ABSTRACT
Founded in 1919, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is still a young institution, but its early history is well beyond the reach of living memory. Historiographic efforts are therefore called for to capture the intellectual heritage of earlier generations. As an example, I shall here focus on one small subfield of the Humanities: East Asian art history. East Asian art history is an aspect of what is often referred to as “Global Art History”—the expansion of the reach of art historical inquiry beyond the European tradition. This approach has traditionally been a strong suit of UCLA’s Department of Art History, and this inquiry, though noncomprehensive, will throw some light on how this came to be. How was East Asian art history established at UCLA, and how has it developed over time? Who were its practitioners, what was their background, and how did they integrate themselves into the university? How was the field configured within the administrative structures, and how did it contribute to the work of UCLA’s several museums?
