Art
Of China and Japan
Art Of China
• Chinese Civilization retain many of its
ancient traditions today.
• Beginning 4,000 years ago, iti s the
oldest continuous culture in the history
of the world
Art Historical Characteristics:
The Chinese invented paper, porcelain and woodblock printing.
Chinese artists captured the beauty of nature in paintings- fans, books, scrolls
or paper or silk.
The Chinese also produced sculpture and ceramic objects from
terracotta/stoneware/porcelain for religious purposes and to honor the dead.
Army of Emperor Shi Huangdi
Shaanxi Province, China
210 B.C.E.
painted terracotta
Army of Emperor Shi Huangdi
Shaanxi Province, China
210 B.C.E.
painted terracotta
Army of Emperor Shi Huangdi
Shaanxi Province, China
210 B.C.E.
painted terracotta
Fan Kuan
Travelers Among Mountains and Streams
early 11th century
hanging scroll, ink, and colors on silk
6 ft. 7 1/4 in. x 3 ft. 4 1/4 in.
Foguang Si Pagoda
Yingxian, China
1056 C.E.
Zhou Jichang
Arhats Giving Alms to Beggars
1178 C.E.
ink and colors on silk
44 x 21 in.
Jar, Ming dynasty, Xuande mark and period (1426–
1435)
China
Porcelain painted in underglaze blue; H. 19 in.
Meiping vase
960-1127 C.E.
Stoneware, Cizhou type with
sgraffito decoration
Japanese Art
• Buddhism spread to Japan from China
• Intricate Buddhist temples built from wood. They
used wood because the islands were made of
volcanic rock and they could not use this stone to
build their temples.
• The Japanese also created monumental bronze
sculptures of Buddha.
• Beginning in the 8th c., artists developed uniquely
Japanese screen and woodblock prints. Woodblock
printing is making prints by carving images in blocks
of wood.
Great Buddha. 1252. Bronze. (Height 35’)
Kamakura, Japan.
Haniwa warrior figure
from Gunma Prefecture, Japan
5th to 6th century C.E.
low-fired clay
49 1/4 in. high
Ise Shrine
Ise, Mie Prefecture, Japan
originally 5th century C.E.
rebuilt 1973
Phoenix Hall
Byodoin, Uji, Japan
1053 C.E.
Japan, Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion), 1397 – It is literally covered in Gold Leaf
Flying Storehouse
The Legends of Mount Shigi
Chogosonshiji, Nara
late 12th century
handscroll ink and color on paper
1 1/2 ft. high
The Actors Ichikawa Tomiemon (R) and Sanogawa
Ichimatsu III (L) as Kanisaka Toda and Onayo, c. 1795
Otani Oniji III in the Role of the
Servant Edobei, 1794
Tōshūsai Sharaku, famous Japanese print
artist, known for his portraits of kabuki
actors and sumo wrestlers
Detail of Burning of the Sanjo Palace
13th century C.E.
handscroll, ink and colors on paper
16 1/4 in. high
Kano Motonobu
Xiangyen Zhixian Sweeping with a Broom
Muramachi Period, ca. 1513
hanging scroll, ink and color on paper
5 ft. 7 3/8 in. x 2 ft. 10 3/4 in.
Hasegawa Tohaku
Pine Forest
Monoyama Period, late 16th C.
one of a pair of six-panel screens
ink on paper
5 ft. 1 3/8 in. x 11 ft. 4 in.
Katsushika Hokusai
was a Japanese artist, ukiyo-e painter and printmaker. He was influenced by
such painters as Sesshu, and other styles of Chinese painting. Born in Edo
(now Tokyo),
Hokusai is best known as author of the woodblock
print series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji
Hokusai's most famous work, and
one of the best recognized
works of Japanese art in the world is the one below. It
depicts an enormous wave threatening boats off the coast of the
prefecture of Kanagawa. While sometimes assumed to be a tsunami,
the wave is, as the picture's title notes, more likely to be a large
okinami ("wave of the open sea"). As in all the prints in the series, it
depicts the area around Mount Fuji under particular conditions, and
the mountain itself appears in the background.
Katsushika Hokusai
The Great Wave off Kanagawa, from Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji series
Edo Period, ca. 1826-33, woodblock print oban, ink and colors on paper
9 7/8 in. x 1 ft. 2 3/4 in.