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Gennifer Weisenfeld

Walter H. Annenberg Distinguished Professor of Art and Art History
Art, Art History & Visual Studies
Box 90766, Durham, NC 27708
114 S. Buchanan Blvd. Smith Warehouse 10, Box 90766, Durham, NC 27708
Office hours Wednesdays 1:15-2:30 or by appointment  

Overview


Gennifer Weisenfeld received her Ph.D. from Princeton University in Japanese Art History. Her field of research is modern and contemporary Japanese art history, design, and visual culture. Her work explores the impact of Japan's modern sociopolitical transformations on artistic production and practice; the cultural formations of nation and empire building; Japanese modernism; the politics of the avant-garde; the visual culture of disaster; commercial design; and the relationship between high art and popular culture.

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Walter H. Annenberg Distinguished Professor of Art and Art History · 2024 - Present Art, Art History & Visual Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Professor in the Department of Art, Art History and Visual Studies · 2013 - Present Art, Art History & Visual Studies, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Core Faculty in the Asian/Pacific Studies Institute · 1998 - Present University Initiatives & Academic Support Units

In the News


Published May 4, 2023
Duke Awards 44 Distinguished Professorships
Published March 2, 2023
’Gas Mask Nation‘ Explores Japan’s Wartime Air Defense Campaigns
Published February 14, 2023
Spring Books from Duke Authors from Wittgenstein to Capoeira

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Recent Publications


The Complete Commercial Artist: Making Modern Design in Japan, 1928-1930

Book · January 2, 2024 A delightful, eye-opening journey through an ambitious periodical that helped shape graphic design in Japan, with introductory texts by arthistorian Gennifer Weisenfeild and colorful facsimile highlights from all 24 original volumes ... ... Cite

Gas Mask Nation: Visualizing Civil Air Defense in Wartime Japan

Book · 2023 Gas Mask Nation explores the multilayered construction of an anxious yet perversely pleasurable visual culture of Japanese civil air defense—or bōkū—through a diverse range of artworks, photographs, films and newsreels, magazine illustrations, postcards, c ... Cite

Hokusai’s Great Wave: Biography of a Global Icon

Book Review · January 7, 2017 Review of Christine Guth's "Hokusai’s Great Wave: Biography of a Global Icon" ... Cite
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Education, Training & Certifications


Princeton University · 1997 Ph.D.
Princeton University · 1992 M.A.
Wesleyan University · 1987 B.A.