Robert Oxnam

born 1942 Los Angeles USA

died 2024 New York USA

Robert Oxnam (1942–2024) was a prominent American China scholar who led the Asia Society (1981–1992) as president. He transformed the group into a major institution for U.S.-Asia relations, drawing on a deep knowledge of Chinese art, culture, and history. During beach walks near his Southold home, Oxnam was captivated by wave-worn tree branches—roots that might have washed up from anywhere in the world. He recognized in them the kind of energy and nature-sculpted history that Chinese artists have sought in scholars’ rocks for well over 1,000 years.

From Flung-Ink, to macro photography, to acrylics on Chinese calligraphic paper, Oxnam’s work was a contemporary take on an ancient form. At the heart of his creations, we find an active interplay of Chinese philosophy and aesthetics with natural forms and found objects.

Oxnam was preoccupied with the rapport between the parts and the whole, constantly in search of the form’s “qi,” or inner spirit. His interest was rooted in a lifelong struggle with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), which was caused by early childhood abuse. He coined the phrase “Cohesive Multiplicity” to describe the desired relationship between the dimensions of our varied selves, and art-making was of singular importance to his healing in the last twenty years of his life.

Robert’s work has been widely exhibited and collected in the New York area. Exhibitions include group displays at Chambers Fine Arts (2009) and Brecknock Hall (2010), as well as solo shows at Rockefeller Brothers Fund Gallery (2009), Inter-Church Center (2010), New York Public Library (2014), William Ris Gallery (2018), and Peconic Landing (2023). His sculptures are also featured in well-known private collections in New York and California.

Robert has authored major books on China and U.S.-China Relations, as well as two novels concerning Chinese history. He also published the widely recognized memoir, A Fractured Mind: My Life with Multiple Personality Disorder (2005), which chronicles his struggles with Dissociative Identity Disorder. He passed away on April 18, 2024.

BIOGRAPHY
1942 Born in Los Angeles, USA
1964 Bachelor of Arts, Williams College, Massachusetts, USA
1966 Master of Arts in East Asian Studies, Yale University, Connecticut, USA
1969 Ph.D. in Chinese History, Yale University, Connecticut, USA
1969-75 Taught at Trinity College, Connecticut, USA
1975-81 Served as Director of the China Council
1979-81 Served as Vice President of The Asia Society and Director of the Washington D.C. office
1981-92 Led The Asia Society as President
1990s Taught at Columbia University, New York, USA
1995 Taught at Williams College, Massachusetts, USA
2024 Passed away in New York, USA at the age of 81

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025

Finding Qi, East End Arts Council, New York, USA

2018

Chinese Inspiration/North Fork Creation, William Ris Gallery, New York, USA

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2009

Great Wall Photographs & Driftwood Sculptures, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, New York, USA

2009

Art and Rocks: Nature Found and Made, Chambers Fine Art, New York, USA

SELECTED AWARDS
1993 Awarded the Williams College Bicentennial Medal, Williams College, Massachusetts, USA
1994 Awarded the Trinity College LL.D., Trinity College, Connecticut, USA

PUBLICATIONS
2005 A Fractured Mind: My Life with Multiple Personality Disorder, by Robert Oxnam, published by Hyperion Press
1995 Ming: A Novel of Seventeenth-Century China, by Robert Oxnam, published by St. Martin's Press
1979 Japan, Korea and China: American Perceptions and Policies, published by Lexington Books
1978 Dragon and Eagle: United States-China Relations, Past and Future, published by Basic Books
1975 Ruling from Horseback: Manchu Politics in the Oboi Regency, 1661–1669, by Robert Oxnam, published by University of Chicago Press