James Cahill Papers

The James Cahill Papers span the years 1945 to 1996 and measures 15 linear feet. The collection includes: personal and administrative correspondence with other art historians, art dealers and collectors; lecture manuscripts and administrative material and correspondence with art museums, universities and other organizations in the Asian art community. There are also several personal letters and postcards with family friends of James and Dorothy Cahill. The folder descriptions were retained from Cahill's own folder titles and organized alphabetically within each series.

1926 -- Born, Fort Bragg, CA

1950 -- Receives BA degree in Oriental Languages from University of California, Berkeley

1952 -- Receives MA degree in Art History from University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor

Circa 1953 -- Holds a museum training fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York

1954-1955 -- Studies with Shujiro Shimada at Kyoto University in Japan on a Fulbright Scholarship

1956 -- Works with Osvald Sirén in Stockholm on his seven-volume series "Chinese Painting: Leading Masters and Principles" Joins staff of Freer and Sackler Gallery as Curator of Chinese Art

1958 -- Receives PhD in Art History from University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, working principally with Max Loehr

1960 -- Publishes first and highly influential book: "Chinese Painting." In: Treasures of Asia series, Editions d'Art Albert Skira, Geneva, Switzerland 1960. Published also in French and German editions

1965 -- Leaves the Freer and Sackler Gallery to accept position as Professor of History of Art at the University of California, Berkeley

1973 -- Goes to China as member of the Chinese Archaeological Delegation, first group of art historians to visit China from the US

1976 -- Publishes first of projected five-volume series on later Chinese paintings: "Hills Beyond a River: Chinese Painting of the Yuan Dynasty"

1977 -- Visits China as chairman of Chinese Old Painting Delegation

1978 -- Publishes second of projected five-volume series on later Chinese painting: "Parting At the Shore: Chinese Painting of the Early and Middle Ming Dynasty"

1978-1979 -- Accepts appointment as Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard; delivers series of lectures titled, "The Compelling Image: Nature and Style in 17th Century Chinese Painting"

1982 -- Publishes "Barnhart-Cahill-Rogers Correspondence, 1981" (collection of correspondence published for colleagues) The Harvard lecture series: "The Compelling Image: Nature and Style in 17th Century Chinese Painting" published as a book, receives College of Art Association's Morey Prize for Best Art History book

1998-1999 -- Spends a year at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton with his wife, the art historian and artist Hsingyuan Tsao

2007 -- Former students organize 80th birthday party/symposium at Berkeley, titled: "Returning to the Shore"

2010 -- Became the 12th Recipient of the Charles Lang Freer Medal

Present -- Living in Vancouver, Canada

Cahill, James, 1926-2014

Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

College Art Association of America

Freer Gallery of Art

Guo li gu gong bo wu yuan

Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.)

Barnhart, Richard M., 1934-

Cahill, James, 1926-2014

Fong, Wen

Fu, Shen, 1937-

Lawton, Thomas, 1931-

Ledderose, Lothar date

Lee, Sherman E.

Li, Chu-tsing, 1920-

Pope, John Alexander, 1906-1982

Sickman, L. C. S. (Laurence C. S.)

Soper, Alexander Coburn, 1904-

Vinograd, Richard Ellis date

Wang, Chi-ch'ien

Wu, Nelson Ikon, 1919-

Washington (D.C.)

Japan

Berkeley (Calif.)

China

Art historians

Art, Japanese

Art, Chinese

Gift of James Cahill.

James Cahill donated his papers to the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives on December 12th, 2001.

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Postcards

Manuscripts

James Cahill papers, 1945-1996. FSA.A2001.11. National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Gift of James Cahill, December 12th, 2001.

The collection is arranged into 2 series:

Series 1 -- Project Files, 1945-1996

Series 2 -- Correspondence with Individuals, 1945-1996

Processed by intern Evelyn Khoo, with the assistance of archivists Rachael Cristine Woody and David Hogge. Encoded by Rebecca Morgan, Summer 2012.

Permission to reproduce and publish an item from the Archives is coordinated through the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery's Rights and Reproductions department. Please contact the Archives in order to initiate this process.

Postcards

Manuscripts

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Smithsonian Institution

Collection is closed for processing. Please contact the Archives for more information.

The James Cahill website, http://www.jamescahill.info/ which contains digitized versions of selected unpublished papers, correspondence and personal reminisces.