Fletcher Coleman is a specialist on the art historiography and religious arts of China, whose research spans the early medieval through modern periods. His current project examines the antiquarian conventions and pedagogical practices utilized by American scholars in the creation of East Asian art history as an academic discipline. Focusing on plaster cast collecting and ink rubbing connoisseurship, he argues that the intersection of these traditions became a foundation for early museum restoration practices and the teaching of East Asian art in America. Taking the Chinese Buddhist caves of Longmen as his primary case study, Coleman explores how this synthesis of traditions became physically embedded in objects during the study, removal, and restoration of sculpture from the site.

Beyond his current project, Coleman has published on depictions of ascetic groups in the early Buddhist art of far-western China. He also has a strong interest in traditional Chinese print and papermaking practices. Coleman has regularly hosted international symposia with the research academies of Buddhist cave sites, as well as artisans from acclaimed studios such as the Rongbaozhai print atelier in Beijing.

Prior to arriving at the University of Texas, Arlington, Coleman was a Visiting Professor of Art History at the University of Notre Dame and Indiana University, Bloomington. Coleman has held fellowships at a variety of institutions across the United States and Asia; including, the Metropolitan Center for Far Eastern Studies, Kyoto, and the China Academy of Art, Hangzhou. He has also served in the Asia-Mediterranean division of the Harvard Art Museums, as well as the Houghton Rare Books Library. His previous teaching experience includes courses on Chinese art, Japanese Art, Silk Road Studies, Buddhist art, the arts of the supernatural, and the religious arts of China.