Collecting Objects / Excluding People: Chinese Subjects and American Visual Culture, 1830-1900

Combining aesthetic and political history, explores the influence of Chinese people and objects on American visual culture.

Table of Contents:
Illustrations and Credits Acknowledgments Introduction 1. The Politics of Chinoiserie: The Disappearance of Chinese Objects Section I. The Early Nineteenth Century The Presence of Chinese Objects in the United States Opium, Politics, and American Perceptions of the Chinese The Chinese in the United States Americans Assess China's Artistic Ability The Influence of the Chinese Aesthetic on American Art Section II. The Late Nineteenth Century Regarding "Oriental": Whose Aesthetic Is It American Confusion of Japanese and Chinese Objects Politicized Perceptions of the Chinese Politics Become Aesthetic Criteria 2. The Power of Inaction: Chinese Objects and the Transformation of the American Definition of Art Section I. Chinese Objects and the Aesthetics of Museums Aesthetic Morality and Nationalism, America's Ruskin-Based Art The Education Premise: Inaugurating Two American Art Museums Expanding the Canon of Art; Plaster Casts as an Art Form Section II. Chinese Objects and the Business of Museums Art Museums Founders and the Issues of the Public Museums, Art, and Commodities Merchandising Art The Change of Paradigm 3. From Class to Race: The New York Times Reconstructs "Chinese" Section I. A Brief Historical Contextualization Introduction Newspaper History and The New York Times A Glance at History of Labor, Politicians, and Anti-Chinese Agitation Section II. Creating a "Them": The Strategies of Demonization Part Becomes the Whole: Turning Chinese into Coolies Hordes Heathen Barbarity and Contamination Sex and Drugs Ignorance Effeminizing the Chinese Men Chinese into Coolies into Demonized Race Section III. Defining the "Us": The Exclusion Debate: Four Voices Struggle Over Imaging Chinese The Exclusion Debate: Four Voices Struggle Over Imaging Chinese The Opposing Race Arguments form the Congressional Debates The Times Doublespeak: Blame California, Profess Fatigue The Chinese View through Word and Action 4. The Chinese of American Imagination: Nineteenth-Century Trade Card Images Section I: Trade Card Images Section II: The Politics of Chromolithography Power Struggles Over Definitions of Art Between Two Worlds: The Dual Role of Trade Cars An Addition to Visual Language: Floating Signifiers Section III. The Chinese Figure as Outsider Dislodged Objects as a New Art Paper Nations The Safety of Exotic Distance Section IV. The Chinese Figure and American Self-Definition American, Un-American Disjunctions, and Collisions: The Iconography of Displacement Hybridity, Cultural Margins, and Incorporation Conclusion Notes Name Index Subject Index

About the Author :
Lenore Metrick-Chen is Assistant Professor of Art History at Drake University.