View source for Joan Kee

{{short description|American art historian}}
'''Joan Kee''' is an American art historian specializing in modern and contemporary art who serves as Professor in the History of Art at the [[University of Michigan]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Joan Kee, Professor & Director of Graduate Studies|url=https://lsa.umich.edu/histart/people/faculty/jkee.html}}</ref> On June 27, 2024, Kee was appointed as Judy and Michael Steinhard Director of [[New York University Institute of Fine Arts|New York University's Institute of Fine Arts]], a position she will assume on August 19, 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |last=McGlone |first=Peggy |date=2024-06-27 |title=Joan Kee Named Director of NYU's Institute of Fine Arts |url=http://www.nyu.edu/content/nyu/en/about/news-publications/news/2024/june/joan-kee-named-director-of-the-institute-of-fine-arts |access-date=2024-06-28 |website=New York University |language=en}}</ref>
== Academic career ==
Kee earned her PhD at [[New York University Institute of Fine Arts]]. Her supervisor was [[Shitao]] scholar Jonathan Hay. Research for her dissertation was supported by an [[Andrew W. Mellon Foundation]] Fellowship from the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, [[National Gallery of Art]], Washington DC. Kee also obtained a JD from [[Harvard Law School]] and a BA from [[Yale College]], where she graduated magna cum laude.<ref>{{cite web|title=Joan Kee, Associate Professor & Director of Graduate Studies|url=https://lsa.umich.edu/histart/people/faculty/jkee.html}}</ref>
Her first book, ''Contemporary Korean Art: Tansaekhwa and the Urgency of Method'', published by [[University of Minnesota Press]] in 2013, is credited<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-05-18 |title=artnet Asks: K Auction on the Market's Dansaekhwa Moment |url=https://news.artnet.com/exhibitions/artnet-asks-k-auction-markets-dansaekhwa-moment-489767 |access-date=2019-03-03 |website=artnet News |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=2016-12-12 |title=Why South Korea's monochrome painting movement is the art world's latest obsession |url=http://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/tech-design/article/2053829/south-koreas-monochrome-painting-movement-art-worlds}}</ref> with sparking global interest<ref>{{cite magazine |date=30 September 2015 |title=The Koreans at the Top of the Art World |url=http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-koreans-at-the-top-of-the-art-world |access-date=September 30, 2015 |magazine=The New Yorker}}</ref> in [[Dansaekhwa]], a major constellation of abstract paintings produced in South Korea from the 1960s. In 2014, she curated ''From All Sides: Tansaekhwa and the Urgency of Method'',<ref>{{cite web |title=FROM ALL SIDES: TANSAEKHWA ON ABSTRACTION |url=http://www.blumandpoe.com/exhibitions/all-sides-tansaekhwa-abstraction |access-date=6 May 2016 |website=Blum & Poe}}</ref> a group show of representative Tansaekhwa artists that was widely acclaimed.<ref>{{cite web |date=17 December 2014 |title=L.A.'s Best, 2014: Connie Butler |url=http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-features/news/las-best-2014-connie-butler/}}</ref> She has been cited as Tansaekhwa's most prominent Anglophone scholar.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Schwabsky |first=Barry |date=2015-12-17 |title=It's Time To Stop Ignoring South Korean Abstract Art |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/its-time-to-stop-ignoring-south-korean-abstract-art/ |access-date=2018-12-21 |work=The Nation |language=en-US |issn=0027-8378 |archive-date=2019-09-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190905102507/https://www.thenation.com/article/its-time-to-stop-ignoring-south-korean-abstract-art/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Kee's latest book – ''The Geometries of Afro Asia: Art beyond Solidarity,'' published April 2023 – presents a framework for understanding the rich and surprisingly understudied relationship between Black and Asian artists and the worlds they initiate through their work. Her previous book, ''Models of Integrity Art and Law in Post-Sixties America'', includes discussion of the following artists, among others; [[Christo and Jeanne-Claude]], [[Gordon Matta-Clark]], [[Tehching Hsieh]], [[Félix González-Torres|Felix Gonzalez-Torres]] and [[Sally Mann]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kee |first1=Joan |url=https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520299382/models-of-integrity |title=Models of Integrity |date=March 2019 |publisher=Univ of California Press |isbn=9780520299382 |language=en}}</ref> Kee is a contributing editor to [[Artforum]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Artforum Contributing Editors Release Statement on Allegations |url=https://www.artforum.com/news/artforum-contributing-editors-release-statement-on-allegations-71957 |access-date=2019-03-03 |website=www.artforum.com |date=November 2017 |language=en-US}}</ref> advisory editor to the Oxford Art Journal,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Editorial_Board {{!}} Oxford Art Journal {{!}} Oxford Academic |url=https://academic.oup.com/oaj/pages/Editorial_Board |access-date=2019-03-03 |website=academic.oup.com}}</ref> editor at large for the [[The Brooklyn Rail|Brooklyn Rail]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bui |first=Phong |date=5 February 2019 |title=Dear Friends and Readers |url=https://brooklynrail.org/2019/02/publishersmessage/Dear-Friends-and-Readers-Feb-19 |access-date=2019-03-03 |website=The Brooklyn Rail}}</ref> and also sits on the international advisory board of [[Art History (journal)|Art History]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Art History |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/14678365/homepage/editorialboard.html |access-date=2019-03-03 |website=onlinelibrary.wiley.com}}</ref> She has been cited in reference to artists like [[Zao Wou-Ki|Zao Wou-ki]], [[Gordon Matta-Clark]], and to [[Park Seo-bo|Park Seobo]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Seno |first=Alexandra a |date=2009-05-21 |title=The Subtle Power of Zao Wou-Ki |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/22/arts/22iht-zao.html |access-date=2019-03-03 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Feinstein |first=Laura |date=22 February 2018 |title=New York Needs Gordon Matta-Clark Now More Than Ever |url=https://www.citylab.com/design/2018/02/new-york-needs-gordon-matta-clark-now-more-than-ever/553814/ |access-date=2019-03-03 |newspaper=Bloomberg.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Seno |first=Alexandra A. |date=2011-05-19 |title=Park Seo-bo: 'Role of Art Is To Make People Worry' |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/scene/2011/05/19/park-seo-bo-role-of-art-is-to-make-people-worry/ |access-date=2019-03-03 |website=WSJ |language=en-US}}</ref>
=== Selected publications ===
*''Contemporary Southeast Asian Art: The Right Kind of Trouble,'' [[Third Text]], vol. 30, 2011 <ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kee|first=Joan|date=2011-07-01|title=Introduction Contemporary Southeast Asian Art|journal=Third Text|volume=25|issue=4|pages=371–381|doi=10.1080/09528822.2011.587681|s2cid=142968600|issn=0952-8822}}</ref>
*''Contemporary Korean Art: Tansaekhwa and the Urgency of Method'', [[University of Minnesota Press]], Minnesota, 2013 <ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/contemporary-korean-art|title=Contemporary Korean Art|language=en}}</ref>
*''Contemporary Art in Early Colonial Korea: The Self Portraits of Ko Hui-dong'', Art History 36:2, p392-417, April 2013 <ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kee|first=Joan|date=2013|title=Contemporary Art in Early Colonial Korea: The Self Portraits of Ko Hui-dong|journal=Art History|language=en|volume=36|issue=2|pages=392–417|doi=10.1111/j.1467-8365.2013.00950.x|issn=1467-8365}}</ref>
*''Towards Law as an Artistic Medium: William E. Jones' Tearoom'', [[Law, Culture and the Humanities]], May 27, 2014 <ref>{{Cite journal|title=SAGE Journals: Your gateway to world-class journal research|language=en|doi=10.1177/1743872114533656|s2cid=147125132}}</ref>
*''What Scale Affords Us: Sizing Up the World Through Scale'', Art Margins 3:2, p3-30, June 2014 <ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kee|first=Joan|date=2014-06-01|title=What Scale Affords Us: Sizing the World Up through Scale|journal=ARTMargins|volume=3|issue=2|pages=3–30|doi=10.1162/ARTM_a_00079|s2cid=57561517|issn=2162-2574}}</ref>
*''To Scale'', co-editor with Emanuele Lugli, Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2015 <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wiley.com/en-us/To+Scale-p-9781119142508|title=To Scale|website=Wiley.com|language=en-us|access-date=2019-03-03}}</ref>
*''From All Sides: Tansaekhwa on Abstraction'', [[Blum & Poe]], Los Angeles, 2015 <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://store.blumandpoe.com/products/from-all-sides-tansaekhwa-on-abstraction|title=FROM ALL SIDES: TANSAEKHWA ON ABSTRACTION|website=Blum & Poe|language=en|access-date=2019-03-03}}</ref>
*''The Measure of the World: Scenes From a Journey to Kaesŏng'', Art History 38:2, p364-385, April 2015 <ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kee|first=Joan|date=2015|title=The Measure of the World: Scenes from a Journey to Kaesŏng|journal=Art History|language=en|volume=38|issue=2|pages=364–385|doi=10.1111/1467-8365.12154|issn=1467-8365}}</ref>
*''Why Performance in Authoritarian Korea'', Tate Papers 23, May 2015 <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tate-papers/23/why-performance-in-authoritarian-korea|title=Why Performance in Authoritarian Korea? – Tate Papers|last=Tate|website=Tate|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-03-03}}</ref>
*''Orders of Law in the One Year Performances of Tehching Hsieh'', [[American Art (journal)]], 30, no. 1, Spring 2016 <ref>{{Cite journal|title=Orders of Law in the One Year Performances of Tehching Hsieh|journal=American Art|volume=30|pages=72–91|doi=10.1086/686549|year = 2016|last1 = Kee|first1 = Joan|s2cid=155868708}}</ref>
*''Art Chasing Law: The Case of Yoko Ono's Rape'', [[Law and Literature (journal)]], June 2016 <ref>{{Cite journal|title=Art Chasing Law: The Case of Yoko Ono's Rape|journal=Law & Literature|volume=28|issue=2|pages=187–208|doi=10.1080/1535685x.2016.1185280|year = 2016|last1 = Kee|first1 = Joan|s2cid=148252029}}</ref>
*''How Art and Law Can Work Together Beyond the Marketplace'', with Sonia K. Katyal, [https://hyperallergic.com/ Hyperallergic], January 12, 2017 <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hyperallergic.com/350921/how-art-and-law-can-work-together-beyond-the-marketplace/|title=How Art and Law Can Work Together Beyond the Marketplace|date=2017-01-12|website=Hyperallergic|language=en-US|access-date=2018-12-21}}</ref>
*''Modern Art in Late Colonial Korea, a Research Experiment'', [[Modernism/modernity]], vol. 25, no. 2, April 2018 <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://modernismmodernity.org/articles/research-experiment|title=Modern Art in Late Colonial Korea: A Research Experiment {{!}} Modernism / Modernity Print+|website=modernismmodernity.org|access-date=2019-03-03}}</ref>
*''Models of Integrity: Art and Law in Post-Sixties America'', [[University of California Press]], February 2019 <ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520299382/models-of-integrity|title=Models of Integrity|date=March 2019 |isbn=9780520299382 |language=en|last1=Kee |first1=Joan |publisher=Univ of California Press }}</ref>
*''The Geometries of Afro Asia: Art beyond Solidarity,'' [https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520392458/the-geometries-of-afro-asia University of California Press], April 2023
=== Selected appearances ===
* In 2018, she appeared in [[:fr:Kader Attia|Kader Attia]]'s video installation ''Shifting Borders,'' commissioned for the [[Gwangju Biennale]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.art-agenda.com/reviews/%e2%80%9c12th-gwangju-biennale-imagined-borders%e2%80%9d/|title="12th Gwangju Biennale: Imagined Borders" {{!}} Art Agenda|access-date=2018-12-21}}</ref>
=== Fellowships and awards ===
* Erwin Panofsky Fellowship, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, 2003-2008
* Andrew W. Mellon Predoctoral Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art, 2007 <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nga.gov/press/2007/casva-2007.html|title=Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts Announces 2007–2008 Appointments|website=www.nga.gov|access-date=2018-12-21}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[https://www.google.co.uk/#q=%22Joan+Kee%22+site:http:%2F%2Fartforum.com Contributions to Artforum by Joan Kee] (via [[Google]])
*[https://lsa.umich.edu/histart/people/faculty/jkee.html Joan Kee | U-M LSA History of Art]
*[http://www.blumandpoe.com/exhibitions/all-sides-tansaekhwa-abstraction FROM ALL SIDES: TANSAEKHWA ON ABSTRACTION, Curated by Joan Kee, Sept-Nov 2014]
*[http://brooklynrail.org/2016/03/editorsmessage/art-encounters-law Art Encounters Law, The Brooklyn Rail, Guest Critic, March 4, 2016]
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[[Category:American art historians]]
[[Category:American women art historians]]
[[Category:University of Michigan faculty]]
[[Category:American women curators]]
[[Category:American curators]]
[[Category:New York University Institute of Fine Arts alumni]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Harvard Law School alumni]]
[[Category:Yale College alumni]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]
[[Category:American women academics]]
[[Category:21st-century American women]]