Zsuzsanna Gulácsi
I am a historian of religious art specializing in the contextualized art historical study of pan-Asiatic religions that adapted their arts to a variety of cultures as they spread throughout the continent. I received a double major Ph.D. (1998) from Indiana University, Bloomington in Central Eurasian studies (Old Uygur) and art history (Asian Art), and the equivalent of an ABD degree (1990) from Loránd Eötvös University, Budapest in historical ethnography with an emphasis in Turkic studies.
My teaching career began at Sophia University in Tokyo in Japan, where I was a tenured assistant professor of Central Asian and Buddhist art history (1999-2003). Since 2003, I have been teaching at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, where I was tenured in 2006 and promoted to the rank of Professor in 2012. Besides offering courses on Buddhist art, Islamic Art, Arts of China, Arts of Japan, the Art of the Book, Craft of Research in Asian Studies, and an intro survey of the Arts Across the Asian Continent; I maintain an active research agenda.
The main foci of my research have been the materiality of religion, codicology, and iconography, the communication of which often involves innovative digital imaging in the forms of pictorial reconstructions and design layouts. I am the author of three books: (1) Mani’s Pictures: The Didactic Images of the Manichaeans from Sasanian Mesopotamia to Uygur Central Asia and Tang-Ming China (Brill 2015), (2) Mediaeval Manichaean Book Art: A Codicological Study of Iranian and Turkic Illuminated Book Fragments from 8th – 11th cc. East Central Asia (Brill 2005), and (3) Manichaean Art in Berlin Collections: A Comprehensive Catalogue (Brepols 2001, & Teheran 2023); the co-author of one book with Nicholas Sims-Williams and John S. Sheldon of A Manichaean Prayer and Confession Book (BBB), Corpus Fontium Manichaeorum: Series Iranica I (Brepols 2022); and the editor of one book: Language, Society, and Religion in the World of the Turks: Festschrift for Larry Clark at Seventy-Five (Brepols 2018); and have written dozens of articles on Manichaean, Eastern Christian, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, and Islamic art.
My research has been supported by the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton (2024), the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2016-2017), a Getty Residential Scholar Grant at the Getty Villa (2019), multiple residencies at the National Humanities Center, the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Philosophical Society, and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Scholarship.
I am a Board Member of the International Association of Manichaean Studies, and the editor of Art and Archaeology Series in the Corpus Fontium Manichaeorum published by Brepols. As editor of the Central Asia area, I also served a board member of the Grove Encyclopedia of Asian Art and Oxford Art Online.
My teaching career began at Sophia University in Tokyo in Japan, where I was a tenured assistant professor of Central Asian and Buddhist art history (1999-2003). Since 2003, I have been teaching at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, where I was tenured in 2006 and promoted to the rank of Professor in 2012. Besides offering courses on Buddhist art, Islamic Art, Arts of China, Arts of Japan, the Art of the Book, Craft of Research in Asian Studies, and an intro survey of the Arts Across the Asian Continent; I maintain an active research agenda.
The main foci of my research have been the materiality of religion, codicology, and iconography, the communication of which often involves innovative digital imaging in the forms of pictorial reconstructions and design layouts. I am the author of three books: (1) Mani’s Pictures: The Didactic Images of the Manichaeans from Sasanian Mesopotamia to Uygur Central Asia and Tang-Ming China (Brill 2015), (2) Mediaeval Manichaean Book Art: A Codicological Study of Iranian and Turkic Illuminated Book Fragments from 8th – 11th cc. East Central Asia (Brill 2005), and (3) Manichaean Art in Berlin Collections: A Comprehensive Catalogue (Brepols 2001, & Teheran 2023); the co-author of one book with Nicholas Sims-Williams and John S. Sheldon of A Manichaean Prayer and Confession Book (BBB), Corpus Fontium Manichaeorum: Series Iranica I (Brepols 2022); and the editor of one book: Language, Society, and Religion in the World of the Turks: Festschrift for Larry Clark at Seventy-Five (Brepols 2018); and have written dozens of articles on Manichaean, Eastern Christian, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, and Islamic art.
My research has been supported by the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton (2024), the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2016-2017), a Getty Residential Scholar Grant at the Getty Villa (2019), multiple residencies at the National Humanities Center, the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Philosophical Society, and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Scholarship.
I am a Board Member of the International Association of Manichaean Studies, and the editor of Art and Archaeology Series in the Corpus Fontium Manichaeorum published by Brepols. As editor of the Central Asia area, I also served a board member of the Grove Encyclopedia of Asian Art and Oxford Art Online.
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Public Lectures by Zsuzsanna Gulácsi
1) Teaching religion with images, apart from reference to texts, is evident in 3rd-century southern Mesopotamia in the wall painting of the synagogue and the church at Dura Europos, as well as by the Manichaeans’ use of a Book of Pictures.
2) Armenian illustrated gospel books contain a prefatory set of images about the life of Christ that are independent of the canonical gospel texts contained within them.
3) The collective illustration of the life of Christ in the 6th-century illuminated manuscript of the St. Augustine Gospels (MS. 286 at Parker Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge; see image top right) preserves the memory of an Eastern Christian pictorial gospel harmony.
4) The importance of Jesus to the Manichaeans made them transmitters of early and alternative narratives of the Life of Christ in their texts and art.
Books by Zsuzsanna Gulácsi
The occasion of Larry Clark’s Festschrift draws contributions from many of the current leading scholars in these areas, including former pupils and colleagues. Their essays provide a multi-faceted perspective on late ancient, medieval, and modern Central Eurasia—its languages, as well as its civil and religious institutions, ranging from the Siberian steppe to the Aegean, and from the Han Dynasty’s northern rivals to the Uygurs, Mongols, and Ottomans.
Each of the five chapters in this book accomplishes a well-defined goal. The first justifies the formation of the corpus. The second examines its dating on the basis of scientific and historical evidence. Chapter three assesses the artistry of their bookmakers, scribes, and illuminators. The fourth documents the patterns of page layout preserved on the fragments. The final chapter analyses the contextual relationship of their painted and written contents.
Mediaeval Manichaean Book Art represents a pioneer study in its subject, research methodology, and illustrations. It extracts codicological and art historical data from torn remains of lavishly decorated Middle-Persian, Sogdian, and Uygur language manuscripts in codex, scroll, and “palm-leaf” formats. Through detailed analyses and carefully argued interpretations aided by precise computer drawings, the author introduces an important group of primary sources for future comparative research in Central Asian art, mediaeval book illumination, and Manichaean studies.
Diatessaron by Zsuzsanna Gulácsi
Codicology by Zsuzsanna Gulácsi
1) Teaching religion with images, apart from reference to texts, is evident in 3rd-century southern Mesopotamia in the wall painting of the synagogue and the church at Dura Europos, as well as by the Manichaeans’ use of a Book of Pictures.
2) Armenian illustrated gospel books contain a prefatory set of images about the life of Christ that are independent of the canonical gospel texts contained within them.
3) The collective illustration of the life of Christ in the 6th-century illuminated manuscript of the St. Augustine Gospels (MS. 286 at Parker Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge; see image top right) preserves the memory of an Eastern Christian pictorial gospel harmony.
4) The importance of Jesus to the Manichaeans made them transmitters of early and alternative narratives of the Life of Christ in their texts and art.
The occasion of Larry Clark’s Festschrift draws contributions from many of the current leading scholars in these areas, including former pupils and colleagues. Their essays provide a multi-faceted perspective on late ancient, medieval, and modern Central Eurasia—its languages, as well as its civil and religious institutions, ranging from the Siberian steppe to the Aegean, and from the Han Dynasty’s northern rivals to the Uygurs, Mongols, and Ottomans.
Each of the five chapters in this book accomplishes a well-defined goal. The first justifies the formation of the corpus. The second examines its dating on the basis of scientific and historical evidence. Chapter three assesses the artistry of their bookmakers, scribes, and illuminators. The fourth documents the patterns of page layout preserved on the fragments. The final chapter analyses the contextual relationship of their painted and written contents.
Mediaeval Manichaean Book Art represents a pioneer study in its subject, research methodology, and illustrations. It extracts codicological and art historical data from torn remains of lavishly decorated Middle-Persian, Sogdian, and Uygur language manuscripts in codex, scroll, and “palm-leaf” formats. Through detailed analyses and carefully argued interpretations aided by precise computer drawings, the author introduces an important group of primary sources for future comparative research in Central Asian art, mediaeval book illumination, and Manichaean studies.