Biography of alfred gell

British anthropologist

Alfred Antony Francis Gell, FBA (; June 12, 1945 – January 28, 1997) was a British social anthropologist whose most influential work concerned art, language, symbolism and ritual.

Biography of alfred gell von

He was trained by Edmund Leach (MPhil, Cambridge University) and Raymond Firth (PhD, London School of Economics)^[1] and did his fieldwork in Melanesia and tribal India. Gell taught at the London School of Economics, among other places.

He was also a Fellow of the British Academy. He died of cancer in 1997, at the age of 51.^[2]

Thought

In his 1998 book Art and Agency, Gell formulated an influential theory of art based on abductive reasoning.

Biography of alfred gell

Gell argues that art in general (although his attention focuses on visual artifacts, like the prows of the boats of the Trobriand islands) acts on its users, i.e. achieves agency, through a sort of technical virtuosity. Art can enchant the viewer, who is always a blind viewer, because "the technology of