معرفی
Jason Gaiger is Professor of Aesthetics and Art Theory at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of St Edmund Hall. He serves as Head of Art History and Theory at the Ruskin School of Art and acts as the Undergraduate Admissions Co-Ordinator. Previously, from 2010 to 2014, he was Head of the Ruskin School of Art and currently serves as Director of Graduate Studies.
Professor Gaiger received his education in art history and philosophy at the universities of St Andrews, Essex and Heidelberg. Before joining Oxford in 2010, he was Senior Lecturer and Director of Research in the Art History Department at the Open University.
Jason Gaiger's research spans aesthetics and art theory from the seventeenth century through to the present day, with additional focus on theories of depiction and visual meaning, and contemporary art practice and theory. His scholarly work is informed by both the historical resources of the German aesthetic tradition and debates in contemporary analytic philosophy. He has published extensively on topics including painting theory, sculpture, rhythm in visual art, visual perception, and the historical development of art theory. His most significant contribution is Philosophy of Painting: Ancient, Modern, Contemporary (2022), which provides a historically informed analysis of painting's contemporary relevance.
Professor Gaiger's publication record demonstrates a consistent focus on the philosophical dimensions of visual art, particularly examining the temporal aspects of viewing, the relationship between materiality and meaning, and the historical continuity of aesthetic concepts. His work bridges historical analysis with contemporary philosophical inquiry, often drawing connections between eighteenth and nineteenth-century aesthetic theories and current debates in visual culture. The recurring themes across his publications include the nature of pictorial representation, the cognitive processes involved in art viewing, and the philosophical foundations of art historical interpretation.
Professor Gaiger has supervised numerous graduate students, with recent theses under his direction exploring topics such as The Epistemic Value of Contemporary Art, Modes of Presence in the Contemporary Sculptural Encounter, and Affective Vision: Urban Landscape Photographs and their Paratexts. His mentorship reflects his broad expertise across historical and contemporary art theory.
