Carleton Connects: Kathleen Ryor and botanical culture in premodern China

Flowers, plants, and botanical knowledge were fundamental to the culture of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century China, as paintings, poetry, medicine, and manuals for elegant living all attest. Join art history and Asian studies professor Kathleen Ryor for an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the world of premodern China. Kathleen Ryor is the Tanaka Memorial Professor of International Understanding and Art History at Carleton, where she has taught since 1996. Her primary areas of research are Chinese painting, collecting, and the garden history of the late Ming dynasty, but her publications and courses also cover contemporary Chinese art, Buddhist art, Japanese prints, and the arts of the Japanese tea ceremony. Her current work is featured in the upcoming exhibition, Growing and Knowing in the Gardens of China, at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.