Katalogisierungsprojekt ostasiatischer Malerei mit dem Field Museum in Chicago

In Fall Semester of 2008 and the Spring Semester of 2009, the students and professor of the East Asian Art at the Institute of Art History engaged in an extensive collaborative project with the Field Museum in Chicago.  The aim of this art historical project was to:

1. research and catalogue the Field Museums’ extensive collection of Japanese, Chinese and Korean paintings, and

2. determine the importance of conservation and repair of these works of art.

The results of the research from the two semesters were combined and will be incorporated into the museum records of the Field Museum and will be an important resource for planning future exhibitions and publications.  Future conservation of objects in the collection will be done on the basis of the evaluations of the research group from the University of Zurich.  A further aim of the project was to acquaint the UZH students with modern research techniques of art historical analysis.

In the summer of 2009, many of the participants of the research group were able to travel to Chicago on August 19-25 and to inspect the paintings in person.  During this university-sponsored trip, the students examined the paintings in the storage rooms of the Field Museum and compared the actual works with the data from the previous two semesters, making additions and corrections to the data.

The project will end soon with the final work of correlating the data.  We plant to use the techniques learned during this project and continue art historical research into collections of East Asian art, this time working with Swiss museum collections.  The KGOA is presently in the process of applying for funding to fund future projects.

• The Field Museum Chicago