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Philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) has been an influential figure across numerous branches of modern intellectual history. With rare exceptions, applications of Peirce’s thought within the field of art history have drawn upon his pioneering work in semiotics: the study of signs and symbols, their use and interpretation. Yet the elegance of Peirce’s famous triad of the sign, icon-index-symbol, has eclipsed the true breadth and complexity of his interests as well as the eccentricity of his ideas. Among other pursuits, for example, Peirce contributed to the advancement of geodesy at the United States Coast Survey. His studies of logic in relation to electronic circuits foreshadowed the development of modern digital computation. He also authored thousands of dictionary entries and invented the philosophy known as Pragmatism.

Art history is ripe for an expanded consideration or Peirce’s significance, especially in light of renewed scholarly interest in relationships between truth and visual representation, forms of mediation, and the political and ethical legacy of Pragmatism in the U.S. and beyond. This panel seeks to offer new avenues for exploring relationships between Peirce’s ideas and art and visual culture. We welcome papers that focus on Peirce’s contributions to knowledge during his lifetime, as well as those that consider his reception in the 20th and 21st centuries, including his influence on modes of critical analysis across a range of fields. Papers may address any aspect of Peirce’s work, including quantitative analysis, semiotics, linguistics, cartography, Pragmatism, neo-Pragmatism, theories of photography, and the index/indexicality.