Introduction: the resonant object

• Main Authors: Amy K. Hamlin, Robin Schuldenfrei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Department of Art History, University of Birmingham 2019-12-01
• Series: Journal of Art Historiography
• Subjects: charles w. haxthausen; the resonant object; the two art histories; italo calvino; museum studies; clark art institute
• Online Access: https://arthistoriography.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/hamlin_schuldenfrei.pdf

This introductory paper introduces The Resonant Object, a special issue of the Journal of Art Historiography which honours the intellectual legacy of Charles W. Haxthausen’s teaching and the landmark conference ‘The Two Art Histories: The Museum and the University’. Taking Haxthausen’s allegorical understanding of Italo Calvino’s The Castle of Crossed Destinies as its point of departure, this paper centres the notion of the resonant object within its historical context and in dialogue with shifting frameworks of knowledge. The notion is inspired by Haxthausen’s fifty years in the discipline as academic, as curator, as intellectual, as mentor, and as colleague. The paper serves as a preface to four long-form essays by Haxthausen’s former students that feature new research on a broad range of resonant objects and topics.