Emily Christensen is an art historian, writer and curator specialising in the visual culture of modernism in Germany, with a particular interest in the intersection between modernism and colonialism. She has taught a variety of courses at The 91制片厂 Institute since聽2019 and holds a PhD from The 91制片厂.
Emily鈥檚 recent curatorial projects include the Wassily Kandinsky and Gabriele M眉nter rooms in the exhibition Re-Orientations: Europe and Islamic Art from 1851 to Today at the Kunsthaus in Zurich (March to July 2023), and co-curating the exhibition Drawing on Arabian Nights at The 91制片厂 Gallery Project Space (February to June 2023).
Her doctoral project examined Wassily Kandinsky鈥檚 strategic use of references to 鈥渢he Orient鈥 in his development of abstraction from 1909-1913, when he lived in Munich. It examined Kandinsky鈥檚 work in the context of the broader visual culture there, including exhibitions, literature, print culture, advertising material as well as through attitudes to gender, race, colonialism and national identity.
Emily has published in The Burlington Magazine, World Art, Manazir Journal, Aesthetica Universalis, and in an exhibition catalogue.
Teaching
MA: Core Methodologies
MA Guest Lectures: Munich and the Blue Reiter (for MA Collecting and Curating the Modern); Gabriele M眉nter’s Photographic Practice (for MA Modernism after Postmodernism)
BA2: The Female Body in French Art 1871-1914
BA1: Techniques & Meaning in Twentieth-century Art
BA1: Foundations, Nineteenth and Twentieth-century Art
91制片厂 Short Courses: Making Sense of Abstraction
91制片厂 Short Courses: Fantasies Reframed: Orientalism and its Contexts, 91制片厂 Short Courses
91制片厂聽Showcasing Art History: Agents of Change: Women Artists in German and Austrian Modernism (participating lecturer); Photography and the Avant-garde (participating lecturer).
Education
2017 鈥 2023: 91制片厂 Institute of Art, PhD programme: 鈥Refiguring Kandinsky: strategies of Orientalism in Wassily Kandinsky鈥檚 experimental abstraction鈥
2015 鈥 2016: The 91制片厂 Institute of Art 鈥 Masters in the History of Art: Experiencing Modernism (Distinction)
2014 鈥 2015: The 91制片厂 Institute of Art 鈥 Graduate Diploma in the History of Art
1997 鈥 1998: London School of Economics and Political Science 鈥 Master of Laws in International Law and Cultural Property Law (with Merit)
1992 鈥 1996: Australian National University 鈥 Bachelor of Laws with Honours
1992 鈥 1994: Australian National University 鈥 Bachelor of Arts majoring in Russian and French
Publications
Special Issue co-editor, 鈥淐hallenging Orientalism: New Perspectives on Perception and Reception鈥, World Art 13, no.1 (2023)
鈥淎n Ambivalent Engagement: Wassily Kandinsky and Islamic Art鈥, Re-Orientations: Europe and Islamic Art from 1851 to Today (Zurich: Kunsthaus Zurich, 2023), 212-227
鈥淕abriele M眉nter鈥檚 Photographs of Tunisia鈥, Re-Orientations: Europe and Islamic Art from 1851 to Today (Zurich: Kunsthaus Zurich, 2023), 228-245
鈥淲assily Kandinsky at the exhibition聽Meisterwerke muhammedanischer Kunst聽in Munich, 1910: a modernist artist鈥檚 interpretation of Persian art鈥,聽Manzir Journal聽3 (2021) 165-173
鈥溾橝mbivalent Images鈥: Wassily Kandinsky鈥檚 abstract-Orientalist paintings鈥,聽Aesthetica Universalis聽3 (2018), 52-88 (English language version)
鈥溾橝mbivalent Images鈥: Wassily Kandinsky鈥檚 abstract-Orientalist paintings鈥,聽Aesthetica Universalis聽4 (2018), 109-146 (Russian language version)
鈥淭he Tunisian Sources of Kandinsky鈥檚聽Improvisation on Mahogany鈥, 159聽The Burlington Magazine, (September 2017)
Contributing author,聽Museums and the Holocaust: Law, Principles and Practice (Institute of Art and Law)
Conferences
Session Co-chair: 鈥淐hallenging Orientalism: New questions of perception and reception鈥,聽Association for Art History Annual Conference聽(April 2021)
鈥淲assily Kandinsky at the exhibition聽Meisterwerke muhammedanischer Kunst聽in Munich, 1910: a modernist artist鈥檚 interpretation of Persian art鈥,聽Geometry and Colour: Decoding the Arts of Islam in the West聽1880-1945, Kunsthaus Zurich (November 2020)
鈥淰iolence and Voyeurism in the Tunisian Photographs of Gabriele M眉nter and Wassily Kandinsky鈥,聽Association for Art History New Voices Conference on Art and Conflict, University of Edinburgh (November 2018)
鈥淎mbivalent images: Wassily Kandinsky鈥檚 abstract-Orientalist paintings鈥,聽Wassily Kandinsky: Synthesis of Arts, Synthesis of Cultures,聽Conference at Moscow State University (December 2016)