Chinese Painting IV

Walking on Path in Spring by Ma Yuan (马远 c.1190 - 1279年）

Three Chinese Landscape Paintings:

1. Ma Yuan.  On a Mountain Path in Spring.  Southern Song.  Book p. 66.

2. Guan Daosheng.  Bamboo Groves in Mist and Rain.  Yuan.  Book, p. 74.

3. Wu Zhen.  Stalks of Bamboo By a Rock.  Yuan.  (More examples) Book, p. 75.

Chinese Painting III

Zang Zeduan Detail: "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" (Song dynasty): Bridge

Zang Zeduan "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" (Song dynasty)
[Please click on the image directly above to examine the entire scroll]

Article on this painting at Wikipedia HERE

To "read" a Chinese painting is to enter into a dialogue with the past; the act of unrolling a scroll or leafing through an album provides a further, physical connection to the work. An intimate experience, it is one that has been shared and repeated over the centuries. And it is through such readings, enjoyed alone or in the company of friends, that meaning is gradually revealed. 

Chinese Painting II (Wed 16 March)

Fan Kuan & Northern Song dynasty Landscape painting

Article on Fan Kuan at Wikipedia

Song dynasty:  at the Timeline of Art History and at Wikipedia and at the MIA

and this page from Columbia University is excellent & extensive

University course pages on Northern Song Painting: HERE and HERE 

and a brief article on the Fan Kuan painting above here

Chinese Painting I (Mon 14 March)

Han Gan: "Night-Shining White" ca 750 (Tang dynasty)

China at the Heibrunn Timeline of Art History INDEX PAGE

• “Chinese Painting” HERE
• “Landscape Painting in Chinese Art” HERE
• “Scholar-Officials” HERE
• “Chinese Calligraphy” HERE

“A Look at Chinese Painting” (Metropolitan Museum) HERE

“Anatomy of a Masterpiece: How to Read Chinese Paintings” HERE

Chinese Panting in Context (Asia Society) HERE

Key points:

• Chinese paintings are not usually in the Western format (framed, hung on wall as false window); they can appear on handscrolls, wall scrolls, fans, and in many other formats
• Chinese paintings typically include written as well as visual content
• Chinese paintings often are marked with stamps that provide information on ownership of the painting
• Some beginning ideas on the Chinese aesthetic:

1. unification & balance between opposites: object / concept; visual / written; figure / ground; etc.  
2. less emphasis on originality & uniqueness; more on conformity & collaboration

(Also: the “Six Principles of Chinese Painting” stub at Wikipedia) 

Chinese Calligraphy

Four Anecdotes from the Life of Wang Xizhi, ca. 1310
Zhao Mengfu (Chinese, 1254–1322)

Source:Zhao Mengfu: Four Anecdotes from the Life of Wang Xizhi (1989.363.30) | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Chinese Character Classification -- at Wikipedia
Chinese Calligraphy -- Timeline of Art History
China's Calligraphic Arts -- at the Freer/Sackler

Two videos that demonstrate basics in Chinese calligraphy.

The videos below are properly Japanese rather than Chinese, but the principles still apply.  The first begins a series on calligraphy by discussing brushes.  The second is a lengthy but excellent demonstration of calligraphy in several styles.  

Chinese art: purposes, patrons, and public

"Art served several purposes in China, functioning as magical objects, emblems of authority, signs of superior cultural refinement, mechanisms for the preservation of information, and vehicles for self-expression.  As the worlds first art historian, Zhang Yan Yuan (847), stated succinctly, art helped human relations and explored the mysteries of the universe.  Art, he wrote, completes culture.  Patrons included members of the imperial court, noble families, high-ranking bureaucrats, and Buddhist and Daoist monasteries.  However, the percentage of the population having access to visual imagery was small, not to mention the miniscule number of people who commissioned or owned works of art."  

--- Mackenzie, Lynn.  Non-Western Art: A Brief Guide.  2nd edn.  Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Prentice-Hall, 2001.  (86)

Chinese Jades, Bronzes, Ceramics

    So much material, so little time . . . please, browse your way through some of these resources.  We'll primarily discuss Chinese jade bi discs and the Ming dynasty vases known as the David vases, both shown below.

bi discs at the Freer/Sackler

Chinese Dynasty Guide (Minneapolis Institute of Arts)
China page at The Asia Society's webpage -- links to many specific subject pages
China page at the Freer/Sackler museum
Ancient Chinese Jades and Bronzes (Freer/Sackler)
Chinese Jades: bi (Freer/Sackler)
bi Disk with Dragons (Nelson-Atkins) [3-5]

Guide to Chinese Ceramics (Minneapolis Institute of Arts)
Page on the Chinese Ceramics in Room 95 at the British Museum
Percival David Foundation Collection
The David Vases (British Museum)

 

The David vases

Schedule: Weeks 7 & 8

Week 7:  Chinese art I: concepts & materials

M:  First Emperor's Tomb (3-6) 
W:  Chinese jades (3-5)  and ceramics (4-5)
F:   Chinese calligraphy

SPRING BREAK

Week 8: Chinese art II: landscape painting

The First Emperor's Tomb

• Terracotta Army -- article at Wikipedia
• Qin Shi Huang -- article at Wikipedia
• Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor -- at Unesco (source of video above)
• China's Warrior King -- National Geographic
• Explore the Necropolis -- Discovery Channel 
• Early Imperial Archaeology: More About the Tomb of the First Emperor (National Gallery of Art)
• Photosynth image of the Warriors 

Daily Schedule for Weeks 6 & 7

Week 6:  representations of Hindu deities: Shiva / Hindu temples

M:  Shiva 1: Shiva as lingam & as Mahadeva (Elephanta temple [1-18]) 
W:  Hindu temple: concepts & forms: (1-22 & 1-24)
F:  Shiva 2: Shiva Nataraja (1-25)

Week 7:  Chinese art I: concepts & materials

M:  First Emperor's Tomb (3-6) 
W:  Chinese bronzes (3-3) & jades (3-5)  
F:   Chinese textiles (3-7) and ceramics (4-5)

SPRING BREAK 

Week 8: Chinese Landscape Painting 

Stupa to Pagoda 5: Fogang Si Pagoda (3-23)

Useful cultural background:  The Song Dynasty in China (Columbia University) LINK

Wikipedia article: Pagoda LINK

Wikipedia article: Architecture of the Song Dynasty: LINK

Wikipedia article: Pagoda of Fogong Temple LINK

Wikipedia article: Ancient Chinese Wooden Architecture LINK

"The Eight-Sided Pagoda of Foguang Si at Yingxian" by Kate Erickson LINK

Some Photos at Flickr HERE and HERE

Wikimedia page: Pagodas in China LINK