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Dissertation Information for Constance Jing Shue Chen

NAME:
- Constance Jing Shue Chen

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- University of California, Los Angeles (USA) (2000)

ADVISORS:
- Michael Salman

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Joyce Oldham Appleby
- Donald Preziosi

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: From passion to discipline: East Asian art and the culture of modernity in the United States, 1876--1945

Abstract: This dissertation explores the pre-academic era of East Asian art scholarship, and more specifically, it examines the development of this field of inquiry within the context of social, intellectual, and cultural transformations within Asia and the United States. "Oriental art" is a cultural construction invented by the West. The creation of Chinese and Japanese art as categories of study gave political and cultural meanings to East Asia as well as its peoples and aesthetic productions. At the end of the nineteenth century, rapid economic and technological changes brought about social and political upheavals, ushering in a sense of spiritual displacement for many Americans. Feeling increasingly alienated by their mechanized world, various connoisseurs became interested in East Asia as a source of cultural rejuvenation. In their efforts to further understand the ancient cultures and traditions of China and Japan, American collectors and scholars recruited Asian expatriates as cultural interpreters. In the process, certain Asian intellectuals, curators, and dealers were afforded opportunities to participate in American art and social circles, helping to define a new academic discipline. With the guidance of Asian intermediaries, American connoisseurs and collectors began to amass Chinese and Japanese artworks which best embodied the ancient civic and religious ideals that they hoped to emulate. What were once sacred objects of worship acquired aesthetic and secular significance. During this time period, seemingly disparate mechanisms of culture, namely the university, the art market, international expositions, and museums, worked together as ideological apparatuses in an interwoven network of knowledge that constructed specific interpretations of "pre-industrial" values. In so doing, American connoisseurs and first-generation migrant mentors idealized the importance of East Asian antiquities for "modern" civilizations, thereby influencing race relations and the evaluation of moral orders. As processes of transnational interactions changed throughout the twentieth century, political needs and ideas of race continued to influence the formation of art historical discourses and disciplinary practices. In the end, the collecting and discussion of East Asian art became vehicles for reconsidering the concept of authority, the formation of national identities, and discourses of modernity for Asians, Asian Americans, and white Americans.

MPACT Scores for Constance Jing Shue Chen

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-09-11 16:03:09

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Students under Constance Jing Shue Chen

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None