Helen Swift

Helen Swift

Japanese Art
Helen Swift

Helen’s research focuses on early-modern and modern Japanese art with an emphasis on painting and prints. Her dissertation on Meiji period (1868–1912) painting examines the development of oil painting and the fine arts in Japan at the turn of the twentieth century through the career of Kuroda Seiki (1866–1924). With an interest in issues of hybridity, Orientalism, and national identity formation, her dissertation considers Kuroda’s negotiation of artistic, cultural, and temporal disjunctions in the pursuit of an authoritative new mode of Japanese painting. Helen holds an MA in the History of East Asian Art from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London and received her BA in the History of Art and Architecture from the University of Cambridge.

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