ASIAN ART
History of Asian Art
- When ancient civilizations in Asia
flourished, trade become a very
important activity. In trading
relationship Asian countries
started sharing culture and belief
system.
- China, being one of the oldest
civilizations in Asia, it has a rich
history when it comes to culture
and arts.
- Japan, they were influenced by
China in term of arts. Later on,
they opened themselves to the
western world which they allow
fusion of East and West.
- Philippine Arts was a product of
several periods in history
spanning from the pre-colonial
period to the contemporary times.
- Chinese also had interactions
with Western missionaries who
came from India and it brought
some of the Indian influences to
China.
- And because of this, Indian
models inspired a lot of Chinese
artists for few centuries.
- Most paintings were done in
Monumental Styles wherein
rocks and mountings served as a
barrier that made the viewer
distracted initially from the main
subject of the work. Western
landscapes usually had a single
vanishing point while Chinese
paintings had the opposite since
most paintings aimed to give the
audience a perspective on the
subject.
-
-
Porcelain such as vases and jars
is of the commonly used as
decorative ornaments. Some
artifacts show intricate works of
the Chinese in these porcelain
vases. It has attribution to the
tradition of passing down the
artistry form one generation to
the next.
Some of the common
overarching themes of Chinese
artworks include everyday
activities, war, violence, death,
and nature. Also noted that
Chinese artworks are infused
with a lot of symbolism.
BUDDHIST ART
- Originated in India subcontinent
in the centuries following the life
of historical Guatama Buddha in
6th to 5th century BCE.
- It is developed to the North
though Central Asia into Eastern
Asia to form the Northern branch
of Buddhist art, and to the east as
far as Southeast Asia to form the
southern branch of Buddhist art.
- Buddhist art traveled with
believers as the dharma spread,
adapted, and evolved in each
new host country.
- Buddhist art flourished and even
influenced the development of
Hindu Art.
- A common visual design in
Buddhist Art is Mandala
o It represents schematically
the ideal universe.
- In various spiritual traditions,
Mandalas may be employed for
focusing attention of aspirants
and adepts, a spiritual teaching
-
-
tool, for establishing a sacred
space and as an aid to meditation
and trance induction.
Its symbolic nature can help one
“to access progressively deeper
levels”
Psychoanalyst Carl Jung saw
the mandala as “A representation
of the center of unconscious self”,
and believe his painting of
mandalas enabled him to identify
emotional disorders in
personality.
BUTHANESE ART
- It is similar to the art of Tibet.
Both are based upon Vajrayana
Buddhism, with its pantheon of
divine beings.
- Each divine is assigned special
shapes, color, and identifying
objects, such as lotus, conchshell, thunderbolt, and the
begging bow.
- All images are made to exact
specification that have remained
remarkably unchanged for
centuries
- THE MAJOR ORDERS OF
BUDDHISM IN BHUTAN ARE
DRUKPA KAGYU and
NYINGMA
o The Drukpa Kagyu is a
former branch of the
Kagyu School
o It is known for paintings
documenting the Lineage
of Buddhist masters and
the 70 Je Khenpo.
o The Nyingma Order is
known for images of
Padmasambhava, who is
credited with introducing
Buddhism into Bhutan in
the 7th Century.
o According to the legend,
Padmasambhava hid a
scared treasure for the
future Buddhist masters,
especially Pema Lingpa, to
find.
o The treasure finders
(Terton) are also fluent
subjects to Nyingma Art.
o Pema Lingpa
 Bhutanese art is
particularly rich in
bronzes of different
kinds that are
collectively known
by the name Khamso
 Wall paintings and
sculptures are
formulated on the
principal ageless
ideas of Buddhist
art form.
 Their emphasis on
detail is derived
from Tibetan
models.
 The arts and craft of
Bhutan that
represents the
exclusive “Spirit and
identify of the
Himalayan
Kingdom”
 The thirteen crafts
are carpentry,
painting, paper
making, blacksmith,
weaving,
sculpturing and
many other crafts.

Bhutanese rural life
is also displayed in
the ‘Folk Heritage
Museum”
CAMBODIAN ART
- Cambodia’s history, religious
principles guided and inspired its
arts. A unique Khmer Style
emerged from the combination of
indigenous animistic beliefs and
the originally Indian religions of
Hinduism and Buddhism.
- Cambodian culture is also
absorbed elements from
Japanese, Chinese, Lao and Thai
cultures.
- Music, Dance, Theatre and
Cinema flowed strongly through
the blood of the Cambodian
People.
- Visual Arts of Cambodia
o Wat Murals
 Best known
surviving murals are
the Silver Pagoda in
Phnom Penh
o Textiles
 Known as Silk
Pidan
o Silver Gold-Smithing
 Lotus-shaped
Cambodian Bowl
(Gold and Silver
Alloy)
CHINESE ART
- Song Dynasty
o Particularly noted for the
great artistic achievements
that it encouraged and, in
part, subsidized.
-
-
Painting
o A landscape painting, with
a blurred outlines and
mountain contours which
means distance through
an impressionistic
treatment of natural
phenomena.
o New style of painting that
employed calligraphic
brushwork for selfexpressive ends.
o Under, Yuan Dynasty is a
painting by Zhao Mengfu,
greatly influenced laper
Chinese landscape
painting.
Chinese Opera
INDIAN ART
- Indian Art can be classified in to
specific periods, which is:
o Hinduism And Buddhism
of the Ancient Period
(3500 BCE – Present)
o Islamic Ascendancy (712 –
1757 CE)
o The Colonial Period (1757
– 1947)
o Independence and the
Postcolonial Period
o Modern Wala and
Postmodern Art in India
- The Visual Arts
o Are tightly interrelated with
non-visual arts. According
to Kapali Vatsyayan,
“Classical Indian
Architecture, Sculpture,
Painting, Literature, Music
and dancing evolved their
own rules conditioned by
their respective media, but
they way shared with one
another of not only the
underlying spiritual beliefs
of the India ancient religiophilosophic mind, but also
the procedure by which
the relationships of the
symbol.
INDONESIAN ART
- Art and culture have been
shaped by long interaction
between original; indigenous
custom and multiple foreign
influences.
- Indonesia routes between Far
East and Middle East, resulting to
many cultural practices, strongly
influenced by a multitude religion,
including Hinduism, Buddhism,
Confucianism, and Islam.
- Indonesia has long-he Bronze
and Iron ages
- Borobudur Temple
- Calligraphy based on Quran,
used as decoration as Islam
forbids naturalistic depictions.
- Modern Indonesia painters use a
wide variety of style of themes.
JAPAN ART
- It has undergone series of
transitions and periodization
- Japan has transitioned into a
cultural mixing pot.
- HANIWA
o Ceramic figures that is
made up of clay. That
were made for ritual use
and buried with the dead
as funerary objects.
o Shinoism

The native religion
of Japan.
o Buddhism
o Ukiyo-e
 It is an art
movement which is
flourished 17th
through 19th
centuries. Its artist
produced
woodblock prints
and paintings of
such subjects as
travel scenes and
landscape, female
beauties & sumo
wrestler.
o Nishiki-e
 It is a type of
Japanese multicolored woodblock
printing. The
technique is used
primarily in Ukiyo-e.
It was invented in
1760s.
o Kaiga
 Oldest Japanese
type or style of
painting.
KOREAN ART
- It is noted for its traditions in
pottery, music calligraphy,
painting, sculpture and other
genres, often marked by the use
of bold color, natural forms,
precise shape and etc.
- Self Portrait of Ko Hui-Dong
(1886 – 1965)
LAOTIAN ART
-
-
-
This includes Ceramic, Lao
Buddhist Sculpture, and Lao
Music.
Wood is popular for small votive
Buddhist images that are often
left in canvas.
Phra Keo
The Pra Phuttha Butsavarat
NEPALESE ART
- The ancient and refined
traditional culture of Kathmandu,
for that matter in the whole of
Nepal.
THAI ART
- It is primarily composed of
Buddhist art, which in turn often
has Hindu elements and
iconography in it. Traditional Thai
Sculpture almost exclusively
depicts images of the Buddha.
Traditional Thai paintings usually
consist of book illustrations, and
painted ornamentation of
buildings such as palaces and
temples.
- Sukothai artists in the 14
centuries
TIBETAN ART
- Also called Lamaism
- The branch of Vajrayana Tantric,
or Esoteric Buddhism that
evolved from the 7th century CE
in Tibet. It is based mainly on the
rigorous intellectual disciplines of
Madhyamika and Yogachara
Philosophy
- Sand Mandala
o It is a Tibetan Buddhist
tradition involving the
creation and destruction of
-
madnalas made from
colored sand.
Vajrayana Buddhism
o Refers to a family of
Buddhist Lineages
VIETNAMESE ART
- It has a long and rich history.
Clay pottery of the Neolithic Age
dates as far back as 8,000 BCE.
- Decorative elements from
ceramics of the Bronze Age were
used to ornament.
- Dong Son Drums
- The Nguyen Dynasty
- Ly Dynasty opened the new
change for architecture during
developing feudal state.
Generally, Ly Dynasty’s
Architecture was five orthodox
styles.
- Vietnamese Calligraphy
o Calligraphy has had a long
history in Vietnam
o Quoc Ngu