James Cahill was born on August 13th, 1926, in Fort Bragg, California, and the year of 2026 is the centennial year of his birth. Seeing the current tensions between globalization and anti-globalization, as well as the shifting landscape of cross-cultural studies and writings in art history, a quite different academic context from which James Cahill had lived we are facing now; in any case, telling the story of Chinese visual art to the world, promoting the studies of Chinese art in a globalizing age, just as James Cahill had done with deep belief in the universal value of traditional Chinese culture, even in his sufferings from severe illness in his later years, would be meaningful both intellectually and practically, that is why his memory still deserves our remembrance on this occasion at China Academy of Art Hangzhou where he regarded as his hometown in China.

An international symposium of “James Cahill's Legacy and Global Art History” and its affiliated academic events commemorating the centenary of James Cahill, hosted by China Academy of Art, will be held at the Xiangshan Campus of China Academy of Art Hangzhou on October 17-18th, and the details are as follows:

1. James Cahill's Legacy and Global Art History: An International Symposium Commemorating the Centenary of James Cahill (Oct 17th, 2026）
2. James Cahill and China Academy of Art: An Exhibition of Books and Documents Donated by James Cahill (Oct 18th, 2026）
3. Book Launch of the Second Volume of James Cahill's Lecture Series on Chinese Painting History GAZING INTO THE PAST: Scenes from Later Chinese and Japanese Painting (Oct 18th, 2026）
4. Premiere of the Documentary GAZING INTO THE PAST, THE UNBOUNDED VISION OF JAMES CAHILL (Oct 18th, 2026）

All these academic events will be hosted by China Academy of Art, and co-organized by its Advanced School of Art and Humanities, China Academy of Art Library, Archive of Modern Art Historiography, School of Chinese Painting, The Art Philosophy and Cultural Innovation Research Institute of China Academy of Art, School of Art Administration and Education, and the Centre for Chinese Visual Studies.

The full event announcement can be found at the following link:
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/zu4IXbIc52p6xhvzEFvI5g

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PROGRAMM:

Day 1, OCT 17th, 2026
Lecture Hall, Crafts Museum of China Academy of Art, Xiangshan Campus

8:30-9:00
Opening Ceremony of “James Cahill's Legacy and Global Art History: An International Symposium Commemorating the Centenary of James Cahill”
Moderated by Dong Jie (China Academy of Art)

9:00-9:10
Group Photo

Panel 1
Moderated by Fan Baiding (China Academy of Art)

9:15-9:35
Hong Zaixin (University of Puget Sound): James Cahill at One Hundred

9:35-9:55
Richard Vinograd (Stanford University): James Cahill and the Landmarks of Chinese Painting History

9:55-10:15
Ding Ning (Peking University): The Depth of Gaze: James Cahill's Legacy in Art History and Visual Rectification in the Social Media Era

10:15-10:35
Julia M. White (University of California, Berkeley): The James Cahill Legacy: Paintings from the Ching Yuan Chai Collection

10:35-10:50
Coffee Break

Panel 2
Moderated by Sheng Tianye

10:55-11:15
Yin Jinan (Central Academy of Fine Arts): The International Context, Linguistic Medium, and Visual Medium of Writing the History of Twentieth-Century Chinese Art

11:15-11:35
Zhang Jie (China Academy of Art): Stones from Other Hills: James Cahill and the Cross-Cultural Dialogue of Chinese Painting Studies

11:35-11:55
Zhang Jian (China Academy of Art): Cross-Fertilization and Confluence: James Cahill's Vision of Global History of Visual Art

11:55-12:15
Julia F. Andrews (Ohio State University): James Cahill's Pedagogical Strategies of the Mid-Late 1970s: Art History or Sinology?

12:15-13:20
Lunch Break

Panel 3
Moderated by Kong Lingwei (China Academy of Art)

13:30-13:50
Sarah E. Fraser (Heidelberg University): Beyond Forgery: Copying, Archaeology, and Canon Formation in Zhang Daqian's Dunhuang Project

13:50-14:10
Yu Hui (the Palace Museum): James Cahill and An Index of Early Chinese Painters and Paintings: Tang Sung Yuan

14:10-14:30
Pang Huiping (Hangzhou Normal University): In Cahill's Eye: The Hu Gui Hunting Albums Reattributed

14:30-14:50
Jane DeBevoise (Asia Art Archive in America): Making History: From Shadows of Mt. Huang to China 5000 Years and Beyond

14:50-15:10
Coffee Break

Panel 4
Moderated by Lan Youli (China Academy of China)

15:15-15:35
Chen Fong Fong (Hong Kong Baptist University): The Luofu Dream Reimagined: Pictorial Interpretations by Gao Jianfu and His Sino-Japanese Contemporaries

15:35-15:55
Mei Yutian (China Academy of Art): “Bi-Mo” (Brush-and-Ink) as a Cognitive Structure: A Reconsideration of James Cahill's “Style as Idea”

15:55-16:15
Huang Xiao (Beijing Forestry University), Shanshan Liu (Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture): From Garden Paintings to Garden Heritage: The Heritage Value of James Cahill's Studies of Chinese Garden Painting

16:15-16:35
Zhang Fanying (China Academy of Art): After“Ice-Breaking Trip”: American Art and Archaeology Delegation Visiting China in 1973 and the Turning-point of the Scholarship of Chinese Art History Overseas

16:35-17:35
Breakout Session

16:35-17:35
Dinner

Day 2, OCT 18th, 2026

9:00-9:20
Opening Ceremony of “James Cahill and China Academy of Art: An Exhibition of Donated Books and Documents”
Moderated by Lan Youli (China Academy of Art)
Exhibition Hall of the Study Center for Archive of Modern Art Historiography, China Academy of Art, Xiangshan Campus

9:20-9:40
Guided Tour and Exhibition Viewing

9:50-10:20
Book Launch of the Second Volume of James Cahill's Lecture Series on Chinese Painting History GAZING INTO THE PAST: Scenes from Later Chinese and Japanese Painting
Moderated by Zhao Wei(Peking University)
Screening Room, School of Film Art, China Academy of Art Xiangshan Campus

10:30-10:50
Premiere of the Documentary GAZING INTO THE PAST THE UNBOUNDED VISION OF JAMES CAHILL
Moderated by Kong Xiangwen(China Academy of Art)

10:50-11:20
Documentary Screening

11:40-12:40
Lunch