ADMINISTRATORS

Three administrators, who planned the project beginning in 2005, were joined by six core faculty members for the seminar. The three administrators are

Director: Stephen F. Teiser, D.T. Suzuki Professor in Buddhist Studies, Princeton University. Teiser’s early books focused on the interaction between Buddhism as a pan-Asian religion and Chinese social life.  He works with canonical texts, medieval manuscripts, and artistic materials. His 2006 book, Reinventing the Wheel: Paintings of Rebirth in Medieval Buddhist Temples, includes chapters on temples in western Tibet and recent Tibetan painting.  Since 1998 he has been collaborating with art historians and archaeologists, extending his work beyond traditional China to include India, Central Asia (Xinjiang province), and Tibet.

Field Director: Robert N. Linrothe, Associate Professor, Art History, Skidmore College. Linrothe focuses on Buddhist art in India, Tibet, and China.  His recent fieldwork examines premodern mural painting in western Tibet and the contemporary revival of monastic painting in eastern Tibet. His publications include Ruthless Compassion: Wrathful Deities in Indo-Tibetan Esoteric Buddhist Art (1999) and Holy Madness: Portraits of Tantric Siddhas (2006).  He has organized semester-long on-site programs in northern India, and for three years he served as Curator of the Rubin Museum of Art.

Coordinator: Wei Yang earned B.A. and M.A. degrees in Art History at Smith College and completed a Ph.D. at Northwestern University in 2005 in Chinese and Tibetan art.  Her research concerns painting traditions of the Mongols, the Tibetans, and Chinese literati, especially during the Yuan dynasty.  She has conducted extensive research in central and western Tibet, as well as in China, central Asia, Mongolia, and various collections throughout Japan, Europe, and the U.S.  She played an instrumental role in negotiating long-term arrangements for research and publication projects with the Luce Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.