About

Mimi Yiengpruksawan is a Professor of the History of Art at Yale University, with a focus on the art histories of Buddhism in the nonmodern period, primarily within the Japanese context, but also including Eurasian components with an emphasis on the Silk Roads network. She completed her undergraduate degree at Occidental College, majoring in medieval European art, and earned her M.A. and Ph.D.. from UCLA, where she studied under Donald F. McCallum and received her Ph.D. in Japanese art history in 1988. Her extensive lived experience in Japan from 1975 to 1984, along with her research travels across China, Tibet, India, Cambodia, and Thailand, inform her cross-regional and interdisciplinary approach to her work, emphasizing contact and exchange as drivers of cultural formation. Yiengpruksawan joined Yale's Department of the History of Art in 1990 and was awarded tenure in 1998. She is affiliated with multiple departments and programs, including East Asian Languages and Literatures, the Council on East Asian Studies, the Council on Southeast Asian Studies, and the Program in Medieval Studies. Her research involves a detailed analysis of primary materials, such as diaries and records from Kyoto's rulers at the turn of the eleventh century, leading to her ongoing projects that include two book manuscripts. These works explore the influence of exogenous interventions, environmental crises, and burgeoning exchanges with the continent on art and patronage during the Heian period, as well as the patronage activities of notable figures like Empress Fujiwara no Akiko and Fujiwara no Yorimichi during a time of Buddhist eschatological prophecy. While her primary focus has been on Heian Japan and Buddhist art and culture, she has recently expanded her research to include the intersections of art, religion, science, commerce, war, and diplomacy in Kyoto and Nagasaki during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Her interest lies in understanding how Japanese artifacts and objects from other regions played roles within a broader community of exchange, confrontation, and adaptation amid the arrival of Europeans and other foreign influences. Her work aims to challenge modern assumptions about the Japanese past and to foster a rethinking of the historical and cultural contexts that gave rise to iconic works like The Tale of Genji and the Phoenix Hall at Byōdōin.

Research topics

• Art
• History
• Ancient history
• Art history
• Visual arts

Selected publications

• Tōdaiji

  Oxford Art Online · 2024-08-05

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• <i>Temples in the Cliffside: Buddhist Art in Sichuan</i> , by Sonya S. Lee; <i>The Japanese Buddhist World Map: Religious Vision and the Cartographic Imagination</i> , by D. Max Moerman; and <i>A Monastery on the Move: Art and Politics in Later Buddhist Mongolia</i> , by Uranchimeg Tsultemin

  The Art Bulletin · 2024-10-01 · 1 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
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• Nara Palace Compound

  Oxford Art Online · 2024-08-05

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• Roundtable: The Global Before Globalization

  October · 2010-07-01 · 40 citations

  articleSenior author

  July 01 2010 Roundtable: The Global Before Globalization Barry Flood, Barry Flood FINBAR BARRY FLOOD is William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Humanities at the Institute of Fine Arts and Department of Art History, New York University. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar David Joselit, David Joselit Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Alexander Nagel, Alexander Nagel ALEXANDER NAGEL is Professor of the History of Art at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Alessandra Russo, Alessandra Russo ALESSANDRA RUSSO is a professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Columbia University. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Eugene Wang, Eugene Wang EUGENE WANG is Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Professor of Asian Art at Harvard University. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Christopher Wood, Christopher Wood CHRISTOPHER WOOD is Professor of the History of Art at Yale University. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Mimi Yiengpruksawan Mimi Yiengpruksawan MIMI YIENGPRUKSAWAN is Professor of History of Art at Yale University. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information Barry Flood FINBAR BARRY FLOOD is William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Humanities at the Institute of Fine Arts and Department of Art History, New York University. David Joselit Alexander Nagel ALEXANDER NAGEL is Professor of the History of Art at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Alessandra Russo ALESSANDRA RUSSO is a professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Columbia University. Eugene Wang EUGENE WANG is Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Professor of Asian Art at Harvard University. Christopher Wood CHRISTOPHER WOOD is Professor of the History of Art at Yale University. Mimi Yiengpruksawan MIMI YIENGPRUKSAWAN is Professor of History of Art at Yale University. Online Issn: 1536-013X Print Issn: 0162-2870 © 2010 October Magazine, Ltd. and Massachusetts Institute of Technology2010 October (2010) (133): 3–19. https://doi.org/10.1162/OCTO_a_00001 Cite Icon Cite Permissions Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Search Site Citation Barry Flood, David Joselit, Alexander Nagel, Alessandra Russo, Eugene Wang, Christopher Wood, Mimi Yiengpruksawan; Roundtable: The Global Before Globalization. October 2010; (133): 3–19. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/OCTO_a_00001 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All ContentAll JournalsOctober Search Advanced Search This content is only available as a PDF. © 2010 October Magazine, Ltd. and Massachusetts Institute of Technology2010 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

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• Osaka

  Oxford Art Online · 2003-01-01

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• Nara

  Oxford Art Online · 2003-01-01

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• Nagaoka

  Oxford Art Online · 2003-01-01

  reference-entry1st authorCorresponding
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• Hōryūji

  Oxford Art Online · 2003-01-01

  reference-entry1st authorCorresponding
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• Kinpusenji

  Oxford Art Online · 2003-01-01

  book1st authorCorresponding
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• Hiraizumi

  Oxford Art Online · 2003-01-01

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Frequent coauthors

• Eugene Wang

  2 shared

• David Joselit

  1 shared

• Masatoshi Nagatomi

  1 shared

• Donald F. McCallum

  1 shared

• Barry Flood

  1 shared

• Ellen P. Conant

  1 shared

• Steven D. Owyoung

  1 shared

• Melinda Takeuchi

  1 shared