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September 13, 2006

Shigemi Inaga Named to the Chair of Modern Culture in the John W. Kluge Center

Librarian of Congress James H. Billington has appointed Shigemi Inaga to the Chair of Modern Culture in the John W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress.

Inaga, who will assume the chair in October, is a professor at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto, Japan, where he specializes in comparative literature and culture and the history of cultural exchange.

At the Kluge Center, Inaga expects to finish the third volume of his trilogy on the history of modern art in a cross-cultural context, concentrating mainly on cultural exchange between Japan and the West. The book is titled “The Limit of Painting: Eastern Tradition in Confrontation with the Western Experience.”

After receiving both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Tokyo, Inaga was awarded his doctorate from the University of Paris VII (Nouveau Regime). He was then named associate professor at the University Museum at the University of Tokyo and later associate professor at Mie University in Japan.

Inaga is the author of many books and articles. His books include “Depiction and Description: Morphology of Modern Visuality and Marketplace in Transition–Methodological Reflections” (2005), “Crossing Cultural Borders: Beyond Reciprocal Anthropology” (2001) and “The Orient of the Painting: Orientalism to Japonisme” (1999).

Through a generous endowment from John W. Kluge, the Library of Congress established the Kluge Center in 2000 to bring together the world’s best thinkers to stimulate, energize and distill wisdom from the Library’s rich resources and to interact with policymakers in Washington. For more information on fellowships, grants and programs, visit www.loc.gov/kluge.

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PR 06-166
09/13/06
ISSN 0731-3527

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