Building U.S.-Indonesia Mutual Understanding Since 1994

Helen Jessup

Education:

  • Ph.D. Netherlands Architecture in Indonesia, 1900-1942
    Courtauld Institute of Art, London University, 1988.
  • M.A. Art History (thesis awarded a Distinction)
    Courtauld Institute of Art, London University.
  • B.A. (First Class Honours, English Language & Literature)
    University of Melbourne, Australia.
  • Visiting Fellow, Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University, 1987.
  • Diploma in Dutch, Nijenrode course, Netherlands Department of Education and Culture, 1986.
  • Diploma in Russian, translators’ course, United Nations Language Training program, 1964.

Languages:
English, French, Indonesian, Dutch, Russian, currently studying Khmer.

Experience:

  • Appointed co-curator of an exhibition of Khmer sculpture to be shown at the Kunsthalle, Bonn, in 2006.
  • Appointed curator of an exhibition of Indonesian sculpture to be shown at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, in early 2008.
  • Co-curator and catalogue editor and author for Double Act, the Art of Kenneth Rowell, retrospective exhibition of the painter, stage designer and sculptor Kenneth Rowell as part of the Festival of Melbourne, October 1998, in Melbourne, Australia.
  • Adjunct professor of Australian art and literature, Georgetown University, 1998-1999.
  • Guest Curator at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., for the exhibition Sculpture of Angkor and Ancient Cambodia: Millennium of Glory, 1993-7.
  • Coordinator of the extension of the exhibition Court Arts of Indonesia from the U.S. to the Netherlands, 1991-1993, by the Kunsthal Rotterdam and The Asia Society.
  • Guest Curator and Project Director of the exhibition Court Arts of Indonesia, part of the Festival of Indonesia, by The Asia Society and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 1986-1992.
  • Lectured in English Literature, Australian National University, Canberra, 1965-7.
  • Taught English to Slavic language speakers, United Nations Language-Training Program, 1964.
  • Lectured in English Literature, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand, 1958-9.
  • Planned and led art tours of Thailand and Myanmar for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution (2001); of Indonesia for groups from Princeton, Vassar, the Art Institute of Chicago and The National Trust (1994), for the Archives of American Art (1993); for The Asia Society (1991); of Vietnam and Cambodia for the Archives of American Art and the National Trust (1995); Williams College (1996); of Australia for the National Trust for Historic Preservation in March, 1999.

Publications

Books

  • Art and Architecture of Cambodia. Thames & Hudson, New York and London, 2004.
  • Passage to Angkor. With Kenro Izu. Poems and historical introduction accompanying photographs by Kenro Izu. Channel Photographics, Santa Fe, 2003.
  • Double Act, the art of Kenneth Rowell, (ed.), Melbourne, 1998.
  • Sculpture of Angkor and Ancient Cambodia: Millennium of Glory (co-editor and contributer), National Gallery of Art and Réunion des Musées nationaux, Washington DC and Paris, and Thames & Hudson, New York and London, 1997. [Awarded the Alfred H. Barr, Jr. prize by the College Art Association for the most distinguished art history publication in any language in 1997].
  • Court Arts of Indonesia, The Asia Society and Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York, 1990 (2nd printing, 1992).

Articles:

  • “Motif and Meaning in Indonesian Textiles”, Through the Thread of Time, Bangkok, 2004, pp. 31-46.
  • “Ethics and current claims: Is there a fair solution? The case of Cambodia”, Who Owns Culture? Cultural property and patrimony disputes in an age without borders [Papers from a conference at Columbia University, New York, April 1999], New York 2001, pp. 123-127.
  • “Symbols of Transition”, InForm Architectural Journal, 2000.
  • “Realms of Power, the Sculpture and Architecture of Ancient Cambodia”, TAASA Review [The Journal of the Asian Arts Society of Australia], Vol.7 No.4, Dec. 1998, pp. 5-8.
  • “Parallel Visions: landscapes of the heart, landscapes of the mind”, Double Act, the Art of Kenneth Rowell, Melbourne 1998, pp. 15-22.
  • “A conversation with James Mollison, AO”, Double Act, the Art of Kenneth Rowell, Melbourne 1998, pp. 5-8
  • “The Khmer aesthetic: a chance for new insights”, Orientations, January 1998.
  • “The Glory of Cambodian Art”, Minerva 8/4, July-August 1997, pp. 31-38.
  • “A Dream Fulfilled”, Connaissance des Arts special issue, Paris 1997, pp. 6-15.
  • “Islamic Architecture in Indonesia, 15th C to 20th C”; “Colonial Architecture in Indonesia, 17th C to 20th C”; “Domestic Architecture in Java”; “Woodwork in Java”; “Malay Architecture in Malaysia (after 1300)”; “Islamic Architecture in Malaysia (after 1300); “Straits Chinese Architecture in Malaysia (after 1800)”; “Residential Architecture in Malaysia”; “Colonial and Modern Architecture in Malaysia (after 1500). The Dictionary of Art, Macmillan, London and New York, 1996.
  • “Spirit of Place: The Genius of the Khmers”, Kenro Izu, Light over Ancient Angkor, New York, 1996, pp. 26-29.
  • “Indonesian Court Arts”, The Gift as Material Culture, Ed. Patricia Thatcher and Paul Michael Taylor, Yale-Smithsonian Seminar, New Haven and Washington, DC, 1995.
  • “Netherlands Perceptions of Indonesia: Architecture and Social Values”, Europe & the Orient, D. Gerstle & A. Milner, Eds., Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University, 1994.
  • “The Architect in 20th-Century Asia: Heir, Orphan or Innovator?”, Asia-Australasia, David Saunders Memorial Lecture, keynote address at the conference Asia-Australasia organized and published by the Society of Architectural Historians of Australia and New Zealand, Geelong, Australia, July 4-7 1992.
  • “Alien or Adopted Child? The dilemma of the Dutch Architect in Indonesia”, Asia-Australasia, Society of Architectural Historians of Australia and New Zealand, Geelong, 1992.
  • “Voices of the Ancestors or Internationalism? The Dilemma of the Indonesian Artist”, Asian Art, Vol.IV No.2, pp. 2-7, Spring 1991.
  • “Dutch Architectural Visions of the Indonesian Tradition”, Muqarnas, No. III, Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, Harvard-MIT, 1986, pp.138-161.
  • “The Roofs of Indonesia”, Craft International, Jul-Sep 1985, pp.8-9.
  • “The Dutch Colonial Villa”, MIMAR, No.13, Jul-Sep 1984, pp.35-42. (Republished in Mimar Houses, 1987).
  • “Henri Maclaine Pont’s Institute of Technology, Bandung”, Orientations, Vol.13 No.9, September 1982, pp. 32-38.
  • “Thomas Karsten’s Folk Theatre, Semarang”, Orientations, Vol.13 No.10, October 1982, pp. 24-32.
  • “Thomas Karsten’s Sonobudoyo Museum, Yogyakarta”, Orientations, Vol.13 No.11, November 1982, pp. 24-31.
  • “Henri Maclaine Pont’s Church, Pohsarang”, Orientations, Vo.13 No.12, December 1982, pp. 22-34.
  • “Les Villes Indonésiennes devant le Colonialisme”, Urbi, No.VI, October 1982, pp. 71-78.
  • “The Architecture of Henri Maclaine Pont”, Lotus International, No.26, 1980-1, pp. 108-115.
  • “A note on Javanese Carriages”, aarp (Art & Archeology Research Papers), No.16, December 1979, pp. 51-52.

Book and exhibition reviews
From Stone to paper: Photography of Architecture and the Traces of History. An exhibition organized by the International Centre of Architecture, Montreal. Journal of the Society of Architectural History, December 2004, pp. 540-542.

Heaven and Empire: Khmer Bronzes from the 9th to the 15th Centuries, by Marlene Zeffreys, Nicholas S. Zeffreys and Jeffrey Stone, White Lotus, Bangkok, 2001, in Asian Perspectives, University of Hawaii Press, 2003.

The Palaces of South-East Asia: Architecture and Customs, by Jacques Dumarçay, New York and Oxford 1991, in Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol 55 No. 1, March 1966, pp. 105-106.

Forthcoming:
Masterpieces of the National Museum, Cambodia, Friends of Khmer Culture, 2005.
Dutch Colonial Architecture in Indonesia. Jakarta Post Publishing Company, Indonesia, 2005.
The Art and Architecture of Indonesia, Thames & Hudson World of Art series, 2006.

Book review:
Worshiping Siva and Buddha, the Temple Art of East Java, by Ann R. Kinney with Marijke J. Klokke, Lydia Kieven, Universityi of Hawai’I Press, Honolulul, 2003, in Orienations (date to be announced)