LECTURE
** Image map
What links this vast geography? Many things, but the first might be The Silk Route,
begun under the Han Dynasty in the 2nd century BCE.
What was the Silk Route?
 Vast, interconnected land and sea trade route.
 Merchants traveled along it, bringing goods in both directions, but also
disseminating belief systems, namely Buddhism, and ideas about visual culture,
art and architecture.
Painting traditions in China
Historical context:
 Beginning of 13th century Mongol tribes invaded northern China from central
Asia under the Genghis Khan.
 By 1279 Genghis’ grandson Kublai Khan expanded the Mongolian empire and
declared himself Emperor of China.
 Established capital in what is now Beijing, concentrated in the North so Southern
Song dynasty culture continued at first.
 After they were colonized by Mongolians there was a rejection among Chinese
scholars, artists and intellectuals of anything “foreign
 This was difficult to do in explicit ways considering artistic practice was centered
around the royal courts and Mongol rule was now the law.
 There was always a “literati” or educated circle of artists and writers that worked
at the court as members of the cultured class. The emperor himself would
participate in calligraphy, poetry and painting as a sign of sophistication.
 Once the Mongolians came to power during the Yuan dynasty there was an
increase in the distinction between the art of these literati (who produced art as
“civil servants” thus not needing to earn money through professional
commissions) and the court painters who got commissions from the royal court.
 At this point scholars and literati were no longer given these civil servant
positions, forcing them to leave the Northern region where Mongolian rule was
centered and where all government jobs were given out.
** Slide du hua
Du hua: “to read a painting”
The integration of calligraphy, poetry, and painting, scholar artists for the first
time combined the “Three perfections” in a single work of art
** Image Han Gan, Night-Shining White [Tang dynasty (618–907)], ca. 750
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An artist who traversed two domains- both court commissions and literati painting
Royal descendant of Song dynasty in the south, but became a Yuan court painter
Sometimes seen as a traitor, his status is often said to be noticeable in his
artwork
The HORSE, the imported "celestial steed," treasured by early emperors and
noble warriors, was a favored subject favored by leading Chinese painters for
centuries before.
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In the early Yuan period (1271–1368), when alien Mongol rulers curtailed the
employment of Chinese scholar-officials, the theme of "groom and horse"
became a metaphor adopted to plead for the proper use of scholarly talent
The famous saying of the Tang essayist Han Yu (762–824) was frequently
quoted: "There are always excellent steeds, but not always an excellent judge of
horses." Ie. There are smart scholars here, but their new rulers do not always
match up
The addition of seals and comments by later viewers served to record a work's
transmission and offers vivid testimony of an artwork's continuing impact on later
generations.
 Zhao Mengfu's painting was executed in early 1296 when Zhao had recently
retired from serving under Kublai Khan
From the Metropolitan Museum of Art website:
 The aim of the traditional Chinese painter was to capture not only the outer
appearance of a subject but its inner essence as well—its energy, life force,
spirit.
 To accomplish his goal, the Chinese painter more often than not rejected the use
of color. Like the photographer who prefers to work in black and white, the
Chinese artist regarded color as distraction.
 He also rejected the changeable qualities of light and shadow as a means of
modeling, along with opaque pigments to conceal mistakes. Instead, he relied on
line—the indelible mark of the inked brush.
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The discipline that this kind of mastery requires derives from the practice of
calligraphy.
Traditionally, every literate person in China learned as a child to write by copying
the standard forms of Chinese ideographs.
The student was gradually exposed to different stylistic interpretations of these
characters. He copied the great calligraphers' manuscripts.
He was also exposed to the way in which the forms of the ideographs had
evolved. Over time, the practitioner evolved his own personal style, one that was
a distillation and reinterpretation of earlier models.
The practice of calligraphy became high art with the innovations in the fourth
century.
By the eleventh century, a good hand was one criterion—together with a
command of history and literary style—that determined who was recruited into
the government through civil service examinations.
Those who succeeded came to regard themselves as a new kind of elite, a
meritocracy of " scholar-officials” responsible for maintaining the moral and
aesthetic standards established by the political and cultural paragons of the past.
It was their command of history and its precedents that enabled them to
influence current events. It was their interpretations of the past that established
the strictures by which an emperor might be constrained. And it was their poetry,
diaries, and commentaries that constituted the accounts by which a ruler would
one day be judged.
Continued from the Met website:
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These were the men who covered Night-Shining White with inscriptions and
seals.
Their knowledge of art enabled them to determine that the image was a portrait
of an imperial stallion by a master of the eighth century. They recognized that the
horse was meant as an emblem of China's military strength and, by extension, as
a symbol of China itself.
And they understood the poignancy of the image. Night-Shining White was the
favorite steed of an emperor who led his dynasty to the height of its glory but
who, tethered by his infatuation with a concubine, neglected his charge and
eventually lost his throne.
** Image. Zhao Mengfu, Groom and Horse, 1296
The emperor's failure to put his stallion to good use may be understood as a metaphor
for a ruler's failure to properly value his officials.
 This is undoubtedly how the retired scholar-official Zhao Mengfu intended his
image of a stallion, painted 600 years later to be interpreted.
 Expertise in judging fine horses had long been a metaphor for the ability to
recognize men of talent. Zhao's portrait of the horse and groom may be read as
an admonition to those in power to heed the abilities of those in their command
and to conscientiously employ their talents in the governance of their people.
 When an emperor neglected the advice of his officials, was unjust or immoral,
scholar-officials not infrequently resigned from government and chose to live in
retirement.
 Such an action had long been understood as a withdrawal of support, a kind of
silent protest in circumstances deemed intolerable.
 Times of dynastic change were especially fraught, and loyalists of a fallen
dynasty usually refused service under a new regime.
 Scholar-officials were at times also forced out of office, banished as a result of
factionalism among those in power.
 In such cases, the alienated individual might turn to art to express his beliefs. But
even when concealed in symbolic language, beliefs could incite reprisals: the
eleventh-century official Su Shi, for example, was nearly put to death for writing
poems that were deemed seditious.
 As a result, these men honed their skills in the art of indirection. In their hands,
the transcription of a historical text could be transformed into a strident protest
against factional politics - illustrations to a Confucian classic became a stinging
indictment of sanctimonious or irresponsible behavior.
 Because of their highly personal nature, such works were almost always
dedicated to a close friend or kindred spirit and would have been viewed only by
a select circle of likeminded individuals. These men acted as both policy makers
and the moral conscience of society, so their art was highly influential.
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Scholar-official painters most often worked in ink on paper and chose subjects—
bamboo, old trees, rocks — that could be drawn using the same kind of
disciplined brush skills required for calligraphy.
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This immediately distinguished their art from the colorful, illusionistic style of
painting preferred by court artists and professionals.
Proud of their status as amateurs, they created a new, distinctly personal form of
painting in which expressive calligraphic brush lines were the chief means
employed to animate their subjects.
Another distinguishing feature of what came to be known as scholar-amateur
painting is its learned references to the past. The choice of a particular antique
style immediately linked a work to the personality and ideals of an earlier painter
or calligrapher. Style became a language by which to convey one's beliefs (both
personal and political).
Zhao Mengfu epitomized the new artistic paradigm of the scholar-amateur.
 A scholar-official by training, he was also a brilliant calligrapher who applied his
skill with a brush to painting.
 Intent on distinguishing his kind of scholar-painting from the work of professional
craftsmen, Zhao defined his art by using the verb "to write" rather than "to paint."
In so doing, he underscored not only its basis in calligraphy but also the fact that
painting was not merely about representation—a point he emphasized in his
Twin Pines, Level Distance.
** Image. Zhao Mengfu, Twin Pines, Level Distance, c. 1300
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Zhao was a leading calligrapher of his time, set the course of scholar-painting by
firmly establishing its two basic tenets: renewal through the study of ancient
models and the application of calligraphic principles to painting.
In Twin Pines, Level Distance the landscape idiom of two Northern Song
masters has become a calligraphic style.
Rather than simply describe nature as it appears to be, Zhao sought to capture
its quintessential rhythms.
The characteristics of rocks and trees, felt by the artist and acted out through his
calligraphic brushwork, are imbued with a heightened sense of life energy that
goes beyond mere representation.
[In a long colophon on the far left of the scroll, the artist expresses his views on painting:
"Besides studying calligraphy, I have since my youth dabbled in painting. Landscape I
have always found difficult. This is because ancient [landscape] masterpieces of the
Tang, such as the works of Wang Wei, the great and small Li [Sixun and Li Zhaodao]
and Zheng Qian, no longer survive. As for the Five Dynasties masters Jing Hao, Guan
Tong, Dong Yuan, and Fan Kuan, all of whom succeeded one another, their brushwork
is totally different from that of the more recent painters. What I paint may not rank with
the work of the ancient masters, but compared to recent paintings I daresay mine are
quite different."]
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Because the pine tree remains green through the winter, it is a symbol of
survival.
Because its outstretched boughs offer protection to the lesser trees of the forest,
it is an emblem of the princely gentleman.
For recluse artists of the tenth century, the pine had signified the moral character
of the virtuous man.
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Zhao, having recently withdrawn from government service under the Mongols,
must have chosen to "write" pines in a tenth-century style as a way to express
his innermost feelings to a friend.
His painting may be read as a double portrait—a depiction of himself and also of
the person to whom it was dedicated.
He said he also intentionally made mistakes (like switching location of mountains
in landscape from East and West side, also his calligraphy, awkward paintings=
perhaps his own decision to quietly oppose the government).
** Image (two slides) Techniques and Formats of Chinese Painting
Monumental Mode
 The monumental effects in nature.
 It is best accomplished in the vertical scroll.
The Chinese paintings of this time did not record specific views. What did they
record? What did landscape art become a vehicle for?
** Image Fan Kuan, Travelers Among Streams, 11th c.
 The ptg of the landscape had a history in the Daoism and the practice of
wandering through the landscape for spiritual nourishment.
Daoism – means “path” or “way.” It is a philosophical and religious
tradition that emphasizes living in harmony with the Dao (also spelled
Tao).
 It was thus taken a step further in the belief that if one could wander through a
painted landscape the same effect would be achieved.
 It also contained the ideas of Confucianism: the natural world was used as a
metaphor for social order.
Confucianism - an ethical and philosophical system developed from the
teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius (551–479 BCE). As
adopted by the Han Dynasty, it emphasizes social order with particular
emphasis on the family.
 The three major formats of Chinese ptg were established at this time: the mural
decoration, the hanging scroll and the handscroll (remind them of the torana at
Sanchi).
 The ptgs do not record specific sites- the goal was to record the eternal essence
of mountain-ness etc. “Nature is vast and deep; high intelligence is infinite and
eternal.”
 This painting set an important precedent for large works and a sense of
monumentality
 The composition unfolds in three dramatic stages, misty, waterfall, feeling of
climbing, leaving human world
 There is a sense of texture conveyed through brushstrokes
 It was painted during the apogee of Chinese landscape painting
 Most Northern Song artists worked for the imperial court, Fan Kuan was a Daoist
recluse who believed nature was the superior teacher
 He studied nature very carefully – the goal was to paint the essence of mountain
and not the appearance of the particular mountain
 The humans are small, nature is huge - Daoist ideal is nature uncorrupted by
humans, harmony.
How is this ptg and other Chinese landscape ptgs closely linked to an absence of
linear perspective? What is linear perspective? The ability of a Chinese landscape
to allow the viewer to wander freely is closely linked to the absence of linear perspective.
In Renaissance perspective there is a mathematical system for recording a single, fixed
vantage point. The goal of Chinese ptg is to provide a view beyond what we normally
see.
** Images compare with some Renaissance ptgs/linear perspective
Perugino, The Delivery of the Keys to St. Peter, 1481
Mantegna, Camera degli Sposi, c. 1474
Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368)
Ghengis Khan. Kublai Kahn. KK pronounced himself emperor of China and founded the
Yuan Dynasty.
The Mongols established their capital in the northern city now known as Beijing. The
cultural centers of China, however, remained the great cities of the South, where the
Song court had been located for the previous 150 years. Combined with the tensions of
the Yuan rule, this separation of China’s political and cultural centers created a new
situation in the arts.
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The invasion was traumatic.
During the previous Song Dynasty, China had grown increasingly introspective.
There was a rejection of foreign ideals and the intellectuals focused on defining
the qualities that constituted a true “Chinese-ness.”
They drew a clear distinction between their own people, whom they
characterized as gentle, erudite and sophisticated, and the “barbarians” outside
of China’s borders.
Now China was faced with the reality of “barbarian” occupation.
The introspection intensified.
The “art of the brush.” The literati painters.
The imperial court set the tone for the educated elite. During the Song Dynasty, painters
finally achieved a status equal to that of court officials.
They set themselves apart from the professional painters whose art they believed was
inherently compromised, since it was done to please others, and impure, since it was
tainted by money.
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“There was a nostalgia for the antique.”
** Image Zhao Mengfu, Section of Autumn Colors on the Qiao and Hua Mountains, 1296
(Yuan Dynasty)
 A gift for a friend
 The landscape is reminiscent of the friend’s home city.
 But the mountains and trees are not painted in the accomplished naturalism of
Zhao’s own time, but rather in the archaic, but elegant manner of the Tang
Dynasty.
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Reminder - The Tang Dynasty was a great era in Chinese history, when the
country was both militarily strong and culturally vibrant. Through the ptg, the artist
not only expresses nostalgia for his friend’s past, but also for China’s past.
** Image Ni Zhan, The Rongxi Studio, 1372. Yuan Dynasty
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Ni Zhan is often referred to as part of the late Yuan dynasty painters, born after
the death of Kublai Khan
Ni Zhan took up many of Zhao Mengfu’s ideas, and many later painters similarly
looked to the painting style and lifestyle he created as their model
It’s important to realize that it was a way of life rather than just an aesthetic that
these painters were interested in – an idealized, romanticized painter too gifted
for public service and the greater world.
Ni’s work is done entirely in ink and depicts the lake region in Ni’s home district
He is using a dry brush technique, where the brush is not fully loaded with ink
and lets the paper show (or “breathe”) through the brushstrokes.
The result is a ptg with a light touch and a sense of simplicity and purity.
Ni’s spare, dry style became associated with a noble spirit.
** Image compare/contrast Travelers Among Mts and Streams with The Rongxi Studio
MING DYNASTY
 The Mongol Yuan Emperor and government were overthrown in 1368 and the
Ming Dynasty was established by the ethnic Han.
 The founder of the Ming Dynasty came from poor uneducated peasants. As he
rose through the ranks in the army, he enlisted the help of the scholars to gain
power and solidify his following.
 Like their predecessors, the Ming Dynasty did not have a strong relationship
with the literati class and so this atmosphere of alienation and introversion
remained pervasive in their work.
 Court painting was therefore markedly different than literati painting. The
contrast between the luxurious world of the court and the austere ideals of the
literati continued through the Ming Dynasty.
** Image Yin Hong, Hundreds of Birds Admiring the Peacocks, late 15th/early 16th
century. Ming Dynasty.
QUESTION: what similarities or differences do you notice? Why do you think
court painting was different from literati painting?
 Yin Hong’s work is typical of court painting at this time. It’s a large work (2 x 2
meters) using ink and color on silk.
 The subject matter of birds and flowers had been popular with painters of
previous generations, but here it takes on an explicit message of the smaller
birds paying homage to the peacocks in the same manner that the court officials,
including painters, would have paid homage to the emperor and the imperial
state.
 The first books illustrated with colored woodcuts appeared around this time; as
color-printing techniques were perfected, illustrated manuals on the art of
painting began to be published. Jieziyuan Huazhuan (Manual of the Mustard
Seed Garden), a five-volume work first published in 1679, has been in use as a
technical textbook for artists and students ever since.
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.
Some painters of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) continued the traditions of the
Yuan scholar-painters. This group of painters, known as the Wu School, was led
by the artist Shen Zhou (1427-1509).
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Wu School is the term applied to a group of painters of the Southern School
during the Ming period of Chinese history, and was not an academy or
educational institution, but instead was largely organized by the artistic theory of
its members.
Often classified as literati, scholars, or amateur painters (as opposed to
professionals), members idealized concepts of personalizing works and
integrating the artists into the art.
A Wu School painting is characterized by inscriptions describing either the
painting, the date, method, or reason for the work, which is usually seen as a
vehicle for personal expression.
** Image Shen Zhou, Poet on a Mountaintop, Leaf from an album of landscapes,
mounted as part of a handscroll. Ming dynasty. C. 1500.
 In earlier landscape paintings, human figures were typically shown dwarfed by
nature. Remember Fan Kuan.
 Here, Shen Zhou portrays a fusion of the poet-painter who is himself standing on
a cliff gazing out at his own poem. The scholar alone in nature seems to be
looking out not over a chasm of rocks and clouds, but directly at the poem that is
before him. The poem, as translated, goes as follows:
White clouds sash-like
wrap mountain waists,
The rock terrace flies in space,
distant, a narrow path.
Leaning on a bramble staff,
far and free I gaze,
To the warble of valley brook
I will reply, whistling.
 Shen Zhou exemplified literati painting in another way — his blending of poetry
and painting, the arts of words and images.
 An art theory emphasizing artistic freedom and spirituality may not have
coincided perfectly with reality, but it seems to have fostered a mystique that
helped artists gain respectful treatment as well as commissions.
 Certain noble patrons honored contemporary painters and their works in part as
a means of identification with the spiritual qualities that many of the most famous
artists were said to possess. This identification was achieved both by acquiring
the paintings of such artists and by associating with them socially, and it added a
significant component to the overall function and meaning of any given artwork.
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Therefore, not only could a wealthy person signal his or her identification with
certain artists by commissioning or otherwise obtaining their paintings,
associates could also validate this identification by giving the person works by
those artists.
THINK OF LITERARY HUMANISM AND THE WAY THAT ITALIAN NOBLE
FAMILIES WOULD PAY FOR SCHOLARS TO TRANSLATE ANCIENT TEXTS,
OR HAVE THEIR WORKS COMMISSIONED IN THE “NEW” RENAISSANCE
STYLE
** Image Compare/contrast Hundreds of Birds Admiring the Peacocks with Poet on a
Mountaintop
Qing Dynasty
 1644, the Manchu invaded and many Chinese reacted as if the world had come
to an end. But the outcome was very different from the earlier Mongol invasion.
 The Manchu had already adopted many Chinese customs and institutions before
their conquest. After gaining control of all of China, they showed respect for
Chinese tradition. In art, almost all of the Ming traditions continued uninterrupted.
 Literati painting was now established as the dominant tradition and ultimately
became the academic style practiced at court. It had become orthodox. Scholars
followed Dong Qichang’s recommendation and based their approach on the
study of past masters.
Dong Quichang
 Dong Qichang’s ideal was a combination of the Southern school and northern
school of painting – which do not refer to geographical locations
 Southern school = stressed an almost intuitive understanding – the literati;
northern school = the technically skilled – the professional artists
 The artist forms a new style of individualistic ptg by building on and transforming
the style of a traditional master. By relating to the ancient master’s style, the artist
created a place for himself within the tradition, not by mere imitation, but by
extending and even surpassing the art of the past. His theories, combining the
veneration of past masters with looking to an individual creativity was influential
on the Qin Dynasty artists.
 They painted large numbers of works in the manner of Song and Yuan artists.
** Image Dong Qichang, The Qingbian Mountains in the Manner of Tung Yuan, 1617
 landscapes with intentionally distorted spatial features.
 But it was not abstract as it took elements from the earlier Yuan masters who
looked directly at nature
Demonstration video
Discussion – what two artists that we have discussed does Dong Qichang admire?
 Fan Kuan and Ni Zan
But the first decades of Qing rule were both traumatic and dangerous for those who
were loyal – or worse, related – to the Ming.
 Some committed suicide, while others sought refuge in monasteries of wandered
the countryside.
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Among them were several who expressed their anger, defiance, frustration and
melancholy in their art. They took the idea of ptg as an expression of the artist’s
personal feelings very seriously and cultivated highly original styles. These
painters have come to be known as the individuals.
** Image Shitao, Landscape, c. 1700
 He was a descendent of the first Ming emperor.
 He sought refuge in Buddhist temples when the dynasty fell.
 His work in his later years goes to the brink of abstraction.
How does Shitao express his feelings about the new regime and his place in it
through this landscape?
Again notion of transmission- after slide of David Vases is up, ask about this
connection. What does the reading from MacGregor tell us about these vases? Where
were they made? How were they used? What is the process and why is this important to
the discussion of transmission? Why are the referred to as the “David” Vases?
** Image The “David” Vases, c. 1351, The Ming Dynasty
During the Ming Dynasty one of the most important art objects made was
porcelain. The Ming are famous worldwide for ceramic production, but what does the
MacGregor reading challenge about this association of Ming and porcelain?
 We now think of blue-and-white as quintessentially Chinese, but this is not how it
began.
This archetypal Chinese aesthetic comes in fact from Iran.
How do we know?
 blue pigment- cobalt was popular in Iranian pottery
 the blue and white style long popular there was mirrored by Chinese potters after
the silk road was opened and a market for these exports arose (largely because
the Mongolian invasion destroyed local pottery industries).
 Also referred to as Muslim Blue by Chinese.
How and why was this market able to spread and become worldwide?
 Genghis's grandson Qubilai Khan was Emperor of China, and he supported
scholarship and the arts, and he encouraged the manufacture of luxury goods
 Once the Empire was established, a 'Pax Mongolica' ensued, a Mongolian peace
which, like the Pax Romana, ensured a long period of stability and prosperity.
 The Mongol Empire spread along the ancient Silk Road and made it safe. It was
thanks to this Pax Mongolica that Marco Polo (13th century merchant from
Venice) was able to travel from Italy to China, and then return to tell Europe what
he'd seen.
 Soon exported in large quantities from China to Japan, Southeast Asia, etc.
 Blue-and-white porcelain was the first truly global luxury product
Why do we call it porcelain?
 And one of the startling things Marco Polo had seen was porcelain.
 The name comes from porcellana- word meaning little piglet, or a description of
conch shells’ appearance.
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The texture of the shells was the closest Marco Polo could associate with the
Chinese ceramics.
Most interesting is the confluence of foreign rulers the Mongols, foreign materials,
Muslim Blue and foreign markets, Iran and Iraq, playing part with what to many outside
of China is most “chinese” of all objects- blue and white porcelain.
Vases:
 material is special ceramic fired at very high temperatures, 1200-1400
centigrade, heat vitrifies clay so that it can hold liquid (makes it molten) in
contrast to porous earthenware.
 This process allows blue pigment to become part of the material itself, hard and
translucent. The heat also makes the porcelain very tough, thus adding to
reason it was so desired worldwide.
 Just over two feet tall, elegant shape.
 The blue, made of cobalt, is painted in elaborate patterns and figures with great
assurance. There are leaves and flowers at the foot and at the neck of the vases,
but the main body of each vase has a slender Chinese dragon flying around it –
symbol of the Emperor in China
** Image detail of the vase – Chinese dragon
Transmission and Ai Wei Wei
Assigned the video Ai Wei Wei Never Sorry
We’re going to continue with this theme of transmission, so far we discussed the role
of porcelains as a worldwide phenomenon. MASS PRODUCTION.
** Image Ai Weiwei, Sunflower Seeds/Tate Turbine Hall, 2010
 Transmission on a totally different level – though media, through Twitter, but also
through mass production of porcelain
 Talk about that as a rural, artisanal artwork v. the very conceptual aspect
experienced in the Tate
 Many sunflower seeds, walk/look at them, experience them versus traditional use
of porcelain to look at
 These are all made of porcelain, a different way of connecting us (trade and
market originally and now in a communal public space to contemplate art and
beauty, individuality in a sea of similarity)
 Different experience of mass labor.
** Question on the political/social effectiveness of art
- Similar to Literati Painting, commenting on contemporary society and mass labor.
Specifically Zhao Mengfu...how?
 Ai Weiwei’s work provokes similar reactions as Mengfu
 Forces us to think past through an initial aesthetic response and then more
deeply in an intellectual way.
** What else was interesting about the documentary on Ai Wei Wei? How does he
use the media to engage with political issues?
Remember from earlier: To "read" a Chinese painting is to enter into a dialogue with
the past. How does Ai do this in this particular work of art? Are there any of his other
artworks that engage in the same practice?
** Close class with review/discussion of how three major periods are related
through notion of transmission.