Dr. Deanna MacDonald

About Dr. Deanna MacDonald

Dr. Deanna MacDonald has taught art and architectural history at Temple University’s Tokyo Campus since 2012. She received an MA in art history from the Central European University Prague campus, and a PhD in Art History from McGill University, Montreal with a dissertation on the art and architectural patronage of Margaret of Austria, Regent of the Netherlands. Her interests include cross-cultural exchange and global art and architecture, the early modern period, gender & the arts and Japanese visual culture.

Daibutsuden (Great Buddha Hall), Todai-ji, Nara, Japan, 743, rebuilt. c. 1700 (photo: author, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
This massive temple was built to impress—twice. Its monumental timber frame required a veritable cypress forest.

Tōdai-ji