Zhijian Qian’s Profile

Faculty
Active 1 year, 9 months ago
Zhijian Qian
Display Name
Zhijian Qian
Title
Associate Professor
Department
Humanities
Office Location
Library Building L630
Academic interests

Modern and contemporary Chinese and Asian art; art and visual culture; transnationalism and art in Chinese diaspora

Bio

Dr. Zhijian Qian is an Associate Professor of Art History at the Department of Humanities at New York City College of Technology, CUNY, where he teaches Asian Art. He received his doctoral and master’s degrees in art history from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University and a master’s degree in art history from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. He specializes in modern and contemporary Chinese art, with research interests in contemporary Chinese art in the era of globalization, cross-cultural practice and artists in the Chinese diaspora, and art and urban culture. He is the author of Here and Now: Chinese Artists in New York, and a contributing author of such books as Chinese Art at the End of the Millennium and Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture. He is also a curator who has organized a number of exhibitions, including “Cross-Cultural Practice: Recent Works by Chinese Artists in New York” (2019), “Open Books: A New Dialogue” (2017-2018), “Blurred Boundaries” (2018), “Abstract Art in Dialogue” (2017), “Cross-Cultural Dialogue – Exhibitions of China-America Young Artists and Art Students” (2016-2018), “Ink Flows with Mind” (2016), “Here and Now: Chinese Artists in New York” (2009-2010), “East Transplanted West” (2006), and “Travelers Between Cultures” (2006). His Chinese translation works include H. H. Arnason’s History of Modern Art (2020).

Work Phone
1-718-260-4979; 1-917-340-2369
Email address

My Courses

ARTH1106 Modern Art, SP2015

ARTH1106 Modern Art, SP2015

This introductory course surveys the history of modern art from the late 19th to the early 21st centuries. It examines major works by important artists of such major art movements as Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Non-Objective Art, Dadaism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Minimalism, Conceptual Art, New Image, Neo-Expressionism and Neo-Conceptualism. Students will become familiar with core examples of painting, sculpture, architecture, photography, installation and performance. Students will consider the crucial role of these images and objects in the formation of their respective historical and cultural context. Through readings, class discussions, writing assignments and museum visits, students will explore the following questions: What is art? Is the appearance, or form of an art object its most important element? Is iconography an essential component of art history? What role does religion, biography, psychology, philosophy, society and politics play in the production of art making and perception? Students will further develop their critical understanding of this information through the development of research methods.

ARTH1108-OL28 Art of Asia, FA2020

ARTH1108-OL28 Art of Asia, FA2020

This online (synchronous) survey course examines historical developments of art and architecture in Asia, with emphasis on India, China and Japan, from the Neolithic period to modern times, and their role in the formation of Asian cultures. We will explore such topics as art and religion, art and afterlife, art and state power, landscape painting and the understanding of nature, art and garden culture, and the East and the West in modern and contemporary art, etc. We will investigate such art forms as ceramics, sculpture, painting and calligraphy, architecture and garden design. We will discuss important artifacts in light of medium, form and style, historical context, iconographical meaning, and their religious and social functions.

ARTH2200 Art and Urban Culture in Modern China, SP2019

ARTH2200 Art and Urban Culture in Modern China, SP2019

This course investigates how modern and contemporary Chinese artists and filmmakers respond to the many ways in which China’s accelerated urbanization affects the cultural, social, political and economic life in the world’s new superpower. Topics and themes include city planning, architecture and communal life in the communist regime; environmental art and urban culture in Post-Mao period; architectural designs by foreign architects since the 1990s; and urban life and the politics of consumption in the era of reform and globalization. It aims at helping students understand the formation and transformation of a new urban culture in a China that is playing an increasingly important role in today’s global affairs.

ARTH1110-OL27 Islamic Art, FA2020

ARTH1110-OL27 Islamic Art, FA2020

This online (synchronous) survey course examines historical developments of arts and architecture in the Islamic world from the seventh to the nineteenth centuries. We will explore the main achievements in such areas as Arabia and Syria, Iran and Central Asia, Egypt, North Africa and Spain, Anatolia, and India, with a focus on architectural design and structure, decoration motifs and their meanings, illustrated books and mural paintings, textiles, ceramics, glass and metalwork, etc. Class discussion topics will include differentiating religious and secular art, figurative and non-figurative imagery, regional styles and cultural traditions.

My Projects

Capstone Experience Committee

Capstone Experience Committee

The committee meets to develop and establish the requirements for City Tech Capstone courses and to approve courses submitted by the academic departments for Capstone status.

Curatorial Work

Curatorial Work

Art exhibitions and related events

My Clubs

Zhijian Qian hasn't created or joined any clubs yet.