This two-day symposium will explore the complicated interactions between American and Asian artists and visual traditions from the eighteenth century to the present. The history of American art has long been discussed primarily in terms of European training and influence. When scholars have looked eastward, they often have considered the Asian influence on art of the United States as a unidirectional and limited development. This multidisciplinary conference will focus instead on what scholar Bert Winther-Tamaki has called the "contentious interdependency" born out of a "long and tumultuous relationship" between East and West.

No registration is required to attend the conference talks. Advance online registration is required, however, for a variety of related tours being offered on the morning of October 1. The symposium also will be available for viewing in a simultaneous and, later, an archived webcast. For more information about this event, including a full program, speakers’ bios and abstracts, and tour registration, please visit the web page at www.americanart.si.edu/research/symposia/2009/.

This program is supported by a generous grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art