ART 372 - Asian Art in European Museums: Colonial Legacies and New Avenues

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

This course examines the evolving curatorial strategies and collecting practices in Asian art across European museums, galleries, and auction houses. At the heart of our inquiries are the biographies and itineraries of understudied objects found at hotspots for exchange on the premodern trans-Asian networks. How have museums and the antiquities trade reshaped the social lives of precious portable objects left behind by mobile communities? How have cultural institutions and private collectors (re)framed art-historical concepts and terminologies, and contributed to the erasure of certain historical voices? In this Intensive, we link and unlink the museum and archeological records, and examine the often-divergent visions of museum curators, archeologists, and art historians. Technical and science-driven approaches to museum work also play a role, as we examine how contemporary methods of dating and analyzing materials help dispel colonial myths about understudied Asian objects and cultures. As part of the course, students spend a week at the major Asian art museums in Paris and London, and visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art upon their return. Petya Andreeva.

Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.

One 2-hour period.

Course Format: INT