Zurich Lectures in East Asian Art History

The Zurich Lectures in East Asian Art History bring distinguished scholars in the field to the University of Zurich to deliver public lectures that explore current topics and research approaches in the study of art and visual culture of China, Japan, and Korea. Established with the goal of mapping innovative research in East Asian Art History, the Lectures aim to stimulate academic debate, expand the learning horizons of Zurich students, and foster a meaningful dialogue between academia and the broader public.

The lectures are hosted by the Chair in East Asian Art History at the University of Zurich. Established over five decades ago as the sole chair dedicated to the research and study of East Asian Art in Switzerland, and supported by the diverse collections and exhibitions of East Asian Art accessible locally, the Chair serves as an important knowledge hub for East Asian art history in Switzerland and beyond.

The Zurich Lectures in East Asian Art History continue the legacy of the Chair in East Asian Art History at the University of Zurich and honor the rich collections and history of the Swiss engagement with East Asian Art.

Abstract: This lecture will reflect on two intersecting themes: the rise of women as artists and as subjects for art, in the context of the evolving status of women in twentieth-century China. Against the backdrop of the nascent modern education for women and the emergence of feminism between 1910 and 1940, the presentation interrogates, in light of contemporary art world patterns and current definitions of feminism, the slowing and even regression in recognition of women as artists in the second half of the twentieth century.

Julia F. Andrews is Academy Professor and Distinguished University Professor Emerita at Ohio State University. Her first book, Painters and Politics in the Peoples Republic of China, 1949 –1976, received the 1996 Joseph Levenson Prize of the Association for Asian Studies (AAS) for modern China. Since then, she has won numerous awards for her scholarship. Her latest publication is the co-edited volume Art and Modernism in Socialist China: Unexplored International Encounters, 1949-1979, with Shuyu Kong and Shengtian Zheng (Routledge, 2024) and served as the 15th Heinz Goetze Professor at the University of Heidelberg in 2024. She was trained at Berkeley and began her career at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

The lecture will be held in English and is open to the public. No registration is necessary. For questions, please contact us via email at kgoa@khist.uzh.ch

Yu Hong Ladder to the Sky (2008)

Abstract: In the New Ink Movement, there is a shift in the performativity of ink art particularly since 2000, as global networks and exposure at international biennales make intermediality and performativity powerful methods to pursue new art directions. These artists explore new directions with ink in experimental styles and formats. When we think of ink art, the role of ink seems central. That is, it seems obvious that when we talk of “Ink Art,” “ink” would be a necessary feature or ingredient. Yet, it is possible to have ink art without ink. Artists who engage with the long tradition of ink culture and also explore new references in the medium include Xu Bing, Song Dong, Qiu Zhijie, Yang Jiechang, Liu Jianhua, Chen Qi, among others.

This lecture will explore some of China's most experimental and thoughtful artists who are pushing the boundaries of tradition while maintaining reference to the long history of ink and its expressive importance.

Prof. Dr. Sarah E. Fraser is Lehrstuhlinhaberin (Chair Professor) and Director, Institute of East Asian Art History (IKO), Centre for Asian and Transcultural Studies, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg. Her research and digital humanities projects include Buddhist and photographic topics focused on northwest China, Inner Asia, and 20th century wartime archaeology, and artistic practice. Her award-winning study on artistic practice in medieval Dunhuang Performing the Visual: The Practice of Buddhist Wall Painting in China and Central Asia, 618 –960 (Stanford University Press, 2004), will be published in Chinese this fall by Peking University Press. Prof. Fraser’s research extends to the 21st century; in 2020 she co-edited a collection of essays on contemporary experimental ink, Xu Bing: After the Book from the Sky (Singapore: Springer, 2020).

The lecture will be held in English and is open to the public. No registration is necessary. For questions, please contact us via email at kgoa@khist.uzh.ch

Xu Bing  Background Story: Misty Rivers and Layered Ridges After Dong Qichang (2014)

Abstract: In this talk, Prof. Stiller calls for a considerable expansion of commonly accepted historical narratives about sacred space in pre-modern East Asia, challenging the conventional understanding of Buddhist temple halls as purely Buddhist spaces. Wall paintings as well as literary source material show that these halls functioned as transmitters of hegemonic cultural discourse, which resonates with contemporary discussions about the social and cultural influence of religious institutions. Focusing on late Chosŏn Buddhist temples as a case study, this talk proposes an expanded understanding of religious space, highlighting the roles of artisan-monks actively engaged with elite artistic trends.

Maya Stiller is an Associate Professor of Korean art history and visual culture at the University of Kansas. Based on her multi-disciplinary background in art history and Buddhist Studies she has published several journal articles on Korean pilgrimage traditions, Buddhist/Daoist art, Buddhist fundraising, and patronage networks. Her first book, Carving Status at Kŭmgangsan (University of Washington Press, 2021) won two book awards (American Historical Association 2022 Patricia Buckley Ebrey Prize and Association for Asian Studies 2024 James B. Palais Prize Honorable Mention). She is currently working on her second book project which discusses the multi-layered cultural and religious context of Korean Buddhist architecture.

The lecture will be held in English and is open to the public. No registration is necessary. For questions, please contact us via email at kgoa@khist.uzh.ch

Abstract: Premodern Japanese visual culture had a surprising number of genres that involved the embodiment of waka in human form. Byōbu-uta, or “screen poems,” were a very important genre in the development of what is known as the Kokinshū-style in the late 8th century and beyond. Here, poets would assume the persona or personae of human figures depicted on a folding screen and compose poems from their perspective. Some have argued that the practice of byōbu-uta contributed to the development of kyokō 虚構, or “fictionality,” and the literary court romance (monogatari), which we will explore in relation to illustrated scrolls (monogatari-e).
At the other end of the spectrum is the genre of kasen-e 歌仙絵, or imaginary portraits of exemplary poets. Again, groupings of notable poets start with the Kana Preface of the Kokinshū and the Six Poetic Immortals (Rokkasen). The Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals (Sanjūrokkasen) were selected by Fujiwara no Kintō around 1007-1009 and the poets were depicted in the Satake-bon Sanjūrokkasen emaki attributed to Fujiwara no Nobuzane (1177?-1266?). In the Edo period, this led to depictions of the One Hundred Poets of Fujiwara no Teika’s Hyakunin isshu. Here, however, the inclusion of depictions of the poets encouraged all the poems to be understood as in the voice of the poet him- or herself, despite the fact that a number of the included verses were on set topics, such as the “waiting woman” (matsu onna) where the male poet would compose in a feminine persona. In other words, unlike byōbu-e, kasen-e discouraged the idea of fictional personae. This presentation will explore the results of such understanding in printed illustrated editions of the original One Hundred Poets as well as the Warrior One Hundred Poets in the Edo period.

Ecce homo: the Japanese Male Body in Pain in WWII Visual Propaganda Prof. Sharalyn Orbaugh (University of British Columbia) Thursday, April 11, 2024, 18:15–20:00 University of Zurich, Rämistrasse 59, Room RAA-G-15 Flyer (PDF, 516 KB)

Abstract: Graphic depictions of the painful injuries and deaths of soldiers are common in one of the most widely disseminated and widely viewed forms of Japanese mobilization propaganda in World War II: kamishibai (literally, paper plays). The realistic style and vivid colors of the illustrations of kamishibai plays make the sufferings of Japanese soldiers and munitions factory workers painfully clear, raising questions: how could such depictions be intended to encourage soldiers to enlist, or to encourage those on the home front to continue their backbreaking labor to support the war effort? How did these depictions in kamishibai compare with images of the male body in fine art of the same period? This presentation will explore the strategies of persuasion that relied on depictions of male bodies in pain for the purposes of mobilizing the Japanese people to support the war effort.

 

Chûkon no uta dying in buddy's arms