Schedule: Weeks 11 to 15

Week 11: Japan I
m: the Ameratsu Shrine at Ise : Shinto
w: Heian period painting : yamato-e
f: Muromachi period painting & Zen painting
Week 12: Japan II
m: Zen-style gardens
w: chaihatsu (tea house) * EXERCISE 3 DUE *
f: wabi-sabi
Week 13: Japan III
m: Japanese woodcuts : ukiyo-e
w: ukiyo-e : Hokusai's "Great Wave"
f: contemporary Japanese art -- one or two examples
Week 14: Aboriginal Australian art
m: Aboriginal Australian art : petroglyphs
w: Aboriginal Australian paintings
f: Aboriginal Australian paintings
Week 15:
m: course review
w: EXAM (10.15-12.15)

The Taj Mahal

• Taj Mahal article at Wikipedia
• Taj Mahal article at Asian Historical Architecture
• Taj Mahal article at Islamic Architecture 
• Taj Mahal article at MANAS (UCLA)
• Taj Mahal at 1001 Wonders (Quicktime)
• Photosynth view of Taj Mahal (reguires Microsoft Silverlight) 
• "Seven Wonders: Taj Mahal" video at History.com  

Pattern in Islamic Decorative Art

Mihrab from the Madrasa Imami, Isfahan, Iran
Metropolitan Museum of Art (7-25)

“Pattern in Islamic Art” is a website with thousands of examples of Islamic visual design and explanations of the principles behind these designs.  


also check out the essay on "Vegetal Patterns in Islamic Art" at the Timeline of Art History, as well as the essay on "Calligraphy in Islamic Art."

Mosque Lamp of Sayf al-Din (7-29) British Museum
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/me/m/mamluk_mosque_lamp.aspx

Islamic Architecture: Mosque

This site offers links to a lot of information about Islamic architecture, including articles on both specific buildings and on general topics.  For example, the article on mosques describes the history, functions, and uses of mosques, and gives links to many specific mosques in different parts of the Islamic world

Particularly important mosques to look at would include:

• the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia
• the Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina, Saudi Arabia
• the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem
• the Great Mosque in Damascus, Syria
• the Mezquita in Cordoba, Spain
• the Djenne Mosque in Timbuktu, Mali
• the Maydan-i-Shah in Isfahan, Iran

The article on Mosques at Wikipedia is also excellent, as is its article on Islamic Architecture

A couple of the most important Islamic buildings that are not mosques:

• the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem
• the Taj Mahal in Agra, India

Also good on Islamic Art in general is THIS

Paradise Found: Islamic Architecture & Arts 1/10

the Origin and History of Islam

The Birth of Islam: essay at the Timeline of Art History

(PBS)

History Channel

(Part 1 of 6)

PBS

(part 1 of 12) 

Schedule: Weeks 9 & 10

(Please note -- this is a slight rearrangement of the original syllabus, based on discussion in class today. It will buy us more time for Aboriginal Australian painting.) 

Week 9:  Islamic Art I 

M:  introduction to Islamic art & architecture :  the mosque 
W:  the mosque 2
F:   ***no class***

Week 10: Islamic Art II

M: decorative art in Islam 

W: the Taj Mahal

F:  the Taj Mahal

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

Exercise 2 DUE Monday 21 March in class

The second written exercise (answering the five course questions on one work of art or one type of artwork) will be due in class on MONDAY 21 March.  
Please remember: 

• you may work on any object or topic covered in the course so far -- from Africa through the first works of Chinese painting
• you may NOT work on any object or topic on which you have already written
• any use of outside sources requires in-text citation as well as listing in a "Works Cited"
• your work will scored for these criteria: clear / correct / connected / complete 

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 

Shiva 2

If a single icon had to be chosen to represent the extraordinarily rich and complex cultural heritage of India, the Shiva Nataraja might well be the most remunerative candidate. It is such a brilliant iconographic invention that it comes as close to being a summation of the genius of the Indian people as any single icon can.

Other useful links:

• Wikipedia article on Nataraja
• Article and example at the Royal Academy of Arts
• Another example at the Asia Society
• Shiva Nataraja at CERN

Hindu Temples

Mammallapuram (Mahabalipuram) temples

• article at Wikipedia
• article at templenet

Rajararajeshvara Temple (also known as the Brihadishwara Temple) at Thanjavur

• Brihadeeswarar Temple article at Wikipedia
• UNSECO site “Great Living Chola Temples”
• Article at Templenet.com
• Unesco World-Tour images
• Photosynth image mosaic (requires Silverlight)

Kandariya Mahadeva temple

• Dr. Francis Pritchard’s page (Columbia University)
• article at Asian Historical Architecture
• page at Great Buildings Online
• UNESCO world-heritage-tour images
• Photosynth image mosaic

Room Change this Wednesday !!

Hi Warren,

I just wanted to send you a reminder that due to the Admissions Open House, we need you to hold your 9:05 class on Wednesday, February 23^rd in Coleman B instead of McDonald.  Francine Varisco’s class will be on a field trip and shouldn’t be in the room that day J Please let me know if you have questions or problems.  Thank you! 

Sally