Ting Chang Bio

Ting Chang is presently completing a book manuscript under the title “Collecting Asia: Desire, Travel and Museums of Asian Art in Nineteenth-Century France” in which she examines the European representation of East Asia through travel narratives and collected objects. She foregrounds decisive moments in the nineteenth century when collections shaped personal and national identities, fantasies and knowledge. The Musée Guimet and Musée Cernuschi in Paris were pivotal in this history, emerging from the journeys of Emile Guimet, Félix Régamey, Théodore Duret and Enrico Cernuschi in the 1870s. Parallel to the collected objects were travel narratives written by Duret and Guimet (Voyage en Asie, 1874; Promenades japonaises, 1878, 1880). In contrast to those who crossed oceans and continents, Edmond de Goncourt assembled a fine collection of Chinese and Japanese art without leaving Paris. The study examines the poetics of collecting elaborated by Goncourt in La Maison d’un artiste of 1881 and his reconstruction of France through China and Japan. Such crosscultural encounter and exchange were not only narratives of personal desire but also national ambitions and rivalries. Travel, writing and collecting advanced the expansion of empires. “Collecting Asia” argues that these conjoined activities contributed to an incipient global exchange of objects, values and cultures.

Dr Chang’s research has been published in international, refereed scholarly journals and edited volumes in English and French. A recent article has also appeared in Dutch. She has been invited to give conference papers and lectures in English and French in the U.S., Europe and East Asia.

She holds a PhD in art history from the University of Sussex, England. Other awards, honours and fellowships include:

Postdoctoral fellowship in art history at Oxford Brookes University, England

Invited Scholar, Institut National d’histoire de l’art (INHA), Paris, France, 2010

Getty Scholar at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, 2003-4

Clark Fellow at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, 2005

United Kingdom Commonwealth Scholar and recipient of British Council postgraduate scholarship

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Doctoral Fellow

Royal Historical Society, University of London, Research Travel Award recipient

	*Ting Chang, Assistant Professor, Art History*
	Ting Chang is presently completing a book manuscript under the title “Collecting Asia: Desire, Travel and Museums of Asian Art in Nineteenth-Century France” in which she examines the European representation of East Asia through travel narratives and collected objects. She foregrounds decisive moments in the nineteenth century when collections shaped personal and national identities, fantasies and knowledge. The Musée Guimet and Musée Cernuschi in Paris were pivotal in this history, emerging from the journeys of Emile Guimet, Félix Régamey, Théodore Duret and Enrico Cernuschi in the 1870s. Parallel to the collected objects were travel narratives written by Duret and Guimet (Voyage en Asie, 1874; Promenades japonaises, 1878, 1880). In contrast to those who crossed oceans and continents, Edmond de Goncourt assembled a fine collection of Chinese and Japanese art without leaving Paris. The study examines the poetics of collecting elaborated by Goncourt in La Maison d’un artiste of 1881 and his reconstruction of France through China and Japan. Such crosscultural encounter and exchange were not only narratives of personal desire but also national ambitions and rivalries. Travel, writing and collecting advanced the expansion of empires. “Collecting Asia” argues that these conjoined activities contributed to an incipient global exchange of objects, values and cultures. Dr Chang’s research has been published in international, refereed scholarly journals and edited volumes in English and French. A recent article has also appeared in Dutch. She has been invited to give conference papers and lectures in English and French in the U.S., Europe and East Asia. She holds a PhD in art history from the University of Sussex, England. Other awards, honours and fellowships include: Postdoctoral fellowship in art history at Oxford Brookes University, England Invited Scholar, Institut National d’histoire de l’art (INHA), Paris, France, 2010 Getty Scholar at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, 2003-4 Clark Fellow at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, 2005 United Kingdom Commonwealth Scholar and recipient of British Council postgraduate scholarship Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Doctoral Fellow Royal Historical Society, University of London, Research Travel Award recipient