Participants in the events marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of James Cahill pose for a group photo at the Xiangshan campus of the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, from Oct 17 to 18. [Photo provided to ehangzhou.gov.cn]

A series of academic events marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of James Cahill, a leading scholar of Chinese art history, was held at the Xiangshan campus of the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, from Oct 17 to 18.

The program included an international symposium on Cahill's legacy and global art history, an exhibition of books and documents he donated to the academy, and the premiere of the documentary Gazing into the Past: The Unbounded Vision of James Cahill.

The events explored the contemporary relevance of overseas traditions in Chinese art history and Cahill's approach to the study of visual art.

Born in California in 1926, Cahill studied under leading scholars of East Asian art and served as curator of Chinese art at the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington from 1958 to 1965. He joined the University of California, Berkeley, in 1965 and retired as a professor emeritus in 1995. His influential books on Chinese painting earned wide recognition in the West and shaped generations of Chinese scholars.

Cahill's ties with the China Academy of Art spanned more than five decades. He first visited China in 1973 as a member of a US art and archaeology delegation and returned in 1977 as its leader.

In 1994, he became the first lecturer in the academy's Pan Tianshou Lecture series. He also donated more than 1,000 books, teaching slides, and digital images to the academy.