Art, Art History, and Film Faculty

Gillian Zhang specializes in Chinese painting and material culture from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries, with particular interests in antiquarianism, material and materiality, intermediality, and the formation of artistic canons.

Before joining Boston College, Zhang was a Lecturer in the Department of History of Art & Architecture at Boston University. She was previously a Smithsonian Institution Predoctoral Fellow and held curatorial positions at the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Her research has been supported by funding from the Smithsonian Institution, the Getty Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Library of Congress.

At Boston College, Zhang teaches East Asian art and architecture. Her teaching emphasizes close looking and object-based learning. Museum visits and direct encounters with original works of art are an important part of her courses, helping students develop the analytical and communication skills necessary to consider how works of art engage with broader questions of race, gender, circulation, ideology, and historical change.