Lara C. W. Blanchard

Lara C. W. Blanchard is the Luce Professor of East Asian Art and Lloyd Wright Professor in Conservative Studies at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, where she has been a faculty member since 2001. She holds a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Michigan and specializes in Chinese pictorial arts from the Song dynasty to the present. Her interdisciplinary research integrates art history, gender studies, and literary analysis.

Her education includes:

• Ph.D., Art History, University of Michigan (2001)
• M.A., Art History, University of Michigan (1992)
• B.A., Art History and Mathematics, College of William & Mary (1988)

Her research focuses on gender in Chinese art, particularly women as artists and patrons, text-image relationships, and the construction of gendered subjectivity in painting and poetry. She examines how visual culture reflects and constructs ideals of femininity and masculinity, especially during the Song dynasty. Her work often bridges art historical analysis with literary and philosophical contexts, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches.

Her recent publications and lectures reveal a strong trend in analyzing emotional interiority, political allegory, and gendered representation in East Asian visual culture. She frequently explores how poetic themes are visualized in painting and how female subjectivity is constructed across historical periods.

Her scientific awards include:

• 2020 Joseph Levenson Pre-1900 Book Prize (China)
• 2016 Franklin R. Buchanan Prize for Asia Curriculum Materials
• 2020 Faculty Prize for Scholarship, HWS
• Lloyd Wright Professorship in Conservative Studies (2018–)

Lara Blanchard has been actively involved in mentoring through curriculum development, textbook authorship, and graduate advising. She has received multiple research grants from Hobart and William Smith Colleges and external foundations such as the Freeman Foundation. Her collaborative projects, such as the textbook Asian Art, demonstrate her commitment to pedagogy and accessible scholarship.

She is affiliated with several academic organizations, including the Association for Asian Studies, College Art Association, and Cornell University’s East Asia Program as an Associate in Research. She has delivered lectures at institutions like Stanford, Princeton, and the University of Kansas, and has participated in panels and symposia on gender, Buddhism, and visual culture in Asia.