Tsi Cong Han
Thesis: Picturing the New Knowledge of Heaven and Earth: Jesuits, World Maps and Cosmologies in Early Modern Europe and China
Supervisor: Prof Louise Bourdua
My official name on my passport is Dong Han 韩洞 but I personally prefer to be called Tsi Cong麒璁, which may cause some confusion. Before coming to the University of Warwick, I completed my BA and MLitt in Art History at the China Central Academy of Fine Arts and the University of St Andrews respectively, where I studied both Chinese and western art history and gradually became interested in global and transcultural art history in the age of early globalisation. I am currently working on my thesis of Jesuit scientific imagery in seventeenth-century China, with a focus on how the China-based Jesuits’ cartographic and astronomical works interacted with Neo-Confucian worldview and cosmology and influenced Chinese visual arts. I am the winner of the History of Art Departmental Bursary of annual 15,000 pounds over the next three years (2018 - 2021).
Background:
BA: Central Academy of Fine Arts中央美术学院 (CAFA), School of Humanities (Art History), 2013 - 2017;
MLitt: University of St Andrews, School of Art History (Art History), 2017-2018;
PhD: University of Warwick, Department of History of Art, 2018-
Research Interests:
Jesuit China mission, in particular the influence of European science and visual culture in early modern China; Cartography and scientific imagery in Eurasia; Early modern art and science, especially in Renaissance Italy and early modern China; Transcultural and global art and the Sino-European cultural exchange; Chinese art and visual culture.
Publications:
Articles
'Chinese Contemporary Art at the Guggenheim Museum'《古根海姆的“中国当代艺术”:历史书写、语境转移与边界碰撞》, Published in Art China《艺术当代》 (ISSN: 1672-4402), October 2017 (10), pp. 42-45.
'Chinese Contemporary Female Art: An Identity of Art or Gender'《中国当代女性艺术：性别身份还是艺术身份》, Published in Art Monthly《画刊》 (ISSN: 1005-6890), March 2018 (03), pp. 21-23.
'The Genealogical Trees in the Nuremberg Chronicle (Latin edition, 1493)'《<纽伦堡编年史>中的谱系树图像》, Published in Art Observation《美术观察》 (ISSN: 1006-8899), April 2019 (02), pp. 88-92+87.
Book Review
'The Sempiternal Sanctity in Space-Time: A Review of Li Jun’s A Visible History of Art: From Church to Museum, with an Introduction to the Research of Giorgio Vasari in China'《时空中的永恒神圣性：读<可视的艺术史：从教堂到博物馆>》, Published in Oriental Art《东方艺术》 (ISSN: 1005-9733), July 2016 (07), pp. 130-135.
Conference Papers:
June 2017: ‘Giorgio Vasari’s Last Judgment and the Visualization of Art History,’ in the 2017 CAFA Youth & Academic Conference, CAFA, Beijing, China.
May 2019: ‘Picturing the Heaven and the Earth: Jesuits and Cosmology in Early Modern China,’ in the 3rd Annual PG Conference, Warwick & Coventry Universities, History of Art & Visual Arts Research, London, UK.
October 2019: ‘Picturing the Knowledge of Heaven and Earth in the Jesuit China Missions,’ in the workshop ‘Entangled Knowledges. Education and Culture in Judaism, Christianity and Islam (XIVth-XIXth centuries)’, the Istituto Sangalli, Florence, Italy.
November 2019: ‘Giulio Aleni’s World Picture in His Tianzhu jiangsheng chuxiang jingjie (1637),’ Art History PGR Forum 2019, Department of History of Art of the University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.
April 2020: ‘Giraffe and Qilin: Representations of a Non-Extant Creature in Early Modern Chinese World Geography,’ in the panel of NONEXTANT of the 2020 conference of the Renaissance Society of America (RSA), Renaissance Society of America, Philadelphia, USA.
April 2020: ‘Giulio Aleni’s Cosmological Images,’ (title to be confirmed) in the 2020 Joint Atlantic Seminar in East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine (JAS-EASTM), Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA.
June 2020: ‘From Cartography to Christian Iconography: Giulio Aleni’s Cosmological Images and Jesuit Scientific Imagery in Seventeenth-Century China,’ (title to be confirmed) in the 2020 International Symposium on Jesuit Studies–“Engaging the World”, Co-organized by the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies at Boston College and Brotéria in Lisbon, in partnership with the Catholic University Portugal, Lisbon, Portugal.
April 2020: ‘Transcultural Cosmological Images and Jesuit Scientific Imagery in Seventeenth-Century China,’ (title to be confirmed) in session 6 of the 35th CIHA World Congress ‘Motion: Migrations’, São Paulo, Brazil.
Curating:
January 2014 - April 2014: Curator Assistant of the Second CAFA Art Museum Biennale
May 2016 - June 2017: Curator of the First Documentary Exhibition of School of Humanities Library, CAFA
Selected Training:
July 2015: ‘Comparing Greek & Hebrew Philosophy’ taught by Prof. Chris Corwin (New College Berkeley), Peking University Summer School programme, Beijing
May 2019: Warwick-Warburg Training Programme 2019 'Resources and Techniques for the Study of Renaissance and Early Modern Culture', Warwick and Warburg
May - June 2019: Warwick-JHU Summer School 2019 'Cultural Exchange in Renaissance Europe: Texts and Objects', Venice