Walter Davis

Walter Davis is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art & Design and Director of the Prince Takamado Japan Centre at the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Arts. His research focuses on modern Chinese and Japanese visual arts, Sino-Japanese cultural exchange, and contemporary Japanese cultural preservation initiatives. He holds a PhD in History of Art from The Ohio State University (supervised by Julia F. Andrews) and an MA in East Asian Art History from the University of Kansas. His teaching spans Chinese and Japanese art history, Buddhist art, and East Asian calligraphy.

• Education: PhD (Ohio State), MA (Kansas), undergraduate in classical languages/philosophy
• Research: Modern traditionalist painting, Sino-Japanese visual culture (19th-20thC), cultural preservation projects like Benesse Art Site Naoshima
• Awards: 2014 ALA Exhibition Catalogue Award, 2023 Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award

He supervises graduate students across Art & Design and East Asian Studies, integrating museum resources like the Mactaggart Art Collection. His upcoming monograph Culture in Common: Wang Yiting’s Art of Exchange with Japan (Brill) explores transnational cultural dialogue.