Richard K Kent Professor of Art History

Biography

Richard K. Kent teaches courses in Asian art history, Chinese lyric poetry, and the history of Western photography. He received his B.A. in English from Oberlin College and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Chinese art and archaeology from Princeton University.

He has published articles on facets of medieval Chinese painting history, especially the Buddhist subject of lohans (senior disciples of the Buddha) from the Song to the Ming dynasties. His current area of research concerns early twentieth-century Chinese photography, about which he has published a series of articles. He also has published essays about contemporary Chinese and American photography.

Kent has received research grants from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Louise M. Hackney Fellowship for the Study of Chinese Painting, the Metropolitan Center for Far Eastern Art Studies (Kyoto), and three Hackman Summer Research grants from Franklin &Marshall College.

Apart from his identity as a scholar of Chinese painting and photo history, he is a writer and photographer. His study of many facets of Chinese cultural history, including Buddhist history and philosophy, has offered vital perspectives that inform both his writing and photography. For further information about his work in these areas, visit his website: www.rkkent.com