No one is more surprised by Andrew Watsky’s elaborate career in East Asian art history than Andrew Watsky. That his career would involve art history was clear as an undergraduate at Oberlin College, but he’d been leaning into Western art history. Fortunately for A&A, he pivoted.

“Andy’s impact in the Department of Art & Archaeology has been tremendous,” said Professor Rachael DeLue. “His scholarly work has significantly advanced understanding of the arts of Japan, especially chanoyu, the Japanese practice of drinking tea and appreciating the many carefully wrought and highly valued objects involved in the process. I consider myself fortunate to have sat down for tea with Andy, and to have seen the ritual first-hand as he prepared an exquisite bowl of matcha for me!” 

The fateful turn toward Japanese art history Watsky credits to his adviser William Hood, “who, for perhaps the first and only time in his life, turned a student on to a path that led to Japan,” Watsky notes in his Chikubushima: Deploying the Sacred Arts in Momoyama Japan (University of Washington Press, 2003). The path was paved by the Oberlin Shansi two-year fellowship, which unexpectedly brought Watsky to Japan. 

In 1986, Watsky became an A&A graduate student with Yoshiaki Shimizu as his adviser. Recently-retired curator of Asian art at the Princeton University Art Museum Cary Liu was already in the A&A graduate program and Deputy Director of the Tang Center for East Asian Art Dora Ching would join a few years later. "Working with and learning from Andy Watsky has been a true privilege from the moment I first met him in graduate school in 1990 to our close collaboration in A&A, especially since 2016 when he became director of the Tang Center," said Ching. "His enthusiasm about Japanese art—in particular tea objects and tea culture—was infectious, and the casual conversations we shared were in fact disguised master classes." 

Earning his Ph.D. in spring ’94, Watsky began teaching Asian art history in the fall at Vassar College, where he would stay for 14 years. In 2008, he returned to Princeton and was appointed the P. Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Professor of Japanese Art, overlapping with his mentor for a year and co-teaching Professor Shimizu’s final course before retirement. He looks back on his years as a professor at Princeton with gratitude for the opportunities he’s had “to be a part of the ever-evolving A&A Department and Museum, and to work with fantastic undergraduate and graduate students.

Among the courses Watsky taught, ART 425/EAS 425 “The Japanese Print,” has become a monument in A&A’s course offerings; students learn about the genre in the first half, and collectively select a print for Museum acquisition in the latter. 

Watsky’s expertise is in 16th-century Japanese art, with a particular interest now in the arts associated with tea practice, comprising such different mediums as ceramics, metalwork, bamboo, painting, calligraphy, and textiles. In retirement, Watsky looks forward to completing a book about 16th-century tea, triangulating artifacts, diaries, and a historical treatise on tea dating to 1588. 

Watsky has worked closely with the Museum and helped build its collection. In fact, Museum director James Steward counts over 80 works that have come to the collection by Watsky’s hand. 

Ching summed up Watsky's breadth of contributions to A&A: '"Whether about art, tea, vexing issues in administration, or life in general, Andy without fail always listens, explains, questions, and re-evaluates, with the result that one comes away learning more and wanting to learn more," she said. “He is a rare teacher, colleague, and friend!”

DeLue agrees, "Andy is the very definition of a devoted and inspiring teacher and mentor, whose students rave about his object-centered approach. What is more, he has been a wonderful colleague and an exemplary department citizen throughout his time in A&A.”

Looking forward, Watsky expects to continue ruminating on the subject that has defined his career, but with the freedom that retirement brings. He leaves Princeton with immense optimism for the future of the field: “The arrival of two fine Japanese art specialists, in the department and in the museum, gives me confidence that Japanese art studies will thrive at Princeton for years to come, and that’s a great feeling to have as I step down.”