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AROUND THE QUADS5 Minutes with ... Robert Harrist
Robert Harrist Jr., the Jane and Leopold Swergold Professor of Chinese Art History, earned his B.S. at Indiana and his Ph.D. at Princeton. Previously an associate professor at Oberlin, Harrist joined the Columbia faculty in 1997. CCT caught up with him before classes began to find out more. Q: Where are you from? A: Rockport, Texas. Q: Did you study art as an undergraduate? A: I had a checkered undergraduate career. I started as a music student at Del Mar College in Texas, transferred to Indiana University in Bloomington to be a professional oboe player, and started a double major in music and art history. It became clear I was a little better at looking at pictures than playing oboe. Q: How did you become interested in Chinese art history? A: When I graduated, I got within a hair’s breadth of being an assistant band director at a high school in Texas. I didn’t get it, and returned to Indiana to take graduate art history classes. I took a course on Chinese art and something just snapped — this was what I wanted to do. Q: How did you come to Columbia? A: After getting my M.A. at Indiana, I came to Columbia for a crash course in Chinese studies and got an M.A., then my Ph.D. at Princeton in Chinese art and archeology. I had the staggering good fortune to get a job at Oberlin, then another stroke of good fortune and I got a job here. Q: Where do you live? A: Right now, I’m faculty-in-residence in East Campus. We have events with students, faculty, alumni and people from the city. In the past year, we’ve had an alumnus chef give a cooking lesson and visits from a Chinese artist, a concert pianist and various faculty. Q: What is the best thing about New York? A: All you have to do to fit in in New York is want to live here. I wanted to live here since I was a boy, but my ideas of New York came from I Love Lucy. Aside from going to Ricky’s club at night, it all came true. Q: What is the worst thing about New York? A: The everyday level of civility is different from Rockport. It takes a lot out of you, but it gives a lot back. Q: What classes will you teach this fall? A: “The Arts of China” (undergraduate) and “Historiography of Chinese Arts.” Q: What is your favorite class to teach at CC? A: Art Humanities. Q: Tell us about the book you are working on . A: Not working on — it’s sent! The Landscape of Words: Stone Inscriptions From Early and Medieval China, about the relationship between writing and perception of the natural world. Q: How does the Department of Art History and Archeology work with the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures? A: I feel as if I’m a member of that department because most of us trained in East Asian studies. I have a lot of East Asian studies students working with me, so I feel very attached to Kent Hall. Q: What is your favorite vacation spot? A: Paris. Q: What is your favorite food? A: My sister and I once discussed potential menus in heaven, and dessert for every meal is peach cobbler made by our grandmother. Q: Coffee or tea? A: If my wife is going to read this, tea. If not, coffee. Q: Do you have any pets? A: We have a 6-year-old son, Jack. He’s all we can handle. Q: What is the last movie you saw? A: Ice Age 2: The Meltdown. I’m not going to see any more movies with smart-alecky animated animals. Q: What did you want to be when you were a child? A: Very early on an artist, then a musician. If I could magically have any career, it would be concert pianist. Q: So if you weren’t teaching, you’d be a concert pianist? A: If I weren’t teaching, I’d be out on the street. I can’t envision any other life because I’ve been so lucky to have this one. Interview and photo:
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