ABOUT ME

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WHO IS JANET BAKER,
PHD, OWNER AND
FOUNDER OF BAKER
APPRAISERS?

Janet Baker’s credentials and experience in the field of Asian art and antiques is unparalleled. Janet has a Ph. D. in Art History and Asian Art. She served 23 years as a Curator of Asian Art at Phoenix Art Museum (2000-2023) and was given the honorary title of Curator Emerita in 2023. This title is highly respected in her field and is recognized by her peers for her knowledge and experience.

Janet is certified as an appraiser by the International Society of Appraisers, specializing in Asian art appraisal. She speaks fluent English and Mandarin Chinese.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

CURATOR EMERITA OF ASIAN ART, PHOENIX ART MUSEUM

Work with Executive Director to identify and cultivate potential donors to the collection. Advise on programs and speakers related to exhibitions. Instruct Museum Docents as needed.

CURATOR OF ASIAN ART, PHOENIX ART MUSEUM

Responsible for acquisitions, donations, permanent and special exhibitions, and research of a significant collection of Asian art. Expanded the collection in Chinese, Japanese, Sri Lankan, Indian and contemporary Asian works of art, bringing in over 3000 gifted objects during that time period. Led tour groups to Asia and to cities in the US. I worked with the Development staff to identify potential funding sources for Asian art activities.

HONORARY PROFESSOR OF ASIAN ART HISTORY, ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY

Collaboration with colleagues on joint programs, serve on MA thesis and Ph. D. dissertation committees.

Special Exhibitions

CURATOR OF ASIAN ART, BOWERS MUSEUM OF CULTURAL ART

Curated exhibitions: “A Lyrical Garden: Japanese Art from the Etsuko & Joe Price Collection,” April – June 1994; "Seeking Immortality: Chinese Tomb Sculpture from the Schloss Collection" at Bowers Museum Oct. 1996-Jan 1997. Coordinator for the exhibition "Jade: Ch'ing Dynasty Treasures from the National Museum of History, Taiwan," Sept. 1997-March 1998. “Contemporary Netsuke: Miniature Sculpture from Japan & Beyond,”Jan.1997–Feb.1998, produced printed catalogue; Co-Curator for major exhibition "Forbidden City: Splendors from China's Imperial Palace 1644-1911," Feb.–May 2000.

DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROGRAMS, BOWERS MUSEUM OF CULTURAL ART

Responsible for supervising changing exhibitions and adult educational programs focusing on the arts of Africa, Pacific Rim and the Americas; including lectures, film series, symposia, domestic and international travel, cultural programs for businesses and educators. Supervised 150-member Docent Guild Museum tours and outreach programs.

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ART HISTORY, BARUCH COLLEGE, CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

Taught survey courses in World Art and Architecture; including ancient Egypt, Greece, China, and Rome; Byzantine, Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque to Modern, African, Native American Indian and Pre-Columbian art. Created course in Asian art and course on Japanese art and culture. Served on Committee for Academic Excellence, Art History for the 90's Curriculum Committee, and Committee for East Asian Studies.

GALLERY DIRECTOR, CHINA INSTITUTE IN AMERICA

Responsible for all aspects of exhibitions; including scholarly planning with Art Committee, coordination with guest curators, loan of objects, exhibition installation, supervision of catalogue publication, planning of lectures and symposia, and cultivation of Gallery Patrons.

September 2023-present

May 2000-September 2023

2005-present

July 1994-April 2000

1992-April 2000

1990-92

1987-1989

EDUCATION

PH.D. ART HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS

1991

Dissertation: “The Art of the Sui Dynasty Buddhist Caves at Dunhuang.”
Extensive field research conducted during eighteen months in China. Areas of specialization: Chinese Buddhist Art and Archaeology, Han to Tang Dynasty Archaeology, Japanese Edo Period Painting.

One year of study at Nanjing University, People’s Republic of China. Coursework (in Chinese): Ancient Chinese History, Archaeology, Classical Literature, Ancient Philosophy.

M.A. Asian Art History, University of Kansas

B.A. Art History, State University of New York, New Paltz, NY.

LANGUAGES

Mandarin Chinese (fluent), Classical Chinese, French, Japanese.

Legacy of Kings: Art of Sri Lanka, essays by Dr. John Listopad, Dr. Barry Fernando, Dr. Chandra L. Reedy and Dr. Janet Baker, November 2021.

Mist & Rain: A Photographic Journey Through Ceylon, essay by John Guy, November 2021.

“Seeking Immortality: Ancient Artifacts,” Asian Art Newspaper, Winter 2020.

“Guru Nanak: 550th Birth Anniversary of Sikhism’s Founder,” Sikh Formations, Vol 15, 2019.

“Curating Asian Religious Objects in the Exhibition Sacred Word and Image: Five World Religions,” Sacred Objects in Secular Spaces: Exhibiting Asian Religions in Museums (Bloomsbury Press, Sept 2015).

Visions of Humanity: Twentieth-Century Chinese Art from the Gerry and Leslie Jones Collection, 30-minute exhibition video produced and curated, Phoenix Art Museum, 2012.

“Sacred Word and Image in Hindu Art” and “Sacred Word and Image in Buddhist Art” Sacred Word and Image: Five World Religions, electronic book, Phoenix Art Museum, 2011.

Tea and Immortality: Contemporary Chinese Yixing Teapots from the James T. Bialac Collection, Phoenix Art Museum, 2010.

“On the Mainland and Out of Bounds,” A Tradition Redefined: Modern & Contemporary Chinese Ink Painting from the Chu-tsing Li Collection 1950-2000, Harvard University, 2007.

“From the Profound to the Mundane: Depictions of Lohans in Late Ming China,” Myriad Points of View: New Research on Ming and Qing Paintings in the Roy and Marilyn Papp Collection, Phoebus #9, Arizona State University, 2006.

“Dunhuang Cave 427: Evidence of Imperial Iconography,” Tradition and Transformation: Studies in Chinese Art in Honor of Dr. Chu-tsing Li. (Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas Press, 2006.

Transition & Transformation: Chinese Art from the Leslie & Gerry Jones Collection 1965-1995. Phoenix Art Museum, 2004.

“Vaisravana and the Lokapalas: Guardian Figures in the Art of Turfan and Beyond,” Turfan Revisited: The First Century of Research into the Arts and Cultures of the Silk Road (Dietrich Reimer Verlag, Berlin, 2004).

“Sui and Early Tang Period Images of the Heavenly King in Tombs and Temples,” Orientations, Vol. 30, #4, April 1999, pp. 53-57.

The Flowering of a Foreign Faith: New Studies in Chinese Buddhist Art (Marg Publication, Bombay, Dec. 1998) Chief Editor and Contributor.

“Early Evidence for the Equestrian Arts in China,” Minerva, Vol. 7, #6, November/December 1996, pp. 23-25.

Seeking Immortality: The Schloss Collection of Chinese Tomb Sculpture, Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, Santa Ana, CA, Sept. 1996.

“Dunhuang Cave 427: Evidence of Imperial Iconography,” Selected Papers Commemorating the Fiftieth Anniversary of Mr. Duan Wenjie at the Dunhuang Academy, Dunhuang Research Academy, August 1996.

“The Relationship of Narrative Text and Pictorial Composition in Late-Sixth Century Paintings at Tun-huang”, Silk Road Art and Archaeology, Tokyo, August 1994.

Selected Oil Paintings of the Yi Nationality People by Gao Xiao-hua Beijing: Renmin Meishu Chubanshe, 1994 (English text).

“The Cultural Significance of the Mogao Grottoes”, Conservation of Ancient Sites on the Silk Road, Getty Conservation Institute, Sept. 1993, 14-17.

“Appeasing the Spirits: Chinese Tomb Figures of the Sui and Tang Dynasty from the Schloss Collection”, Minerva, March/April 1993, 41-43.

Appeasing the Spirits: Sui and Tang Tomb Sculpture from the Schloss Collection, Hofstra University Press, Feb. 1993.

“Portraits of a Remote Village: The Art of Gao Xiao-hua”, Artention, September 1992.

“The Artist in Modern Chinese Society”, Changing Cultures: Immigrant Artists from China, Baruch College, May 1991.

“Bronze Vessel Archaeological Research in China”, Chinese Archaeological Abstracts, Stanford University Press, 1986.

“Legacy of Ceylon: Art & Photography of Sri Lanka” conversation with collector Dr Barry Fernando and fellow curator John Guy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Phoenix Art Museum, December 9, 2021.

“Phoenix Art Museum and The Story of Our Sikh Art Gallery” presented in a panel on “The Movement & Reinterpretation of South Asian Art” at the 46th Annual Conference of Midwest Art History Society, Cincinnati, OH, March 22, 2019.

Organizer and moderator, “Sikhism On-Screen” film screening of “All Quiet on the Home Front” with panel discussion and exhibition overview, Phoenix Art Museum, May 2018.

“Virtue & Valor: Sikh Art & Heritage”, Phoenix Art Museum, April 22, 2017.

“Samurai: Armor From the Ann & Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Collection”, Phoenix Art Museum, May 20, 2017; Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, June 20, 2017.

“Ai Weiwei: A Perspective on Two Centuries of Cultural Misunderstanding,” Phoenix Art Museum, Oct 2015; Nevada Art Museum, Reno, NV, February 2016; Tucson Museum of Art, April 2016.

“Sex in Traditional China,” Northern Arizona University, Dept. of Cultural History, March 2015.

“The Cultural Significance of the Mogao Caves at Dunhuang” Northern Arizona University, Department of Comparative Religions, Feb. 2014.

“Realism & Idealism in Chinese Figure Painting: Two Thousand Years”, Phoenix Art Museum, Jan 2013.

“Lhasa, A Journey to the Sacred Capital of Tibetan Buddhism,” Phoenix Art Museum, Oct. 2012.

“Sacred Word & Image: Five World Religions”, Phoenix Art Museum, Dec. 2011.

“Tea and Immortality: Contemporary Chinese Yixing Teapots from the James T. Bialac Collection, Phoenix Art Museum, Feb. 2010.

“Identity & Idealism: Issues of Content & Message in Twentieth Century Chinese Art,” Phoenix Art Museum symposium, Sept. 2008.

“Monks and Merchants Along the Silk Road,” Portland Art Museum, April 2007.

“The Human Figure in 20th Century Chinese Art,” Phoenix Art Museum, March 2005.

“Sex and the (Forbidden) City,” Phoenix Art Museum, Jan. 2002.

“Religious & Mortuary Art of Xinjiang Province” panel chairperson and paper presenter, National Conference of the Association of Asian Studies, Boston, March 1999.

“Sexuality in Ancient China”, Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, June 1998.

“Chinese Lohan Portraits: Supernatural Beings or Ordinary Monks?” National Conference of the Association of Asian Studies, Washington DC, March 1998.

“Contemporary Chinese Art: Tradition & Innovation,” The William Bennett Munro Seminar, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, February 1998.

“Dunhuang Cave 427: Evidence of Imperial Iconography”, at the Western Conference of the Association of Asian Studies, University of Colorado at Boulder, Oct. 1997.

“An Introduction to the American Association of Museums” and “The Bowers Museum of Cultural Art: A Middle-Sized Art Museum in America” (in Chinese), Museum Studies Program, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, June 1997.

“Tombs, Temples and Palaces: Ancient Arts of China”, three-part lecture series, Bowers Museum, March 1996.

“Auspicious Beasts, Tomb Guardians and Heavenly Kings: A Glimpse of the Supernatural in Ancient China”, symposium on the exhibition “Seeking Immortality: Chinese Tomb Sculpture from the Schloss Collection, Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, Feb. 1997.

“Trends in Contemporary Chinese Painting”, part of series “Asia 2010 – Art & Culture in the 21st Century”, Asia Society Southern California Chapter, Nov. 1995.

“The Ancient Silk Route: Tang China’s Fascination with Exotica”, Honolulu Academy of Arts, June 1995.

“A Fascination with Exotica – Chinese Cultural Life in the Tang Dynasty”, Orange County Chapter of the American Archaeological Institute, Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, Santa Ana CA, May 1995.

“Paintings of Dunhuang: A Millenium of Buddhism Illustrated”, Western Conference of the Association for Asian Studies, Claremont College, Pomona CA, Oct. 1994.

“A Thousand Years of Chinese Tomb Sculpture”, Monterey Peninsula

Museum of Art, Monterey CA, Sept. 1994.

“Lhasa: A Personal Journey”, Himalayan Arts Council, Pacific-Asia Museum, Pasadena CA, May 1994.

“The Yi Minority of Southwest China”, Institute for Asian Studies, New York, Oct. 1993.

“Appeasing the Spirits: Sui and Tang Dynasty Tomb Sculpture from the Schloss Collection”, Hofstra University, Hempstead NY, February 1993; SUNY College at New Paltz, New York, Oct. 1993.

“The Relationship of Narrative Text and Pictorial Composition in Late-Sixth Century Paintings at Tun-huang”, Columbia University Traditional China Seminar, New York, February 1993.

“The Search for Self-Image: The Human Figure in Modern Chinese Painting”, From Yale to Canton: Challenging East-West Traditions Conference, SUNY Stony Brook, April 1992.

“Modern Chinese Landscape Painting: A View of Man & Nature”, Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, Santa Ana CA, Nov. 1992.

“Palace & Monasteries of Lhasa”, Institute for Asian Studies, New York, Oct. 1991.

“The Chinese Cultural Revolution & the Emergence of the Sichuan School of Realism” (in translation with Gao Xiao-hua) NEH Summer Institute for the Study of Modern Chinese Art and Culture, University of Kansas, Lawrence KS, July 1991.

“Chinese Landscape Painting: Images of Tradition and Self-Expression”, New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, New York, July 1990.

“One Hundred Years at the Dunhuang Mogao Caves: From the Late Six Dynasties to the Early Tang” (in Chinese), Harvard-Yenching Association Conference, Harvard University, Dec. 1989.

“Symbol and Ornament: Chinese Jade Through the Centuries”, Asia Society, Houston TX, Dec.1989.

“Buddhist Art of the Tang Dynasty”, China Institute, New York, April 1988.

“Gao Xiao-hua: Portraits of a Remote Village”, Pacific-Asia Museum, Pasadena CA, July 1987.

“Sources of Stylistic Influence on Pictorial Bronze Vessels of the Warring States Period”, Midwest Art History Society Annual Meeting, Iowa City, March 1983.

Represented Phoenix Art Museum on a 28-person delegation led by City of Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego on Phoenix Sister Cities official visits to Himeji,Japan and Suwon, Korea, with additional stops in Kyotoj, Japan and Seoul, Korea, July 2023.

Research and negotiation for potential exhibition of artifacts dating from 1000 BC to 1000 AD excavated in the region of Xi’an, China’s ancient capital, 2006–2009.

Organizer and Presenter, “A Tradition Redefined: Modern & Contemporary Chinese Art,” Symposium honoring Dr. Chu-tsing Li, at Phoenix Art Museum, Sept. 2008.

Co-organizer(with Dr. Claudia Brown, ASU Dept. of Art History) and Presenter, “Perspectives on Chinese Art: New Approaches and Reflections on Forty Years of Scholarship: A Conference in Honor of Dr. Chu-tsing Li, Professor Emeritus, University of Kansas,” at Phoenix Art Museum, Nov. 2005.

“Heavenly Kings in Tombs and Temples of Tang Dynasty China,” paper presented at the Second Annual International Conference for Turfanological Studies, Turfan, China, August 2005.

Tour Leader and Scholar, “A Passage to India” for Phoenix Art Museum’s Asian Arts Council, April 2004.

Participation in “Turfan Revisited: The First Century of Research into the Arts & Cultures of the Silk Road Conference,” Museum fur Indisches Kunst, Berlin, Sept. 2002.

Tour Leader and Scholar, “Japan & Korea” for Phoenix Art Museum’s Asian Arts Council, May 2002.

Tour Leader and Scholar, “Splendors of Southeast Asia” to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, for Phoenix Art Museum’s Asian Arts Council, Sept. 2001.

Participation in “Turfan Archaeological Research Project”, coordinated by Yale University History Department. International Scholarly Conferences held in Xinjiang province in May 1996 and at Yale University in June 1997 and July 1998.

Tour Leader and Scholar, “The China Silk Road”, to Northwest China, for Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, May 1997.

Meetings with Chief Curator of Palace Museum and Director of China Cultural Relics Promotion Center, Beijing, to discuss future exhibition plans at Bowers Museum, August 1994, May 1996 and May 1997.

Participation in the 50th Anniversary of the Dunhuang Research Academy International Scholarly Conference, Dunhuang, China, August 1994.

Tour Leader and Scholar, “A Himalayan Journey” to Nepal and Tibet for Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, September 1993.

Cultural Resource Consultant and Lecturer for Yale-China Association China Tour for Young Presidents Organization,

December 1985.

Dissertation research in Japan. Visited museums and temples in Tokyo, Kyoto, Nara, Uji; 1985.

Dissertation research in China. Visited museums, archaeological sites and cave temples in Beijing, Jinan, Taiyuan, Datong, Xian, Lanzhou, Maijishan, Lanzhou, Dunhuang, Turfan, Urumqi, Xining, Lhasa, Luoyang, Kaifeng, Gongxian, Zhengzhou, Chengdu; 1985.

Dr. Zsuzsanna Gulacsi, Professor of Art History and Religious Studies, Northern Arizona University, (928) 523-0070, Zsuzsanna.gulacsi@nau.edu.

Dr. Claudia Brown, Professor of Art History, Arizona State University, (480) 965-2409 claudia.brown@asu.edu.