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Research dossier · People & Ideas

Charles Harrison (art historian)

British art historian (1942-2009)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJun 10, 2026
Entity authorityQ1064751 ↗
Source-derived summary

Charles Townsend Harrison (11 February 1942 in Chesham, Buckinghamshire – 6 August 2009 in Banbury, Oxfordshire) was a UK art historian who taught Art History for many years and was Emeritus Professor of History and Theory of Art at the Open University. Although he denied being an artist himself, he was a full participant and catalyst in the Art and Language group.

Charles Harrison was educated at Cambridge University and the Courtauld Institute of Art in London from 1961 to 1967.

He was tutor in Art History at the Open University from 1977–2005, Reader in Art History there from 1985-1994, Professor of the History and Theory of Art from 1994–2008, Professor Emeritus from 2008–2009, and Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago in 1991 and 1996, and Visiting Professor at the University of Texas in 1997.

Charles Harrison became a member of the Art and Language artist group in 1971 and was an editor of Art-Language. He was also a curator.

As a member of Art & Language, Charles Harrison was a exhibitor at Documenta 5 in Kassel in 1972 with the Project Index 0001 in the Idea + Idea / Light department, together with Art & Language member Terry Atkinson, David Bainbridge, Ian Burn, Michael Baldwin, Harold Hurrell, Mel Ramsden and Joseph Kosuth. With Art & Language he was also billed at Documenta 6 (1977) and Documenta 7 in 1982.

Since 1977, Art and Language has been continued as a project by Baldwin and Ramsden. Many texts are written by Charles Harrison.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Charles Harrison (art historian)” as british art historian (1942-2009). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA productive starting point for separating a subject’s documented career from later reputation and commemoration. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1942, 2009, 1961, 1967—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1942-02-11. The account is most persuasive where Charles, Harrison and historian can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as british art historian (1942-2009). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1064751. VIAF identifies the subject as 96399478. The Library of Congress control number is n85227617. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1942, 2009, 1961 and 1967.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

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  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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  2. Expand the search: follow Charles Harrison (art historian) primary sources, Charles Harrison (art historian) archive and Charles research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Charles Harrison (art historian)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.