Central Europe Then and Now: Reflections on a Career

Abstract

This postscript to the special issue, written by Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann, a leading figure in Central European early modern art history and one of its founders in Anglophone academe, reflects on the formation of a scholarly field through the lens of an individual career. Framed as both historiographical reflection and autobiographical case study, the essay traces how the study of Central European art was shaped by the political, intellectual, and institutional conditions of the Cold War and its aftermath. Kaufmann shows how, in the 1960s and 1970s, Central Europe remained largely absent from Anglophone art history, marginalized by a narrow canon and by the geopolitical divisions of the Iron Curtain. Against this backdrop, he recounts his early research on Rudolf II's Prague, the practical difficulties of working across the Eastern Bloc, and the networks of scholars, curators, and institutions that made such work possible. The essay then turns to the transformations brought by 1989, when the collapse of Soviet domination opened new possibilities for research, collaboration, and the reintegration of Central Europe into broader European and global narratives. Yet Kaufmann also offers a more cautious conclusion: despite important gains, the field remains fragmented by national frameworks, uneven institutional support, and renewed political tensions. The postscript situates the writing of art history within larger historical forces, while arguing that Central Europe has served not only as an object of study but also as a productive vantage point from which to rethink geography, historiography, and the global history of art.