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Gennifer Weisenfeld, Walter H. Annenberg Distinguished Professor of Art and Art History

Gennifer WeisenfeldSpecialization:

    Japanese Art
    Art History
    Visual Studies/Visual Culture
    Modern Art
    History of Photography
    Design History
    Visual Culture of Disaster


Research Interests:

Gennifer Weisenfeld received her Ph.D. from Princeton University in Japanese Art History. Her field of research is modern and contemporary Japanese art history, design, and visual culture. Her work explores the impact of Japan's modern sociopolitical transformations on artistic production and practice; the cultural formations of nation and empire building; Japanese modernism; the politics of the avant-garde; the visual culture of disaster; commercial design; and the relationship between high art and popular culture.

Education:

  • Ph.D. Princeton University 1997
  • M.A. Princeton University 1992
  • B.A. Wesleyan University 1987

Contact Info:

Office Location:  114 S. Buchanan Blvd. Smith Warehouse 10, Box 90766, Durham, NC 27708
Email Address:   gennifer.weisenfeld@duke.edu
Web Page:  

Office Hours:

Wednesdays 1:15-2:30 or by appointmentTeaching (Spring 2026):

  • Vms 236.01, Contemp japanese vis culture Synopsis
    Class bldg 101, MW 11:45 AM-01:00 PM
  • Arthist 495s.01, Honors thesis workshop Synopsis
    Class bldg 101, W 03:20 PM-05:50 PM

Representative Publications   (More Publications)

  1. Weisenfeld, G. Imaging Disaster Tokyo and the Visual Culture of Japan’s Great Earthquake of 1923. Univ of California Press, (November, 2012): 414 pages. [book.php]  [abs]
  2. Weisenfeld, GS. Mavo: Japanese Artists and the Avant-Garde, 1905-1931. Berkeley, University of California Press, (2002). [book.php]  [abs]
  3. Weisenfeld, GS. "Japanese Typographic Design and the Art of Letterforms." Bridges to Heaven: Essays on East Asian Art in Honor of Professor Wen C. Fong. Edited by Silbergeld, Jerome, ; Ching, Dora C. Y., ; Smith, Judith G., ; Murck, Alfreda,.  (2011): 827-848. [repository]
  4. Weisenfeld, GS. "Publicity and Propaganda in 1930s Japan: Modernism as Method." Design Issues  vol. 25 no. 4 (Fall, 2009): 13-28. [repository]
  5. Weisenfeld, GS. "Selling Shiseido: Cosmetics Advertising & Design in Early 20th-Century Japan."   (2008). (Visualizing Cultures Website, Massachusetts Institute of Technology) [html]  [abs]
  6. Weisenfeld, GS. "Reinscribing Tradition in a Transnational Art World." Asian art history in the twenty-first century. Edited by Desai, VN.  (2007): 181-198. [repository]  [abs]
  7. Weisenfeld, GS. "‘From Baby’s First Bath’: Kao Soap and Modern Japanese Commercial Design." The Art Bulletin  vol. LXXXVI no. 3 (September, 2004): 573-598. [repository]
  8. Weisenfeld, GS. "Nihon ni okeru Shōgyō Dezainshi to Sono Kenkyū (Art History and the Study of Japanese Commercial Design)." Bijutsu Forum  vol. 21 (November, 2001): 123-130.
  9. Weisenfeld, GS. "Touring Japan-as-Museum: NIPPON and Other Japanese Imperialist Travelogues." Positions: east asia cultures critiqueVisual Cultures of Japanese Imperialism. Edited by Weisenfeld, G.  vol. 8 no. 3 (Winter, 2000): 747-793.
  10. Weisenfeld, GS. "Japanese Modernism and Consumerism: Forging the New Artistic Field of Shōgyō Bijutsu." Being Modern in Japan. Edited by Tipton, E; Clark, J.  (2000): 75-98.
  11. Weisenfeld, GS. "Designing After Disaster: Barrack Decoration and the Great Kanto Earthquake." Japanese Studies  vol. 18 no. 3 (1998): 229-246. [repository]
  12. Weisenfeld, GS. "Mavo’s ‘Conscious Constructivism’: Art, Individualism, and Daily Life in Interwar Japan." Art Journal  vol. 55 no. 3 (Fall, 1996): 64-73. [repository]

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