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CHINA WORKSHOP PRESENTATION: Highlights of Chinese Art from Prehistory to the Present The Dynasties of China Not going to stick to chronological, not going to do a survey, for that you can read a book or take a course. Instead, I will consider five themes: first some early work when art seems to be the handmaid of beliefs and rituals; then Buddhist art in China; then landscape, then humble subjects (bugs, weeds, rotting fruit); then a recent artist of international fame and dual citizenship and how his postmodern international art also reflects and responds to traditional China. Chronology is to help audience to follow if they want to know when 1. Early art as participating in ritual, myth, & thaumaturgic function Xia ? Shang ca. 1600-1050 BCE Shang guang and a set of ritual vessels Zhou - Taoism & Confucianism , books set the basis of traditions in Chinese culture for the rest of time, I Ching begun to be written Western Zhou ca. 1050-771 BCE Set of bells: Confucius music for ritual, moral force, should lead to proper behaviour, sounds aid in right thinking and harmonious actions Has parallel in Pythagoras ancient greek theory of the modes and how they affect one’s soul and behaviour Eastern Zhou 770-256 BCE 7-5 Bi disk set next to lindau gospels cover Jade burial, burial suits, jade is to China what gold is to medieval christians Body on back, on top a Bi, on bottom a Tsung, east a kuei scepter, west a tiger, north a huang (1/2 circle), south a chang (short stubby kuei), the 7 openings of the body plugged with jade, flat plaque han (usually shaped like a cicada (buries itself in ground for 17 years and then emerges to live again) in mouth to protect body from harm and to seal so no evil could escape from within Tsou Yen Warring States period Qin 221-206 BCE 7-6 Army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang Di discovered in 73, revealed to world in 92 The philosophical/economical treatise of Kuan Tsu “Lengthen the mourning period so as to occupy people’s time, and elaborate the funeral so as to spend their money….To have large pits for burial is to provide work for poor people; to have magnificent tombs is to provide work for artisans. To have inner and outer coffins is to encourage carpenters, and to have many pieces for the enshrouding is to encourage seamstresses.” Confucius condemned burials of figurines of attendants & slaves, fearing it might encourage a return to burying the living. Thought they should use straw instead of wood (material used back in the Late Zhou) Qin and Han used cast pottery – cheaper than wood and possibly more acceptable to Confucians. Han 206 BCE – 220 CE Arrival of Buddhism 2. Buddhist art Period of Disunity A lot happening! Xie He’s 6 principles, development of Chinese Buddhism (Chan) and its art 7-11 Shakyamuni Buddha 338 very like Kushan style (Ghandaran) 7-13 Shakyamuni & Prabhutaratna 518 N.Wei Tang 618-907 7-14 Vairocana Buddha, disciples, & Boddhisattvas Longmen Caves -676 Mahayana cosmic Buddha resembles gupta style, Bamiyan Buddha… Historical Buddha limited in space & time Cosmic Buddha not limited, tell waterfall allegory 7-15 Paradise of Amitabha, Dunhuang 8th century 10’ h wall painting limited in space but not in time 7-25 Sixth Chan Patriarch Chopping Bamboo s. song 13th c hanging scroll ink on paper, not a distant and god-like figure, humble, puts emphasis on meditation as route to achieve enlightenment, but makes no big deal of it 7-23 Foguang Si Pagoda 1056 Liao dynasty compare with stupa, then show with section timber beam construction, tallest wooden building in the world Song Northern Song 960-1127 Southern Song 1127-1279 3. Landscape painting: “mountains and water” painting From NY times article Zhang Zeduan’s Along the River During the Qingming Festival 12th c “China’s most famous painting” But in US 7-1Fan Kuan’s Travelers Amid Mountains and Streams most often reproduced Kuo Chi Early Spring Li Cheng Mountains with Temple mountains and waterfalls? Back in prehistory: widespread idea of sacred mountains and rivers… Chinese mythology of the 5 sacred mountains, Buddhism, Taoism & Confucianism = Neoconfucianism Analects of Confucius = “Wise men find pleasure in water, the virtuous in mountains” Lao Tze’s Tao te Ching: EIGHT The highest good is like water. Water gives life to the ten thousand things and does not strive. It flows in places men reject and so is like the Tao. In dwelling, be close to the land. In meditation, go deep in the heart. In dealing with others, be gentle and kind. In speech, be true. In ruling, be just. Go to next page!!! In business, be competent. In action, watch the timing. No fight: No blame. Rocks in river are the yang to the river’s yin… Like the wise the water doesn’t fight the rocks, it flows around. But in the end, the weak water wears away the rocks. See Tsou Yen’s cosmology. Rock scissors paper Layers of meanings: Li Po’s poetry (story of student why she and her friends loved Li Po (Li Bai) because each character in his poem has components and connotations which have multiple meanings (true of all poems) but his are especially clever and deep. We who don’t read Chinese or only superficially can’t understand, All the 4 poems attached reflect 2 things also seen embraced by these paintings: retreat to mountains for solitude and quietude and a joy in the transience of things The three perfections (painting, poetry, calligraphy) and Xie He’s 6 principles Yuan 1279-1368 Ming 1368-1644 Shen Zhou Lofty Mount Lu 15th c A little bit of autumn color, Autumn shows up most frequently, spring second most Poems maybe opposite, see poems, Spring & autumn annals in Zhou period, again emphasizing delight in the momentary As time passes, the style gets more personal and arbitrary Dong Qichang Dwelling in the Qingbian Mountains Ming 17th c I was taught he was most famous, the Caravaggio of China Court official (very high office), poet, calligrapher, painter, collector, critic Qing 1644-1911 Shi tao (Zu Da) Man in a House beneath a Cliff late 17th c Individualistic , album leaf 4. The Literal school, “fur and feathers” painting, popular taste Emperor Huizong N. Sung Other examples Mu Qi 6 persimmons and Xie He’s 6 principles 5. Modern China 1912-- Xu Bing Book from the Sky Still Surface of a Lake