by Dr. Timothy Brook
In association with the exhibition Vermeer, Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Art, Vancouver Art Gallery
Tuesday May 19, 2009 7:00 pm followed by reception
(Tuesday, Thursday: 5-9pm admission by donation)
Please RSVP csaa@telus.net, 604-689-2755.
This event is sponsored by CSAA and Vancouver Art Gallery

Vermeer’s paintings appear to take their subjects, and us, out of the real world into an idealized, timeless place. In fact, Vermeer was busily painting the world in which he lived, and that was a world of global trade. Starting from Vermeer’s The Love Letter, this talk will explore the presence of the larger world, especially Asia, in the paintings of Vermeer and his contemporaries.

Dr. Timothy Brook is the Principal of St. John’s College at UBC, and the Shaw Professor of Chinese at Oxford University. He is a specialist in Chinese history, with an interest in the historical connections between China and world. His most recent books are Vermeer’s Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World (Penguin) and Death by a Thousand Cuts (Harvard).

Rosalie Stronck, the co-organizer of this lecture and CSAA’s liason with the Vancouver Art Gallery, holds a diploma in Asian Art Studies from the British Museum and the University of London. Her connections with the Asian Art world comes from her life-long interest in the arts of Asia.

This event is among the activities of the Vanouver Asian Heritage Month Festival 2009.