Asian Architecture Collection: Photographs by Patricia Young
Patricia Young (1919-2016) was an art historian with a focus on art and culture from Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries.
Angkor Thom - South Gate in Angkor, Cambodia
Born in Washington, DC, Young graduated from Vassar College in 1941 with a degree in History. She moved to Bangkok, Thailand, in the early 1960s, where her husband served as American Ambassador from 1961-1963. During that time, Young traveled extensively in Southeast Asia and studied the art and culture of that region.
Back in the United States, Young pursued a graduate degree in Asian art history. She became a member of the Association of Asian Studies and the Siam Society. In 1976, she started working for the Asia Society, running their Asian tour programs. In 1979, she moved to Houston to become the founding director of the Asia Society Texas Center. Patricia Young worked tirelessly to disseminate and promote an understanding of Asian cultures.
In 1986, Young moved back to Bangkok, where she lived for almost two decades. She traveled extensively throughout Asia in the pursuit of deepening her knowledge of Asian art. She diligently photographed her travels, using the slides to teach classes in both Asia and the United States.
Patricia Young passed away June 8, 2016.
The collection
The collection is comprised of a unique set of over 10,000 images that significantly represent Southeast Asian religious architecture. Photographed during Patricia Young's travels between 1960 and 2002, they include depictions of artworks, architecture and architectural details from mostly Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic temples from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, also covering China, Malaysia, Egypt, Greece, Mexico and Pakistan.
A portion of the collection was selected, researched and described by the Visual Resource division of the School of Art + Art History + Design. The original slides were scanned and treated in Photoshop.
The collection is organized by location and grouped by the name of the temple or temple complex, which collocates all images with different views of that site.
Map of Locations
Zoom in to view more selections
Supporting the collection
We are grateful to Patricia Young and her family for donating her 35mm slides to the School of Art + Art History + Design with the express intention of sharing the images for educational purposes. We are additionally thankful for the monetary support provided to allow for beginning the digitizing and cataloging of the images.
To help us continue work on this collection you can make a donation to the Art Slide Library Fund in Patricia Young's name here.
To inquire about permissions contact the Visual Services Department in the School of Art + Art History + Design at soahelp@uw.edu.
