Jennifer Yeesue Chuong

Jennifer Yeesue Chuong is an Assistant Professor in the Art History Program within the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her academic work focuses on the intersections of art, architecture, and material culture of the transatlantic world as they relate to histories of environment and race.

Dr. Chuong's educational background includes:

• B.Arch. from Cornell University
• S.M.Arch.S. in History, Theory, and Criticism of Architecture and Art from Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Ph.D. in History of Art and Architecture from Harvard University

Before joining UIUC, Dr. Chuong held prestigious postdoctoral fellowships at the Harvard Society of Fellows and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, establishing her as a significant voice in art historical scholarship with a focus on maker intelligence and expanding definitions of art and artistry.

Dr. Chuong's research centers on the art, architecture, and material culture of the transatlantic world as they relate to histories of environment and race. She prioritizes the intelligence of makers and making to expand our understanding of what art is and who makes it. Her current projects include a book manuscript titled "Surface Experiments: Art, Nature, and the Making of Early America," which recovers the artistic, scientific, and philosophical fascination with surfaces as sites of physical transformation in the eighteenth-century transatlantic world. In this project, she explores experimental surface techniques including mezzotint engraving, paper marbling, veneer furniture, and oil painting.

Dr. Chuong's recent publications demonstrate a consistent focus on the politics of artistic techniques, particularly examining how surface treatments in art and print culture intersect with issues of race, colonialism, and environmental history. Her work frequently analyzes how seemingly technical decisions in artistic production carry significant political and social meanings, especially in the context of the transatlantic world during the eighteenth century. She has developed expertise in connecting material techniques to broader historical narratives, with particular attention to print culture, portraiture, and the representation of race.

Dr. Chuong has served as an editor for special issues of academic journals, demonstrating her leadership in scholarly discourse. Her work has been referenced across multiple platforms including X (formerly Twitter), Bluesky, and academic readership platforms like Mendeley, indicating her growing influence in the field of eighteenth-century art history.