GAZING INTO THE PAST: THE UNBOUNDED VISION OF JAMES CAHILL

James Francis Cahill (Chinese: 高居翰; pinyin: Gāo Jūhàn (1926 – 2014) was an art historian, curator, collector, and  professor at the University of California, Berkeley.  He was one of the world’s top  authorities on Chinese art.  Gazing into the Past is a one-hour portrait film of Cahill and the art he studied and interpreted for generations of students and scholars.  Cahill changed the way the world looked at Chinese and Japanese painting.  The interviews with former students, colleagues, curators, and friends provide rich opportunities to focus on the art itself, which was Cahill’s main goal throughout his career. The parallel approach will create an impression of a man and his life, and a clear understanding of how the study of Asian art developed during the second half of the 20th century.