Tina Zhen Zhang is a Ph.D. candidate specializing in Chinese art history. She received her B.A. and M.A. from Southeast University (Nanjing, China) and a second M.A. from the University of Iowa. Her dissertation, “Telling a Story in the Landscape: Narrative Landscape Painting in 14th-16th Century China,” studies a group of paintings that looks like large landscapes from afar but actually includes narrative elements when viewed up close. The study covers professional paintings that are conventionally labeled as court painting and the Zhe School, as well as works by Suzhou artists to examine how these paintings represent stories. Her research interests include but are not limited to Ming-Qing art, pre-modern art theory and painting catalogs. 

Research Interests

• Chinese art history