Imperial Stewards: Chinese Art and the Making of America’s Pacific Century

K. Ian Shin

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Imperial Stewards

Chinese Art and the Making of America’s Pacific Century

K. Ian Shin

Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 2025

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From the Gilded Age to World War II, elite collectors and museums in the United States transformed from owning a smattering of Chinese porcelain as curios to possessing some of the world's largest and most sophisticated collections of Chinese art. Imperial Stewards argues that, beyond aesthetic taste and economics, geopolitics were critical to this transformation. Collecting and studying Chinese art and antiquities honed Americans' belief that they should dominate Asia and the Pacific Ocean through the ideology of imperial stewardship—a view that encompassed both genuine curiosity and care for Chinese art, and the enduring structures of domination and othering that underpinned the burgeoning transpacific art market.

Tracing networks across both the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, K. Ian Shin uncovers a diverse cast of historical actors that both contributed to US imperial stewardship and also challenged it, including Protestant missionaries, German diplomats, Chinese-Hawaiian merchants, and Chinese overseas students, among others. By examining the development of Chinese art collecting and scholarship in the United States around the turn of the twentieth century, Imperial Stewards reveals both the cultural impetus behind Americans' long-standing aspirations for a Pacific Century and a way to understand—and critique—the duality of US imperial power around the globe.

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K. Ian Shin is Assistant Professor of History and American Culture at the University of Michigan.

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"This marvelously researched account of the study and collection of Chinese art helps us understand the U.S. turn to the Pacific as a matter of transimperial collaboration and rivalry, dependence on Chinese expertise and labor, and multivalent claims to stewardship. From the procurement of scroll paintings and porcelains to the creation of collections, catalogs, galleries, and exhibits, Imperial Stewards makes a compelling case for the relation between art and power at a time when both were up for grabs." —Kristin Hoganson, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign --- "After reading this book, you will never walk through an Asian art collection in a museum and merely see isolated objects in glass cases. Imperial Stewards tells a dynamic history of nations, institutions, and individuals across the Pacific that brought the Chinese artifacts to the United States, shaped our knowledge about them, and charted a path to the 'Pacific Century.'" —Mari Yoshihara, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa

Fachgebiete

Frontmatter Öffentlich zugänglich PDF downloaden	i
Contents Öffentlich zugänglich PDF downloaden	vii
List of Illustrations Öffentlich zugänglich PDF downloaden	ix
Note on Translations and Names Öffentlich zugänglich PDF downloaden	xi
Introduction Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	1
1 “Working in the Dark”. Chinese Porcelains and the Gilded Age Roots of U.S. Imperial Stewardship Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	21
2 “Chinese Art of the Right Kind”. From Collecting to Stewardship in the New Century Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	51
3 “A Repository and Arsenal of Information” . Imperializing U.S. Stewardship from the China Monuments Society to the Asiatic Institute, 1908–1915 Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	84
4 “A Wonder of Another Breed” Chinese Exempt Classes and the Limits of U.S. Imperial Stewardship Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	118
5 “We Must Be Resigned to America. Getting All the Fine Things” U.S. Imperial Stewardship in an Age of Global War Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	153
6 “Art Knows Neither Frontiers Nor Irregular Verbs” . Consolidating U.S. Imperial Stewardship before World War II Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	187
Conclusion Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	224
Acknowledgments Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	233
Notes Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	239
Bibliography Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	305
Index Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	323

Informationen zur Veröffentlichung

Seiten und Bilder/Illustrationen im Buch

eBook veröffentlicht am:

12. Juni 2025

eBook ISBN:

9781503643185

Seiten und Bilder/Illustrationen im Buch

Inhalt:

358

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503643185

eBook ISBN: 9781503643185

Schlagwörter für dieses Buch

U.S.-China relations; imperialism; Chinese art; museums; collecting; transpacific; knowledge; mobility

Zielgruppe(n) für dieses Buch

For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research

Imperial Stewards

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Über dieses Buch

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