BIO

Patricia Berger, Associate Professor of Chinese Art, received her Ph.D. in the History of Art in 1980 from the University of California, Berkeley. Before joining the Berkeley faculty in 1997, she served as Curator of Chinese Art at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and taught at Oberlin College and the University of Southern California. Her most recent book, Empire of Emptiness: Buddhist Art and Political Authority in Qing China (University of Hawaii, 2003) deals with the 18th-century Qing court's use of Buddhist art in their relationship with Mongolia and Tibet. She also co-authored a series of exhibition catalogs on Buddhist art in China and Inner Asia, including Latter Days of the Law: Images of Chinese Buddhism (University of Hawaii, 1994), Mongolia: The Legacy of Chinggis Khan (Thames and Hudson, 1995), Tibet: Treasures from the Roof of the World (Bowers Museum, 2003), and Three Emperors (Royal Academy, London, 2006). Her current research focuses on Buddhist painting and photographic portraiture in early 20th-century China and Inner Asia. She is a member of the Group in Buddhist Studies and currently chair of the Department of the History of Art.