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Sonya LeeAssistant Professor of Art History and East Asian Lanuages and CulturesContact Information E-mail: sonyasle@college.usc.edu Phone: (213)821-2582 Office: VKC 351 |
Education
- Ph.D. Art History, University of Chicago, 6/2004
Description of Research
Summary Statement of Research Interests
Dr. Sonya Lee specializes in religious art and architecture of pre-modern China. Her research focuses on the material culture of Chinese Buddhism from the fifth to tenth centuries, in particular cave temples along the ancient Silk Road. She has written and lectured on Buddhist relic worship, the political use of the Buddha’s life story, constructing pictorial narratives in architectural space, the role of monumental sculpture in the establishment of sacred sites, inscribed texts as visual objects at cave temples, and the religious economy of Buddhist devotional objects. Her forthcoming book, Surviving Nirvana: Death of the Buddha in Chinese Visual Culture, discusses how Buddhist devotees in China had come to terms with the absence of the Buddha and prospects of their own survival by repeatedly reinventing a pictorial motif about the moment of the Buddha’s “death.”
Dr. Lee teaches a wide range of courses at USC. In addition to the arts of medieval China, Dr. Lee has other areas of teaching interest, including archaeology of early China, literati painting practices, production and consumption of ceramics in East Asia, and formation of cultural identity in contemporary Chinese art.
Dr. Lee has been trained in art history, sinology and religious studies, and has conducted extensive fieldwork in China and Japan. Dr. Lee received her Ph.D. in art history from the University of Chicago in 2004, and joined USC in the same year. Currently, she holds a joint appointment in the Departments of Art History and East Asian Languages and Cultures.
Research Specialties
Chinese religious art and architecture, visual cultures of the Silk Road
Publications
Book
- Lee, S. S. Surviving Nirvana: Death of the Buddha in Chinese Visual Culture. Hong Kong University Press.
Book Chapter
- Lee, S. S. (2008). Le Nirvana du Bouddha et les dépôts de reliques en Chine médiévale. Paris: Image et imagination: Le Bouddhisme en Asie/École française d’Extrême-Orient.
- Lee, S. S. (2004). Nirvana Buddha and Its Doubles: Coffin Image, Maitreya, and the Rhetoric of Continuity on the Art Institute of Chicago Stele. pp. 191-234. Beijing, China: Between Han and Tang: Visual and Material Culture in a Transformative Period/Cultural Relics Publishing House.
Journal Article
- Lee, S. S. (2008). Transmitting Buddhism to a Future Age: The Leiyin Cave at Fangshan and Cave Temples with Stone Scriptures in Sixth-Century China. Archives of Asian Art. Vol. 60
- Lee, S. S. (2008). The Buddha's Words at Cave Temples: Inscribed Scriptures in the Design of Wofoyuan. Ars Orientalis. Vol. 36
Proceedings
- Lee, S. S. (2007). The Pathway of Great Buddhas in Sichuan. In Art Museum of Dazu Rock Carvings (Ed.), pp. 540-547. Beijing, China. Proceedings from the International Conference on Dazu Stone Carvings 2005/Cultural Relics Publishing House.
Service to the Profession
Professional Memberships
- Association of Asian Studies, 2003-2009
- College Art Association, 2003-2009
