Yve-Alain Bois, an eminent American specialist in art history, academician of American Academy of Arts & Sciences (AAAS) and professor at the Department of Art & Archaeology (A&A), Princeton University, became a chair professor of Xue Jundu Foundation after he accepted the offer of Nanjing University.   

Bois accepted this position during his lecture trip from March 11 to March 17, 2018 at Nanjing University’s Art Institute and Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences.   

Professor Bois earned his doctorate at École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) and was professor and director of the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), Princeton, USA.    

He has been recognized as a specialist in 20th-century European and American art, with extensive research on different schools of artists such as Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian, Barnett Newman, and Ellsworth Kelly.   

As a curator, he has organized a number of influential art exhibitions. His books include monographs on such artists as Ellsworth Kelly, Matisse, and Picasso and studies on art history such as Art Since 1900 (2005), Formless: A User’s Guide (1997) and Painting as Model (1990).   

Issuing the letter of appointment    

During his visit, Professor Bois attended the academic workshop held by the Art Institute with the theme of “Modern Art: The Origin and Reflection” and delivered a lecture on “Non-Composition: A Main Modern Art Trend Starting from the Dadaism.”   

At the university’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, he lectured on Matisse’s Vence Chapel and discussed the relationship between many large-scale frescos, especially works in the Vence Chapel, by famous French painter Henri Matisse and traditions of Italy’s renaissance.    

Between these academic activities, he visited Nanjing Museum, Zhanyuan Garden, Sifang Art Museum and other local art works and was interviewed by Professor Zhou Xian, of the institute for advanced studies.   

At the appointment ceremony on the evening of March 14, Professor He Chengzhou, dean of the Art Institute, awarded professor Bois the letter of appointment of “Chair Professor of Xue Jundu Foundation” and expressed his appreciation for Professor Bois’ academic activities at Nanjing University.    

The university established “Chair Professor of Xue Jundu Foundation” program in 2014 after it received donations from Xue Jundu, an overseas Chinese from Canada. Since then, it has awarded this title to several top international scholars who came to give lectures at the university, including French philosopher Bernard Stiegler, British sociologist Scott Lash, and American human geographer David Harvey.    

Professor Bois is the fourth scholar receiving this honor.