Faculty

Sherry Fowler specializes in Japanese Buddhist art. Her interests also include nineteenth century Japanese prints, foreign interactions with Japanese art, issues of collecting, and ritual. Her recent research focuses on the origin and development of the imagery of the cult of the Six Kannon in Japan.

Education:

1995 Ph.D, Art History, University of California, Los Angeles
1989 M.A., Art History, University of Washington
1992-93, 1986-89 Research Fellow, Kyoto University, Department of Aesthetics and Art History

Professional Experience:

2004 - present Associate Professor, University of Kansas
2000-2004 Assistant Professor, University of Kansas
1995-2000 Assistant Professor, Lewis & Clark College, Portland, Oregon

Selected Publications:

“Saved by the Bell: Six Kannon and Bonsho.” In Cultural Crossings: China and Beyond in the Early Medieval Period. Dorothy Wong, ed. Singapore: Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, forthcoming.

“The Five Kannon of Tomyoji.” In Blackwell Companion to Asian Art, Rebecca Brown and Deborah Hutton, eds. Malden, MA; Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2011.

“Locating Tomyoji and Its “Six” Kannon.” In Capturing the “Original”: Archives for Cultural Properties. Tokyo: National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, 2010. English: 56-74; Japanese (Tomyoji “Roku” Kannonzo o tadoru): 157-181.

"Views of Japanese Temples and Shrines from Near and Far: Precinct Prints of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries." Artibus Asiae 68/2 (2008): 247-285.

"Travels of the Daihoonji Six Kannon Sculptures." Ars Orientalis 36 (2006): 178-214.

"The Muroji Golden Hall Wall Painting or "Taishakuten Mandara." Zurich Studies in the History of Art: Georges Bloch-Jahrbuch, Universität Zürich Kunsthistorisches Institut 13/14 (2006/7): 434-459.

"Between Six and Thirty-three: Manifestations of Kannon in Japan" ("Zwischen sechs und dreiunddreissig: Erscheinungsformen von Kannon Bosatsu") in Kannon, Divine Compassion: Early Buddhist Art from Japan (Kannon Göttliches Mitgefuhl Frühe buddhistische Kunst aus Japan). Zürich: Rietberg Museum at the University of Zürich, 2007.

Rearranging Art and History at the Japanese Buddhist Temple of Muroji. University of Hawai'i Press, 2005.

"The Splitting Image of Baozhi at Saioji and His Cult in Japan." Oriental Art, vol. XLVI, no. 4 (2000): 2-10.

"Shifting Identities in Buddhist Sculpture: Who's Who in the Muroji Kondo." Archives of Asian Art, vol. LII (2000-2001): 83-104.

"Setting Foot on the Mountain: Mt. Muro as a Women's Alternative to Mt. Koya." Asian Journal of Women's Studies, vol. 3, no. 4 (1998): 52-73.

"Nyonin Koya to shite no Muroji no mondai." Nihon shukyo bunkashi kenkyu, 2/1-2 (Nov. 1997): 43-58.

"In Search of the Dragon: Mt. Muro's Sacred Topography." Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 24/1-2 (1997): 146-161.

Selected Honors

2011 Association of Asian Studies Japan Studies Travel Grant

2009 Japan Foundation Fellowship

2009 Hall Center for the Humanities Fellowship

2006-2007 Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Fellowship, Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, University of London

2005-2006 Asian Cultural Council Asian Art and Religion Fellowship

2005 Metropolitan Center for Far Eastern Art Studies

2004 Association of Asian Studies, Japan Studies Research Travel within the U.S.A.

2003 Hall Center for the Humanities Vice-Chancellor's Book Subvention Award

2001 Japan Foundation Fellowship; Association of Asian Studies Japan Studies Travel Grant

Courses Taught

History of Japanese Painting
History of Japanese Sculpture
Art of Buddhism
Japanese Buddhist Art
Japanese Artistic Encounters with Europe and the U.S

Graduate Seminars (recent topics)

Secrecy in Japanese Art
Pilgrimage in East Asian Art
Modernity and Identity of Transnational Japan, 1850-1950
Collecting East Asian Art in the U.S. and Europe
Japanese Buddhist Icons
Japanese Buddhist Temples in Context
Japanese Prints
Buddhism and Christianity
Saints, Relics and Shrines

Doctoral Dissertations Chaired

The Five Great Repository Bodhisattvas: Lineage, Protection and Celestial Authority in Ninth Century Japan

The Function and Context of Fudo Imagery from the Ninth to Fourteenth Century in Japan

The Pilgrimage Paintings of Huang Xiangjian (1609-73) in the Ming-Qing Transition

Doctoral Dissertations Chair (in progress)

Building the Dharma: Text and Image in the Jeweled-Stupa Mandalas