Julie Schneider
Hyperallergic, December 19, 2023
Princeton University Art Museum Names Zoe Song-Yi Kwok Assistant Curator of Asian Art
PRINCETON, NJ – The Princeton University Art Museum is pleased to announce that Zoe Song-Yi Kwok will join the Museum staff as the Assistant Curator of Asian Art, beginning June 1, 2013. Kwok will be responsible for formulating a collecting strategy; developing gallery installations from the collections; organizing special exhibitions that advance scholarly research, ranging from ambitious touring projects to smaller, more focused exhibitions; researching the Asian art collections; undertaking major object-based research and publication projects; and developing public education programs.
Kwok is currently an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Art and Art History at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She received a B.A. from Wellesley College, undertook postgraduate studies at Harvard University, completed a M.A. in the Program in East Asian Art at Princeton University, and is expected to earn a Ph.D. in art history from Princeton University this spring.
“Zoe specializes in early Chinese painting, with a focus on tenth-century pictures of ladies' quarters and banquet scenes in imperial palaces,” said Cary Liu, curator of Asian art. “She has also received training in later Chinese painting, Chinese bronzes and decorative arts, and the arts of Japan and other areas of East Asia. Zoe comes to us with experience at the National Palace Museum in Taiwan and has held internships at the Sackler Museum at Harvard University as well as the Princeton University Art Museum.”
In 2007, Kwok was a Fulbright Scholar in Beijing, China, during which time she also held the position of Condition Assessor for the exhibition China at the Court of the Emperors: Unknown Masterpieces from the Han Tradition to Tang Elegance (25–907), which was shown at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, Italy, in 2008.
The Princeton University Art Museum’s collection of Asian art includes diverse materials from China, Japan, Korea, Southeast and Central Asia, and India, dating from Neolithic to present times. The strengths of the collection are in Chinese and Japanese art ranging from Neolithic pottery and jade, ancient ritual bronze vessels, ceramics, lacquerware, metalware, and sculpture to woodblock prints, painting, and calligraphy. In the arts of China, the collections of calligraphy and painting rank among the finest outside Asia. Calligraphic works range from Buddhist and Daoist scriptures of the Tang dynasty to poems, records, and letters from the Song dynasty. Among the paintings are rare masterpieces from the Song and Yuan dynasties as well as numerous examples by later masters. The collection also includes Shang dynasty oracle bones, ancient ritual bronze vessels, ceramic vessels and figurines, Buddhist sculpture, and a rare group of Liao or Jin dynasty painted wooden tomb panels and coffin boards that date from the tenth to the thirteenth century. The Museum has the nucleus of a fine collection of Japanese art, with works ranging from Jōmon to modern period ceramics, Heian and Kamakura period sculpture, and painting, calligraphy, screens, and woodblock prints from the Heian to the contemporary period. The elegance of Korean celadon and porcelain ceramics are also displayed. Metal, stone, and terracotta sculptures from Southeast Asia, India, Gandhara, and other Central Asian regions make it possible for the visitor to trace Buddhist sculptural styles from early forms to later developments in East Asia. Works from the collection are exhibited in the Asian galleries on a rotating basis throughout the year.
Please direct image requests and general inquiries to Erin Firestone, ph: 609.258.3767; ef4@princeton.edu.
About the Princeton University Art Museum
Founded in 1882, the Princeton University Art Museum is one of the leading university art museums in the country, with collections of more than 72,000 works of art that range from ancient to contemporary art and concentrate geographically on the Mediterranean regions, Western Europe, China, the United States, and Latin America.
Committed to advancing Princeton’s teaching and research missions, the Art Museum serves as a gateway to the University for visitors from around the world. The Museum is intimate in scale yet expansive in scope, offering a respite from the rush of daily life, a revitalizing experience of extraordinary works of art, and an opportunity to delve deeply into the study of art and culture.
The Princeton University Art Museum is located at the heart of the Princeton campus, a short walk from the shops and restaurants of Nassau Street. Admission is free. Museum hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m. The Museum is closed Mondays and major holidays.
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