Currently
I am a historian and a historian of art, with a focus on women, gender, and the politics of artistic expression. I was a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows from 2018-2022.
I specialize in the study of women artists and their writings, paintings, drawings, sculptures, and prints. In my work, I illuminate how women have navigated sociopolitical barriers to participate in their societies through art, literature, and other diverse forms of intellectual and creative expression, even with the obstacles they regularly faced — and especially at moments of political revolution and change. My book, A Revolution on Canvas: The Rise of Women Artists in Britain and France, 1760-1830, was published by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art in Association with Yale University Press in June 2022. It was named one of the top art books of 2022 by The Art Newspaper and The Conversation.
I am currently working on my second book, A New Story of Art (Doubleday/US and Viking/UK).
My research has been supported by fellowships from the Harvard Society of Fellows, the J. Paul Getty Trust, the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, the Yale Center for British Art, the Lewis Walpole Library, and Princeton University.
I received my PhD and MA in History from Princeton University, my MA in Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art, and my AB in History and Literature from Harvard University.
I have years of museum experience, and consult on art acquisitions and attributions on a private, individual basis.
For more, please see parisaspiesgans.com. Feel free to contact me with any and all queries.
Education
PhD, MA, Princeton University, History
MA, Courtauld Institute of Art, History of Art
AB, Harvard University, History and Literature