Symposium | Global Impact of Asian Aesthetics on American Art
From the University of Delaware:
Global Impact of Asian Aesthetics on American Art and Material Culture
Winterthur, Wilmington, Delaware, 10–14 October 2018
Utagawa Yoshimori, An American Sailing Ship off Arai, 1872; polychrome woodblock print, ink and color on paper (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007.49.243).
How do design ideas, patterns, and aesthetics travel across the globe, even when objects themselves do not?
The idea behind this project’s question grew out of a string of provocative inquiries that emerged following exhibitions and recent projects that our alumni and faculty members of the University of Delaware have worked on in the past 10 years (Collecting China [UD-Winterthur, DE], Asia in Amsterdam [PEM, MA], Made for the Americas [MFA Boston, MA], among others). While existing scholarship has recognized the global circulation of objects, artistic forms in the American field sometimes have less to do with the mobility of actual objects from Asia than with translations of Asian aesthetic influences that create new forms in new regions. This project therefore explores ideas about transcultural circulation beyond the concept of objects as commodities, by urging researchers to collaboratively study ideas and influences, across time and space, which have inspired, integrated, and re-generated new aesthetics in and beyond America.
‘Asia’ and ‘America’ are taken in this project as pointers to encourage a mapping of global and multi-directional flow of aesthetics and aesthetic translation, not merely an exchange between Asia and North America. Our long-term goal is to generate a multi-level investigation that comprehensively encompasses Asia, Europe, the Americas and other related world regions into the study of American art and material culture.
For details about the symposium, a graduate student workshop and presentation, and a living repository site for research data, please visit the website. All events are free and open to the public, but registration is required. Lodging is also available at discounted price for registered participants.
Roundtable Panelists
J. Ritchie Garrison (University of Delaware, Winterthur Program, Newark)
Michael Leja (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia)
Partha Mitter (University of Sussex, emeritus, Oxford)
Alexandra Munroe (Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York City)
Nasser Rabbat (MIT, Cambridge)
Moderated by Vimalin Rujivacharakul (University of Delaware, Art History, Newark)
Speakers (by the order of team members’ last names)
Team 1
Glenn Adamson (New York & London)
Ming Tiampo (Carleton University, Ottawa)
Team 2
Jens Baumgarten (Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo, Brazil)
Dennis Carr (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
Team 3
Ned Cooke (Yale, New Haven)
Dorothy Ko (Barnard/Columbia, New York City)
Team 4
Karina Corrigan (Peabody Essex Museum, Salem)
Femke Diercks (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)
Team 5
Linda Eaton (Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library)
Giorgio Riello (University of Warwick, England)
Team 6
Lee Glazer (Freer|Sackler Galleries, Washington DC)
Stacey Pierson (School of Oriental and African Studies, England)
Team 7
Medill Harvey (American Wing, Metropolitan Museum, New York City)
Forrest McGill (Asian Art Museum, San Francisco)
Team 8
Liu Chang (Tsinghua University & Palace Museum, Beijing)
Greg Landrey (Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, Winterthur)
Team 9
Darielle Mason (Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia)
Asma Naeem (National Portrail Gallery, Washington DC)
Team 10
Marco Musillo (Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, Florence)
Catharine Dann Roeber (Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, Winterthur)
Graduate Student Workshop | Asian Aesthetics and American Art
From the University of Delaware:
International Graduate Student Workshop
Global Impact of Asian Aesthetics on American Art and Material Culture
The University of Delaware and Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library 11–12 October 2018
Proposals due by 8 June 2018
With the generous support of the Terra Foundation for American Art, the University of Delaware’s Department of Art History and the Winterthur Program of American Material Culture will host a two-day International Graduate Student workshop on October 11 and 12, 2018. This workshop is part of a series of events in October 2018 to launch the project In Search of Global Impact of Asian Aesthetics on American Art and Material Culture.
We invite graduate students from a variety of fields, from all regions of the world, to submit a short abstract of a dissertation in progress or a project that: 1) redefines the canon of art history, with a focus on the multidirectional impact of Asian aesthetics on American art and material culture, and/or 2) proposes new interpretations of the transcultural and transhistorical flow of aesthetics that not only redefine the geocultural boundaries of Asia and North America, but also rethink methodological formations of aesthetic emergence.
We strongly encourage proposals that consider the flow of global aesthetics beyond the circulation of objects, as well as those that examine ‘Asia’ and ‘North America’ as discursive structures or cultural constructs in connection with other world regions such as Africa, Europe, South America, among others. In sum: How do design ideas, patterns, and aesthetics travel across the globe, even when objects do not?
To apply, send a short abstract written in English (300–500 words) and a 2-page CV to global-aesthetics@udel.edu by 8 June 2018. Applicants will be notified of decisions by 8 July 2018. Successful applicants will be invited to submit a dissertation chapter or excerpt, or paper, (9000–10000 words), to be pre-circulated and read before the workshop.
Official respondents are: Partha Mitter (Sussex, emeritus), Dorothy Ko (Barnard/Columbia), Lee Glazer (Freer/Sackler Galleries), Marco Musillo (Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz), with the Terra Foundation’s guest critics: Zhang Gan and Chen Anying (Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua, Beijing), in addition to the faculty workshop advisors from the Department of Art History and the Winterthur Program of the University of Delaware.
Lodging and meals are provided for invited participants throughout the workshop. Applicants seeking travel support should include in the application a letter demonstrating the need and a budget plan.
In addition to the Terra Foundation, we thank the following organizations for their support: The University of Delaware’s Office of Graduate and Professional Education and the Center for Material Culture Studies, with grants from the Unidel Foundation, and National Endowment for the Humanities.
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