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Freer Research Center

Three individuals look closely at two bronze vessels and a lid

Freer Research Center logoThe Freer Research Center embodies a long tradition of lively and dynamic research at the National Museum of Asian Art. Fostering innovative object-based inquiries into Asian art and American art of the Aesthetic Movement, it offers access to the museum’s resources and staff expertise. The Freer Research Center is responsible for fellowships, programs, and peer-reviewed publications. Formally established in 2024, the Freer Research Center welcomes a global community of leading researchers, emerging scholars, and students with interests in material and visual cultures, digital humanities, collecting histories, and related fields.

When museum founder Charles Lang Freer made his gift to the nation, it was “with special regard for the convenience of students and others desirous of an opportunity for uninterrupted study of the objects.” The Freer Research Center cultivates the next generation of academics and curators through a variety of fellowships. It produces Ars Orientalis, one of the oldest journals devoted to scholarship on Asian art and now open access, as well as other peer-reviewed publications largely related to the museum’s collections. The Freer Research Center also regularly hosts conferences, workshops, and lectures to showcase innovative research.

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Fellowships

Our fellowships offer year-round research opportunities for scholars of all academic levels to pursue their projects full-time with the support of the museum’s staff and resources.

portrait of FRC fellow SholanAmida Sholan
Sana’a University
Visiting Researcher
July 15–September 15, 2024
“The Repatriated South Arabian (pre-Islamic Yemen) Collection at the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.”
portrait of FRC fellow ChishtyMahwish Chishty
University of Massachusetts
Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow
July 31–August 31, 2024
“Bridging Traditional Art with Contemporary Realities of War”
portrait of FRC fellow Chen-AbairHelena Chen-Abair
University of Florida
Smithsonian Institution Fellow
August 12, 2024–July 31, 2025
“The Forging of Ancient Chinese Bronzes from the Mid- 19th to the Early 20th Century”
portrait of FRC fellow SuStephanie Su
University of Colorado
Anne van Biema Fellow
September 1, 2024–June 1, 2025
“Materiality, Tactility, and Transmedia Aesthetics in Onchi Kōshirō’s Prints: Rethinking Modern Japanese Art”
portrait of FRC fellow KouzehgariZahra Kouzehgari 
Université Lumière Lyon 2, and Laboratoire Archéorient, Lyon, France
Ebrahimi Fellow for Persian Art
September 1–November 30, 2024
“A Semiotic Approach to Interpreting Feminine Iconography on Persian ‘Luristan Bronzes’”
portrait of FRC fellow AgrawalVrinda Agrawal
University of Michigan
Charles Lang Freer Fellow
September 1–December 31, 2024
“Gendered Connoisseurship of Pahari Painting in the 18th and 19th Centuries”
portrait of FRC fellow RyorKatie Ryor
Carleton College
Smithsonian Institution Fellow
October 1–December 31, 2024
“Scopic Regimes of Botany and Cosmology in Chinese Painting of the Ming Dynasty”

Programs

In-person, online, and hybrid programs promote and foster innovative research, serving as a forum where scholars convene to share and discuss original ideas and topics. Our symposia, lectures, workshops, and study days explore themes tied to the museum’s exhibitions and collections, with an emphasis on training the next generation of scholars.

  • A woman holds up a magnifying glass before a detailed painting of a palace, framed against a deep blue wall.

    Sneak Peek

    Monthly, September 2024–December 2024

    In this series of online, lunchtime talks, staff members present personal perspectives and ongoing research, followed by discussion. This year’s series will focus on the theme of word and image—including calligraphy, seals, inscriptions, manuals, narratives, and poetry—in the collections of the National Museum of Asian Art.

    Learn more

Recordings are available upon request to FreerResearchCenter@si.edu. Select recordings are accessible on the museum’s YouTube channel.

Scholarly Publications

The Freer Research Center’s publications address important topics within Asian and American art scholarship, celebrate the National Museum of Asian Art’s collections, and memorialize convenings.

  • Photograph of a group of men on a boat, looking across a palace on the lake

    Ars Orientalis

    Ars Orientalis is one of the oldest leading academic journals dedicated to original research on art of the Near East and Asia, copublished with the University of Michigan. The journal is open access, and all volumes are available online.

    Browse Volumes
  • detail from a watercolor painting of a woman holding a book, sitting on a bed.

    Freer Occasional Papers Series

    Ranging from monographs to multiauthored volumes, the Freer Occasional Papers series provides a forum for peer-reviewed scholarly works. The topics relate to the National Museum of Asian Art’s collections.

    Browse Volumes

Featured FRC Publications

Digital Initiatives

Over the last decade, the museum has developed a wide array of new digital research resources. Jades for Life and Death, Ancient Near Eastern Seals, Whistler in Watercolor, and other scholarly catalogues have increased the accessibility of conventional collections catalogues by creating open access volumes with interactive features. The digital exhibition The Sogdians: Influencers on the Silk Roads amassed artworks from across the globe, using technology to overcome physical exhibition limitations. Ars Orientalis proudly became one of the first scholarly art history journals to be open access and digital first.

Building on this tradition, the Freer Research Center supports innovative methods of researching and presenting scholarship via online platforms. Our digital initiatives encourage cross-disciplinary approaches, from training sessions to collaborative workshops. We are developing new digital and open access scholarly projects alongside traditional print ones, which will be available in the coming years.

Several stately, bronze, commemorative medals, scattered across each other and overlapping.

The Freer Medal

Named for museum founder Charles Lang Freer, the Freer Medal honors individuals who have substantially contributed to the understanding of the arts of Asia over the course of a career.

About the Freer Medal

Contact Us

The Freer Research Center team includes Massumeh Farhad, Judy Lee, Sana Mirza, and Lizzie Stein. Contact them at FreerResearchCenter@si.edu.

The Latest News from the FRC

Resources for Researchers

  • A woman holds an open book amid bookshelves in library stacks.

    Library

    Browse over eighty-six thousand volumes in one of the finest repositories of Asian art publications in the United States.

  • detail of a Japanese painting showing two people seated closely together and reading a scroll.

    Archives

    Access the personal and professional papers of art historians, archaeologists, artists, dealers, and collectors, as well as nineteenth- and twentieth-century photography and audiovisual media.

  • Two researchers study a manuscript page

    Collection

    Explore our holdings of more than forty-six thousand objects, with opportunities for in-depth study in collections storage.

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