work on the Web: check out “I Have a
Son to Offer”—An Online
Exhibition of American Civil War Artworks in Harvard Collections.
[Temporarily suspended in May, 2009 as part of the redevelopment of the Harvard
Art Museum web site.]
While
acknowledging the inescapability of my European and American identity, I
promote cultural decentering (no more centers and peripheries). I advocate
attention to the visual creativity of a wide range of societies. Recently, I
have written and lectured on topics from Polynesia, Congo, and Native American
nations in the USA.
New: I am
starting to make podcasts of lectures available: try listening by following the
link to my podcast page.
Prospective students who are
interested in working with me should also visit my Harvard History
Department webpage. Teaching is important to me, but I also have museum
responsibilities.
