Name
TIAN, Mi
Degree
Ph.D. in Art History
Status
Assistant Professor
Research Topic
Collective Making: The “Practical” Turn of Chinese Art in the Nineteenth Century
This research project explores the intersection of art and technology in nineteenth-century China. Challenging conventional court-centered narratives that frame this era as one of artistic exhaustion amid crisis and catastrophe, it shifts attention to long-overlooked collective modes of artmaking among grassroots-level literati artists in local society. I argue that traditional arts, particularly calligraphy and painting, underwent a profound “practical” transformation. No longer functioning primarily as vehicles of individualized aesthetic expression, these ink-based practices were reconfigured as technical labor, integrating artistry with craft knowledge and skilled workmanship in the service of local administration. From heritage conservation to water management and military defense, painting and calligraphy were mobilized as actionable tools rather than rarefied accomplishments. In doing so, these practices fostered a functional mode of artistic-technical knowledge production aligned with the rising intellectual current of “practical statecraft.”
Education and Academic Employment
Education
| 2018-2024 | PhD, Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University |
| 2016-2018 | MA, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University |
| 2015-2018 | MA, Central Academy of Fine Arts, China |
| 2011-2015 | BA, Central Academy of Fine Arts, China |
Academic Employment
| 2025-2026 | Early Career Fellow in China Studies, American Council of Learned Societies |
| 2024-2025 | Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer, Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University |
Fields of Research Interests
History of Chinese painting and calligraphy, material culture, heritage conservation, intraregional exchanges in East Asia, and cross-cultural interactions between East Asia and the West.
Academic Publications
- “Contesting the Past: Pilgrimage to the Island of Jiaoshan in Nineteenth-Century China.” forthcoming in Artibus Asiae, no.1 (2026)
- 從趙之謙早年交遊試析其早年篆刻風格的發展和來源 [A Study of the Early Style of Zhao Zhiqian’s Seal Cutting Art in Relation to His Early Social Circles], in Zhongguo shuhua 中國書畫 [Chinese Painting and Calligraphy], no.8 (2016), pp.38-45.
- “Song Ming liangdai shushi xushu yu jiancang xitong zhong ‘Huaisu’ gainian de shengcheng he yanbian” 宋明兩代書史敘述與鑒藏系統中“懷素”概念的生成和演變 (The Making of an Icon: Revisiting “Huaisu” in Writings and Collections of the Song and Ming Dynasties) (MA thesis, Central Academy of Fine Arts, 2018), China Master’s Theses Full-text Database in CNKI (China Academic Journal)
- 吳同《龍之國的傳說：中國千年繪畫展》（北京：北京大學出版社，2023）, translated from Tung Wu, Tales from the Land of Dragons: 1,000 Years of Chinese Painting, (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2000).
Other Interests
Painting, Anime, Movie, and Mahjong
Affiliated Academic Organizations
American Council of Learned Societies
College of Art Association
Association for Asian Studies
Awards
Early Career Fellowship in China Studies (Henry Luce Foundation／American Council of Learned Societies〈ACLS〉／National Endowment for the Humanities〈NEH〉) (2025–2026)
Postdoctoral Fellowship (Princeton University) (2024–2025)
Donald and Mary Hyde Dissertation Fellowship (The Four Oaks Foundation) (2022)
Mulford Fellowship (Princeton University) (2018–2023)
