Architects in the Eye of the Storm: Reflections on Teaching Southeast Asian Art in a University Museum

Abstract

Cornell University began collecting Asian art in the 1950s. Today the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art (HFJM) contains more than 10,000 works acquired through the generosity of alumni, faculty, parents and friends. As a professor at Cornell, I have the great pleasure to work with Ellen Avril, the Johnson's chief curator and curator of Asian art, to build certain areas of the collection, particularly masks, puppets, textiles and story cloths. The high point of my teaching experience at Cornell has been introducing these objects in my seminars, especially "Shadow Play: Asian Art and Performance" (ARTH 4852/6852, ASIAN 4442/6646), now in its third iteration. With funding from the Cornell Council of the Arts, I was able to invite guest artist Dr Gusti Putu Sudarta, musician, composer, puppeteer and dancer with deep roots in traditional Balinese forms. With Dr Sudarta, I had the students experiment with making their own shadow puppets. My essay, which follows, was inspired by this seminar and by recent gifts to the HFJM.