Cole Gruber

Biography

Cole is a PhD student working at the intersection of art history, theory, and historiography. Many of his objects of study present themselves as limit cases to the discipline of art history—things that straddle, whether intentionally or not, the amorphous boundary between art and non-art.

His dissertation—tentatively titled “Art’s Thoroughly Modern Origins: Episodes from the History of an Inquiry”—explores a handful of particularly potent moments from the last three centuries of scholarly investigation into the origins of art. At present, the collection of candidate objects for the world’s oldest artworks is studied almost exclusively by individuals outside art history departments. Isn’t that kinda strange? Cole thinks so! How did this come to pass? Stay tuned!  

He received his BA from UChicago and his MA from Williams College.