Teaching experiences: America (2009 to the present) and Great Britain (2007-08).

CHINESE ART & ARCHAEOLOGY (from the Neolithic to pre-1900)

This course spans the last 5000 years of high, religious, and popular arts in China. The cultural diversity of China will be explored through art, architecture, and archeological discoveries. The course will survey the most significant artworks as they developed over time in the contexts of cultural and social changes. Students are expected to obtain a critical understanding of the history and theory of arts in China and of the importance of visual arts within the broader Chinese culture. It runs a parallel comparison of two models of the historiography of arts in China—one chronological, the other thematic, in order to cross-examine ideas and art genres developed under various conditions from the viewpoint of global art history.

MODERN & CONTEMPORARY CHINESE ART (1840 - the present)

The course examines the history of modern and contemporary Chinese art in view of the cultural and social changes from the first Opium War to the very present day, spanning the late 19th century, the 20th century, and the beginning of the 21st century. It stresses the role of artistic debates and creativity, and conflicting views of tradition and Western art in China, explores the influences of European modern art (and its Japanese interpretation), Soviet socialist art, and American post-WWII art, as well as of diversity of cultural perspectives since the Cultural Revolution. It also highlights overarching themes that generations of Chinese artists have been wrestling under very different cultural, social, and political circumstances, as well as the constantly redefined link between art and visual culture.

JAPANESE ART & ARCHITECTURE (from the Stone Age to the contemporary) 

This course introduces you to the rudiments of art historical analysis and presents the fundamental aesthetic, spiritual, social, and political values of Japan through its art and architecture. We will analyze the monuments of sacred and secular architecture, sculpture, and painting from earliest times until the 20th century and the contemporary. Students are expected to obtain a critical understanding of the history of arts in Japan and of the role of visual arts within the broader Japanese culture.

BUDDHIST ART & ARCHITECTURE: origin, exchange & innovation (cross-listing with Religious Studies)

A journey of two millenniums through South, East, Central, and Southeast Asia. Buddhist art has enriched itself with the art and culture of new converts and responded to new doctrine as it evolved through internal debate and competition with other creeds. It has achieved great accomplishments in architecture, sculpture, mural, and canvas painting. The lectures follow the course of changes, tracing cultural borrowing and innovation throughout Asia, but also give focused studies of major monuments and unique art forms. Since Buddhist imagery has always been at the service of religious teaching and practice, it mirrors the great tolerance for regional cultures and internal debates about doctrine through extraordinary variation in abstract/figurative and realistic/fantastic art forms. Its constant references to a rich mythology and a metaphysical foundation in Dharmic theology have woven a continuity of inspiration through the centuries and the nations of Asia, forging a deep cultural link.

NATURE & ITS REPRESENTATIONS (cross-listing with Environmental Studies)

At this time of global environmental concern, it is crucial to ask the question of whether different cultures perceive and engage with nature in the same way. The arts mirror the diversity of ideas of nature. This course explores the art of environment in relation to major Asian traditions and beliefs, with an in-depth examination of the concept of representation and its limits, through different cultural perspectives and artistic genres. Throughout history, the arts of landscape have always played an important role in human society’s engagement with the environment, in bridging nature and culture. This course explores the different ways in which nature was conceived and represented in major Asian cultures (Buddhist, Confucian, Daoist, Hindu, and Islamic). The course encompasses the history of paintings, woodblock prints, gardens, and parks, as well as rock art and miniature landscapes. Following a comparative approach, it addresses major forms of representation of the natural environment in various Asian traditions as well as their encounter with Western perspectives.

ARTISTIC ENCOUNTER: East/West (1500 onwards)

This course will illuminate the complex processes through which multicultural societies have developed in a global world through a study of five centuries of creative encounters and exchanges in the arts and crafts between East Asia and the Western world. Beginning with the early Portuguese and Dutch contacts with East Asia in the sixteenth century, we will explore major moments and achievements of these encounters, from European admiration for and fantasies about Asia, and the East Asian mixed reception towards foreign cultures in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; to the radical changes of attitude in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. We shall investigate understandings and misunderstandings involved in these exchanges, and their roles in the constant renewal of the arts, both in the West (Europe and the US) and in East Asia up to now. 

Asian Landscape Art (5th c BCE to 19th c CE)

The course will consider the different ways in which nature was conceived and represented in major Asian cultures (Buddhist, Confucian, Daoist, Hindu, and Islamic). This will entail discussions of the concept of representation and its limits, from different cultural perspectives. The course will encompass the history of painting, gardens, and parks, as well as miniature gardens. Following a historical timeline, it will focus on major forms of representation of the natural environment in China, India, Japan, Korea, the Ottoman Empire, Nepal, Persia, and Tibet, all Asian countries from which a historical record of such representations is still extant.

ASIAN ART (survey; East Asia, South & Southeast Asia; pre-history to the contemporary) 

This course explores the history of Asian art, from prehistory to the contemporary. Asia, since prehistory, has been a constantly shifting mosaic of kingdoms and cultures, engaged in a network of creative exchanges. Its cultural diversity will be examined through art, architecture, and archeological discoveries. The lectures will be constructed in three sections to survey the most significant artworks in South/Southeast/East Asia, with a focus on India, China, and Japan. Students are expected to obtain a critical understanding of the history and theory of arts in Asia and of the importance of visual arts within Asian cultures. It also introduces key issues concerning religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism) and regional studies, and sheds light on cultural exchanges from the age of the Silk Road & Spice Route, through the colonial period, to the 21st century.

EAST ASIAN ART (survey; China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Tibet, India, Persia)

East Asia, since the Bronze Age, has been a constantly shifting mosaic of kingdoms and cultures, engaged in a network of creative exchanges. However, the course of development in China, Japan, and Korea can only be understood when taking into account cross-culture exchanges through Buddhism, and their relations with the nomads of the Eurasian Steppe, India, and Persia along the Silk Road. While paying much attention to exchanges between these different cultures and regions, we shall focus on the creative translation of one visual culture or one art into another. This demands understanding the arts from the cultural perspective of its producers and intended audiences, and paying much attention to interactions between politics, economics, and art.

ART HISTORY II (global survey; Europe, 14th-20th c., Asia, 11th-21st c.; team-teaching)

This survey introduces the art of Europe and Asia. The course is divided into three sections (I) EUROPE: Renaissance & Early Modern; (II) ASIA: Eleventh-century to Contemporary; (III) EUROPE (& N. AMERICA): Eighteenth-century to Contemporary. It does not attempt encyclopedic coverage but rather an understanding of selected monuments, movements, and issues. A major goal is to demonstrate how painting, sculpture, and architecture communicate through visual form. This necessitates both close analysis of individual works and consideration of the wider cultural context in which they were made and in which they functioned.