Irene Gammel

Last updated
Irene Gammel
Irene Gammel.jpg
Alma materMcMaster University
Known for- Modernism
- Avantgarde
- Dada
- Canadian Women’s Heritage
Scientific career
FieldsModern Literature and Culture
Institutions University of Prince Edward Island
Toronto Metropolitan University

Irene Gammel FRSC is a Canadian literary historian, biographer, and curator. Gammel's works critically examine women's contributions to literature and art within the cultural context of the 20th century, shedding light on their experiences, challenges, and achievements. Her research delves into the lives of influential women artists and writers, who were often historically sidelined and erased, analyzing their creative processes, historical struggles, and impact on society.

Contents

Gammel is Professor of English at Toronto Metropolitan University in Toronto. She holds the Tier I Canada Research Chair in Modern Literature and Culture [1] and is the Director of the Modern Literature and Culture Research Centre. In 2009, she was elected a member of the Royal Society of Canada.

Gammel holds a PhD (1992) and MA (1987) in English from McMaster University, and a Staatsexamen's degree from the Universität des Saarlandes in Germany. She taught at the University of Prince Edward Island and held Visiting Professorships at the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena and Erfurt Universität in Germany. She also served as the President of the Canadian Comparative Literature Association.

Gammel has published numerous books including Baroness Elsa, a groundbreaking cultural biography of New York Dada artist and poet Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven. The biography examines the extraordinary life of Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, exploring her unconventional path and remarkable artistic pursuits in poetry, sculpture, assemblage, and performance art. Her avant-garde creations blended found objects and unconventional materials, stretching the limits of artistic expression and defying established artistic norms. The book uncovers the profound connections between the Baroness's work and the New York Dada movement—an artistic revolution characterized by its anti-establishment and anti-art stance—and sheds light on her influential role in shaping the movement's aesthetic and ideology. In addition, the biography illustrates the Baroness's radical and unique engagement with everyday life, examining her relentless efforts to dissolve the boundaries between art and reality. For example, the Baroness’s audacious and unconventional personal style, often showcased through eccentric costumes and public displays, fearlessly challenged societal expectations and preconceived notions of femininity and gender roles.

Gammel’s Looking for Anne of Green Gables: The Story of L. M. Montgomery and Her Literary Classic focuses on the life and legacy of acclaimed Canadian author L.M. Montgomery and her beloved novel, Anne of Green Gables . The biography provides a comprehensive exploration of Montgomery's personal life, her inspirations, and the journey that led to the creation of the iconic character, Anne Shirley. The biography takes readers on a captivating journey through Montgomery's upbringing in Prince Edward Island, Canada, and examines the influences and experiences that shaped her as a writer and delves into her struggles, triumphs, and the intricate connections between her own life and the fictional world of Green Gables. Gammel uncovers Montgomery's writing process, revealing her dedication to her craft and the challenges she faced in getting her work published. It provides insights into the social and cultural context of the time, as well as the significance of Montgomery's portrayal of a strong-willed and imaginative young girl like Anne. Furthermore, Gammel explores the lasting impact and enduring popularity of the novel by examining the cultural and literary significance of the Anne Shirley character, and the ways in which Montgomery's work continues to resonate with readers around the world. Gammel’s Looking for Anne of Green Gables also delves into the adaptations and adaptations of the story, from stage plays to television series, highlighting the ongoing relevance and timeless appeal of Anne of Green Gables. [2]

Together with Suzanne Zelazo, Gammel published Crystal Flowers: Poems and a Libretto by Florine Stettheimer, and Body Sweats: The Uncensored Writings of Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven , the first major English collection of the Baroness's poems. Both books were selected for the New York Times’ notable art books for 2011. [3]

In her biography, I Can Only Paint: The Story of Battlefield Artist Mary Riter Hamilton, Irene Gammel explores the art and life of Canadian artist Mary Riter Hamilton, a pioneering figure and Canada's first unofficial woman war artist. Gammel's biography is the first reliable account of Hamilton's remarkable experiences as she courageously ventured to war-torn Europe, employing her artistic talents to depict the devastation and human toll of World War I. The book illuminates Hamilton's artistic development, delving into her personal struggles and highlighting her significant contributions as a pioneering female artist of her time. By providing insights into the historical and cultural context of World War I, the book examines Hamilton's journey as a woman artist during a time when women encountered numerous challenges and constraints in their pursuit of artistic participation and professional recognition. I Can Only Paint serves as a comprehensive biography and art historical analysis, offering readers a profound understanding of Mary Riter Hamilton's life, her unique artistic vision, and her enduring place in the realms of Canadian and international art history. In 2022, Gammel's I Can Only Paint won the C.P. Stacey Award for the best book in the field of Canadian military history. [2]

Exhibitions

Publications

Biography / Non-fiction

Criticism

Edited books

Honors and awards

Related Research Articles

<i>Anne of Green Gables</i> 1908 novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Anne of Green Gables is a 1908 novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery. Written for all ages, it has been considered a classic children's novel since the mid-20th century. Set in the late 19th century, the novel recounts the adventures of 11-year-old orphan girl Anne Shirley sent by mistake to two middle-aged siblings, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, who had originally intended to adopt a boy to help them on their farm in the fictional town of Avonlea in Prince Edward Island, Canada. The novel recounts how Anne makes her way through life with the Cuthberts, in school, and within the town.

Avonlea is a fictional community located on Prince Edward Island, Canada, and is the setting of Lucy Maud Montgomery's novel Anne of Green Gables, following the adventures of Anne Shirley, as well as its sequels, and the television series Road to Avonlea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Found object</span> Non-standard material used in work of art

A found object, or found art, is art created from undisguised, but often modified, items or products that are not normally considered materials from which art is made, often because they already have a non-art function. Pablo Picasso first publicly utilized the idea when he pasted a printed image of chair caning onto his painting titled Still Life with Chair Caning (1912). Marcel Duchamp is thought to have perfected the concept several years later when he made a series of ready-mades, consisting of completely unaltered everyday objects selected by Duchamp and designated as art. The most famous example is Fountain (1917), a standard urinal purchased from a hardware store and displayed on a pedestal, resting on its back. In its strictest sense the term "ready-made" is applied exclusively to works produced by Marcel Duchamp, who borrowed the term from the clothing industry while living in New York, and especially to works dating from 1913 to 1921.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Modernist poetry in English</span>

Modernist poetry in English started in the early years of the 20th century with the appearance of the Imagists. Like other modernists, Imagist poets wrote in reaction to the perceived excesses of Victorian poetry, and its emphasis on traditional formalism and ornate diction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Djuna Barnes</span> American Modernist writer, poet and artist (1892–1982)

Djuna Barnes was an American artist, illustrator, journalist, and writer who is perhaps best known for her novel Nightwood (1936), a cult classic of lesbian fiction and an important work of modernist literature.

Sound poetry is an artistic form bridging literary and musical composition, in which the phonetic aspects of human speech are foregrounded instead of more conventional semantic and syntactic values; "verse without words". By definition, sound poetry is intended primarily for performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Green Gables (Prince Edward Island)</span> 19th-century farm in Prince Edward Island, Canada

Green Gables Heritage Place is a 19th century farm and literary landmark in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, Canada. Green Gables served as the setting for the Anne of Green Gables novels by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Green Gables is recognized as a Federal Historic Building by the government of Canada and is situated on the L.M. Montgomery's Cavendish National Historic Site of Canada. The National Historic Site itself is situated on Prince Edward Island National Park.

<i>Fountain</i> (Duchamp) 1917 sculpture by Marcel Duchamp

Fountain is a readymade sculpture by Marcel Duchamp in 1917, consisting of a porcelain urinal signed "R. Mutt". In April 1917, an ordinary piece of plumbing chosen by Duchamp was submitted for the inaugural exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists, to be staged at the Grand Central Palace in New York. When explaining the purpose of his readymade sculpture, Duchamp stated they are "everyday objects raised to the dignity of a work of art by the artist's act of choice." In Duchamp's presentation, the urinal's orientation was altered from its usual positioning. Fountain was not rejected by the committee, since Society rules stated that all works would be accepted from artists who paid the fee, but the work was never placed in the show area. Following that removal, Fountain was photographed at Alfred Stieglitz's studio, and the photo published in the Dada journal The Blind Man. The original has been lost.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederick Philip Grove</span> German-born Canadian novelist and translator (1879 – 1948)

Frederick Philip Grove was a German-born Canadian novelist and translator.

The Little Review, was an American avant-garde literary magazine founded by Margaret Anderson in Chicago's historic Fine Arts Building, published literary and art work from 1914 to May 1929. With the help of Jane Heap and Ezra Pound, Anderson created a magazine that featured a wide variety of transatlantic modernists and cultivated many early examples of experimental writing and art. Many contributors were American, British, Irish, and French. In addition to publishing a variety of international literature, The Little Review printed early examples of surrealist artwork and Dadaism. The magazine's most well known work was the serialization of James Joyce's Ulysses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">August Endell</span> German architect

August Endell was a designer, writer, teacher, and German architect. He was one of the founders of the Jugendstil movement, the German counterpart of Art Nouveau. His first marriage was with Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven</span> German artist and poet (1874 –1927)

Elsa Baroness von Freytag-Loringhoven was a German-born avant-garde visual artist and poet, who was active in Greenwich Village, New York, from 1913 to 1923, where her radical self-displays came to embody a living Dada. She was considered one of the most controversial and radical women artists of the era.

<i>God</i> (sculpture) 1917 sculpture by Morton Livingston Schamberg and Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven

God is a circa 1917 sculpture by New York Dadaists Morton Livingston Schamberg and Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven. It is an example of readymade art, a term coined by Marcel Duchamp in 1915 to describe his found objects. God is a 10½ inch high cast iron plumbing trap turned upside down and mounted on a wooden mitre box. The work is now in the Arensberg Collection in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

<i>Portrait of Marcel Duchamp</i> Artwork by Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven

Portrait of Marcel Duchamp is a circa 1920–1922 work of art by Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven. It is an example of assemblage, made of an amalgamation of broken wine glasses, assorted feathers, tree twigs, and other unidentifiable objects in reference to Marcel Duchamp, who created various ready-mades beginning in 1913.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florine Stettheimer</span> American painter (1871–1944)

Florine Stettheimer was an American modernist painter, feminist, theatrical designer, poet, and salonnière.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Heap</span> American publisher

Jane Heap was an American publisher and a significant figure in the development and promotion of literary modernism. Together with Margaret Anderson, her friend and business partner, she edited the celebrated literary magazine The Little Review, which published an extraordinary collection of modern American, English and Irish writers between 1914 and 1929. Heap herself has been called "one of the most neglected contributors to the transmission of modernism between America and Europe during the early twentieth century."

<i>The Selected Journals of L. M. Montgomery</i>

The Selected Journals of L. M. Montgomery, Vol. I–V, are the personal journals of famed Canadian author, Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874–1942).

<i>Body Sweats: The Uncensored Writings of Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven</i>

Body Sweats: The Uncensored Writings of Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven is the first major English collection of poems by dadaist poet and artist Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven (1874–1927), also known as "The Baroness". Published posthumously in 2011 by MIT Press, Body Sweats was edited by Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven biographer Irene Gammel and poet and poetics scholar Suzanne Zelazo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bosom Friends affair</span> Controversy concerning Anne of Green Gables

The "Bosom Friends" affair was an academic and popular controversy sparked when professor Laura Robinson speculated that Anne Shirley of the popular Anne of Green Gables series expressed lesbian desires. The proposal, part of a May 2000 presentation at the Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities, sparked a media furor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Rollins Epperly</span>

Elizabeth Rollins Epperly is a Canadian-based American Victorian scholar, author, curator, English professor, and former university president (1995–1998) of the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI). Epperly taught at the University of Prince Edward Island for 22 years where she also served as founding chair of the L.M. Montgomery Institute and UPEI's fourth president. The Epperly Plaza on the UPEI campus is dedicated in her name. Following her retirement she was made Professor Emerita by the university.

References

  1. ↑ "Canada Research Chair in Modern Literature and Culture". Canada Research Chairs. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  2. 1 2 Bolick, Kate (2008-08-14). "Irene Gammel's 'Looking For Anne of Green Gables'". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-06-19.
  3. 1 2 Smith, Roberta (2011-11-21). "For Art Lovers, Volumes Meant to Awe and Inspire". New York Times. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  4. ↑ Bloemink, Barbara (2017-07-06). "Imagine the Fun Florine Stettheimer Would Have with Donald Trump: The Artist as Feminist, Democrat, and Chronicler of Her Time". ARTnews. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  5. ↑ "Dr. Irene Gammel". MLC Research Centre & Gallery. Ryerson University. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  6. ↑ "Scholar Irene Gammel named winner of the 2020-2021 C.P. Stacey Award for best book in Canadian military history". wlu.ca. Retrieved 2023-11-14.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.