2023-24 New Faculty

Ziliang (Alex) Liu is an art historian of early imperial Chinese art and architecture, focusing on issues of materiality, the intersection of art and technical knowledge, and the relationship between art and the body in early China. Liu graduated with a PhD in art history from Harvard University and is currently completing a book project that examines how understanding of materials shaped art in the Western Han (206 BCE–9 CE), bringing together discourses in ancient Chinese metaphysics, theories of alchemy and medicine, as well as new discoveries in conservation science. Liu’s research has been supported by the Metropolitan Center for Far Eastern Art Studies in Kyoto, the David D. Rockefeller Fund, the Victor and William Fung Foundation, the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, and the Harvard University Asia Center.
 
Liu was the Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Asian Societies, Cultures and Languages at Dartmouth College and the Ittleson Predoctoral Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA) at the National Gallery of Art. Before joining Williams, he has taught at Dartmouth College and Harvard University, and has held curatorial and research positions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Harvard Art Museums.