Shaoqian Zhang, Phd

Biography

Shaoqian Zhang is an art historian specializing in East Asian art and architecture, and teaches courses in Chinese and Japanese art and architectural history at OSU. She received her BA in traditional Chinese architecture from Beijing University, and MA and PhD in art history from Northwestern University. She joined the OSU faculty in 2011. Shaoqian’s research touches upon a wide variety of visual culture materials ranging from traditional East Asian architecture to contemporary art in China. She is currently completing her book manuscript, entitled Revolution in the Making: War, Party-State and Propaganda in Modern Chinese Print Culture. It examines the evolution of Chinese political prints from the end of the Nineteenth Century to the foundation of People’s Republic of China in 1949, with an in-depth discussion on the often overlooked Japanese influence on Chinese print and graphic design. She is intrigued by the historical interactions between China and Japan through the spread of print technologies, graphic design and modernization. She also has published a number of articles that reflect her interests in print culture, military history, party-state, medium specificity and spectatorship in China’s modern period, appearing in academic journals such as Modern Art Asia, Transcultural Studies and Twentieth Century China. Her other interests include the relationship between architectural representation and different religious forces in East Asia; contemporary Chinese art by female artists, and the transformation of China’s urban space after its economic reform starting in the late 1970s. In addition to writing and research, she has also been the guest curator for a number of exhibitions in both the United States and China.

Research Interest

Art, Graphic Design, and Art History