James Francis Cahill (; August 13, 1926 – February 14, 2014) was an
art historian
Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...
, curator, collector, and professor at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
. He was considered one of the world's top authorities on
Chinese art
Chinese art is visual art that originated in or is practiced in China, Greater China or by Chinese artists. Art created by Chinese residing outside of China can also be considered a part of Chinese art when it is based in or draws on Chinese ...
.
Early life and education
James Cahill was born on August 13, 1926 in
Fort Bragg, California
Fort Bragg, officially the City of Fort Bragg, is a city along the Pacific Coast of California along Shoreline Highway in Mendocino County. The city is west of Willits, at an elevation of . Its population was 6,983 at the 2020 census.
Fort ...
. His parents were divorced when he was two, and he lived with a number of relatives and friends. He became interested in literature and music at
Berkeley High School.
[
In 1943 Cahill entered the University of California, Berkeley, initially to study English, but decided to study Japanese instead because of World War II.][ He was later drafted into the ]US Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
, and served as a translator in Japan and Korea from 1946 to 1948. In Asia he became interested in collecting paintings.[ In 1948 he returned to UC Berkeley and received a bachelor's degree in Oriental languages in 1950. He then studied art history under ]Max Loehr
Max Loehr (4 December 1903 - 16 September 1988) was an art historian and professor of Chinese art at Harvard University from 1960 to 1974.
As an authority on Chinese art, Loehr published eight books and numerous articles on ancient Chinese paint ...
at the University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
, earning his master's in 1952 and Ph.D. in 1958.[ In 1954 and 1955 Cahill studied at ]Kyoto University
, mottoeng = Freedom of academic culture
, established =
, type = National university, Public (National)
, endowment = ¥ 316 billion (2.4 1000000000 (number), billion USD)
, faculty = 3,480 (Teaching Staff)
, administrative_staff ...
in Japan as a Fulbright Scholar
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...
.[
]
Career
Cahill worked at the Freer Gallery of Art
The Freer Gallery of Art is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. focusing on Asian art. The Freer and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery together form the National Museum of Asian Art in the United States. The Freer and Sac ...
in Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
as curator of Chinese art from 1958 to 1965, when he became a faculty member at UC Berkeley.[ He taught at Berkeley for 30 years, from 1965 until his retirement in 1995, after which he became professor emeritus.] From the late 1950s to the 1970s, when Western society had far less interest in Chinese art than today, Cahill was among a group of art historians who researched and cataloged Chinese paintings.[ In 1960 he published ''Chinese Painting'', which became a classic text that was required reading in Chinese art history classes for decades.][ In 1973, he was one of the first American art historians to visit China after President ]Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
's historic meeting with Chairman Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...
the year before.[
At a Chinese art symposium in the 1960s, Cahill proposed the theory that notable ]Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
Chinese painters were influenced by Western art. His theory was denounced by Chinese academics at the time, but has been widely accepted by experts since then.[
In the 1990s, financier ]Oscar Tang
Oscar Liu-Chien Tang () is a Chinese-born American financier who co-founded Reich & Tang, an asset management firm. Tang was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005. Prior to this, he was appointed to the New York Sta ...
purchased ''The Riverbank'', a famous painting attributed to the 10th-century Chinese Southern Tang
Southern Tang () was a state in Southern China that existed during Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, which proclaimed itself to be the successor of the former Tang dynasty. The capital was located at Nanjing in present-day Jiangsu Province ...
dynasty master Dong Yuan
Dong Yuan (, Gan: dung3 ngion4; c. 934 – c. 962) was a Chinese painter.
He was born in Zhongling (钟陵; present-day Jinxian County, Jiangxi Province).Cihai: Page 599. Dong Yuan was active in the Southern Tang Kingdom of the Five Dynasties a ...
, and donated it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
of New York City. In 1999, Cahill set off an explosive debate when he announced that the painting was a fake by the 20th-century master painter and forger Zhang Daqian
Chang Dai-chien or Zhang Daqian (; 10 May 1899 – 2 April 1983) was one of the best-known and most prodigious Chinese artists of the twentieth century. Originally known as a '' guohua'' (traditionalist) painter, by the 1960s he was also renowned ...
.[ In addition to his observations on the painting's style, which he argued could not be that of a Song dynasty painting, he cited the brushwork and seals. The museum insists the painting is authentic, and the work remains on display at the Met. The dispute remains unresolved.][
James Cahill published hundreds of articles on Chinese and Japanese art, as well as more than a dozen books.James Cahill Bibliography]
/ref> He built a significant collection of Chinese and Japanese art, and gave much of it to the Berkeley Art Museum
The Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA, formerly abbreviated as BAM/PFA) are a combined art museum, repertory movie theater, and archive associated with the University of California, Berkeley. Lawrence Rinder was Director from ...
.[ In 1993 he delivered the Edwin O. Reischauer Lectures at Harvard. In 2010 he was awarded the ]Charles Lang Freer Medal
The Charles Lang Freer medal was established in 1956 by the Smithsonian Institution in honor of Charles Lang Freer, the founder of the Freer collection. The medal is conferred intermittently, honoring distinguished career contributions made by ...
by the Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
for his lifetime contributions to art history.
Personal life
Cahill was married and divorced twice. He had two children from his first marriage, pianist Sarah Cahill and Nicholas, and two more children from his second marriage, Benedict and Julian. He also had six grandchildren.[ He died of ]prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...
on February 14, 2014, at the age of 87.
Notes
References and further reading
* . Includes biographical remarks on Cahill and a bibliography of his works.
External links
James Cahill
Website containing Cahill's blog, video lectures, papers, articles, biographical material, and tributes to him.
James Cahill's digital library
at the China Academy of Art
China Academy of Art (), also translated as China National Academy of Fine Arts, was founded in Hangzhou in 1928 by the government of the Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China and the renowned educator Cai Yuanpei. It was the first a ...
, including the list of the personal book collection he donated to the Academy.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cahill, James
1926 births
2014 deaths
American art historians
American art collectors
UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni
University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty
University of Michigan alumni
Educators from California
Kyoto University alumni
Deaths from prostate cancer
Chinese art collectors
People from Fort Bragg, California
Historians of East Asian art
Deaths from cancer in California
United States Army personnel of World War II
United States Army soldiers
Historians from California
Fulbright alumni