Academic Associate
Monika Hinkel is a lecturer and curator of Japanese art. She has been teaching for the SOAS Postgraduate Diploma in Asian Art since 2008 and is the convenor of the Arts of Japan and Korea module. She is an Academic Member of the Japan Research Centre at SOAS. Additionally, she has taught at Birkbeck College, the V&A, and Morley College. Since 2021, she has been Editor-in-Chief of Andon, the Journal of the Society for Japanese Art.
She served as a curator for Japanese art at the Museum of East Asian Art in Cologne from 1997 to 2000 and was a Guest Researcher at Gakushuin University in Tokyo from 2001 to 2004. She obtained her PhD from the University of Bonn in 2006. The topic of her dissertation was Toyohara Kunichika (1835-1900) and his Meiji period prints influenced by bunmei kaika (civilisation and enlightenment).
Her research centres on Japanese woodblock prints, particularly from the Meiji period (1868-1912), exploring the concept of Meiji nostalgia in prints and the influence of Ukiyo-e on modern and contemporary art. In 2024, she curated the special exhibition Yoshida – Three Generations of Japanese Printmaking at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London.
Selected Publications
- Hinkel, Monika (2024), Yoshida- Three Generations of Japanese Printmaking, London: Paul Holberton Publishing.
- Hinkel, Monika (2019) ‘Envisioning Meiji Modernity: kaika-e’, in: Proceedings, The Japan Society London, Number 56, 2019, pp. 69-82.
- Hinkel, Monika (2011) ‘Meiji Nostalgia – Prints by Kawakami Sumio (1895-1972)’, in: Proceedings, The Japan Society London, Number 148, 2011, pp. 139-153.
- Hinkel, Monika (2011) ‘Continuity and Change – Meiji Era prints by Toyohara Kunichika (1835-1900)’, in: Professor Kobayashi Tadashi’s Festschrift (Kobayashi Tadashi sensei koki kinen ronbunshu), Tokyo: Geika Shoin, 2011, pp 156-162.
- Hinkel, Monika (2004) ‘The Changing Face of Toyohara Kunichika – Scenes of the Twenty-four Hours, A Pictorial Trope’ (with Amy Reigle Newland), in: A Courtesan’s Day: hour by hour, Famous Japanese Print Series 2, Amsterdam: Hotei Publishing, 2004, pp 117-169.
- Hinkel, Monika (2002) ‘Die Rezeption europäischer Kunst in der Zeitschrift Shirakaba’ (The Reception of European Art Currents in the Magazine Shirakaba), in: Beiträge zur Japanforschung. Festschrift für Peter Pantzer zu seinem Sechzigsten Geburtstag (Contributions on Japan Research: Festschrift for Peter Pantzer on his 60th Birthday), Bonn: Herausgeberkollektiv, 2002, pp 61-74.