INSTITUTE OF ART STUDIES
GRADUATE COURSES
K41110 Structure of Mythology and Art / 3 credits
According to the modern research on mythology, we would like to understand
the key position of mythology, which stands on the heritage and creation of
knowledge as well as cultural value towards a people. A people which lacks of their
own mythology is just like a person who does not know how to have a dream and
will finally die of creation exhaustion. Thanks to mythology, art creation and media
become more colorful. This course studies the relationship between the structure of
mythology and art from the point of view of cultural anthropology and then to
evaluate the public culture critically from the academic point of view.
K45010 Forum on Art
At the beginning of the 21st century, we have entered a new era. Art is received
as a field of cross-cultural and interdisciplinary. Besides, it plays a significant role
in the culture. In this class we shall emphasize the basic understanding of art and
theory, we will study on the difference of Eastern and Western Art, the cultural
exchange, art’s diverse meanings and functions. The course is designed to help
the students familiarize with some fundamental analytical concepts and practices of
art.
K46140 Methodologies of Art Studies / 3 credits
This graduate seminar will consider the issues, problems, and critical &
methodological approaches with which the major contemporary art historians are
presently concerned. It will at once trace methodological developments of art
studies from the early 20th through the late 20th centuries, and trace the implications
of these methodologies for the study, theory, and practice of visual representations.
With an emphasis on examining the emergency of the “new art histories” since the
seventies, this course will take as its focus recent reconsiderations of the
art-historical task in the light of current theoretical challenges. We will be asking
if and how crucial contemporary cultural and intellectual issues have affected our
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approaches to art studies, as well as exploring if and how current critical theories
can be employed as productive methodologies for art studies. This course is
comprised of intensive readings from selected texts by those scholars who have
dominated the theoretical, visual, and cultural practices of the visual culture. It is
also consists of reading materials surrounding debates between different
methodological approaches in order to examine how these scholars respond to and
engage with each other. Topics will include the theories and practices of the
following methodological approaches: formalism, iconography & iconology, Ernst
Gombrich’s theory of representation, semiotics, socialism, feminism,
psychoanalysis, poststructuralism, deconstruction, reception theory, postcolonialism,
and gay & lesbian studies. This seminar is organized around lectures, oral
presentations, and discussions. Active participation in class discussions is
essential, as is willingness to work with other members of the class to enhance the
learning experience. Special emphasis will be placed on developing the oral and
written skills necessary to use these methodologies in the student’s own work.
K45020 Environmental Aesthetics / 3 credits
This is a new subject, exploring aesthetics from the point of view of human
environment. It includes psychology, sociology, biology, gardening, chromatics and
architecture, and can be divided into ten categories:
1. Knowing the natural beauty, 2. Analyzing the relationship between human
beings and environment, 3. The balance of environment, 4. The harmony between
human beings and nature, 5. The protection of environment, 6. The arrangement of
environment, 7. The beautification of environment, 8. The architectural aesthetics,
9. Clothing and dressing of human beings, 10. The match of environment and color.
K45040 Special Studies in Chinese Art History / 3 credits
This course will enlarge the studying fields of art history, by including painting,
engraving, architecture and some other specific topics.
K45070 Comparative Studies in Chinese and Western Theatre / 3 credits
The purpose of this course is to explore the similarities and differences and the
mutual influences and receptions between Chinese and Western theatre. Students
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will also investigate the theater, textual structure, theme of revenge, disguise,
character, performance mode, ritual, development of stage and dramatic theory
based on certain dramatic works. The course content will include:
1. A Study of comparative Theater: Chinese and Western, 2. Modern Drama:
1830-1960, 3. Western Dramatic Theory, 4. Greek and Roman Drama, 5. Medieval
Theater, 6. Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama, 7. German Drama: From lessing to
Brecht, 8. French Drama: From Racine to Ionesco, 9. Russian Drama: From
Pushkin to Gorky, 10. American Drama: From O'Neill to Shepard, 11. History of
Western Theater, 12. Contemporary Drama, 13. Yuan Zhaju Theatre, 14. Taiwanese
Puppet Theatre
K45150 Seminar on Folk Art / 3 credits
This is a course about the method of doing field survey, including data collecting,
organizing, analyzing, and find a subject to do real field work. The purpose is to
combine theory and practice.
K45140 Theory and Practice of Art Field Work / 3 credits
The purpose of this course is to explore the origin and the development of the
folk art by studying the engraving, sculpting, painting, embroidery, etc.
Furthermore, by interviewing the folk artists, students can know more about the
process of production, cultural background and the folk custom.
K45160 Study of Contemporary Drama / 3 credits
This is to explore the famous modern drama from early 19th century to 1950s.
The related theories such as Realism, Naturalism, Symbolism, and Expressionism
will be studied at the same time so as to gain a total understanding of the periods.
Course Description：(A) Scripts：Plays by George Buchner, Leo Tolstoy, Anton
Chekhov, Eugene O'Neill, Federico Loca, Thornton Wilder, Frank Wedekind ,
Maeterlinck. (B): Theories：Theories by the theorists of the period
K45240 Trends in Modern Western Painting / 3 credits
Modern Western Painting is to be dated from the early Twentieth Century to the
explosion of the Second World War. This course introduces the important schools
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and painters of this period with emphasis on the analysis of the social and cultural
background.
K45230 Seminar on Architecture / 3 credits
The art of architecture includes the outer and inner part. The outer part means the
style and decorative art, and the inner part indicates the religion and cultural
background. This course adopts the examples of Taiwan and European architecture
to analyze the style and decorative art through religion and cultural aspects.
K45260 Study of Famous Western Drama / 3 credits
The purpose of this course is to explore the famous western plays from ancient
Roman period to the eighteenth century, including Rome, Medieval, Renaissance,
Golden Age, and Restoration. The related theories and history will be studied at the
same time so as to gain a total understanding of the periods.
K45360 The Art of Practical Pottery / 3 credits
We will start with basic pinching, slab building and wheel throwing techniques
and then move on to the different kinds of decorations and glazing and firing
methods. At the same time we will learn a little history of pottery and different
styles from different places. Most of all we will study the aesthetics of practical
pottery making.
K45250 Greek Drama / 3 credits
1. Study short history of ancient Greek theater in order to understand how, when
and where the Greek plays were staged.
2. Study tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, comedies by
Aristophanes and Menander, and a satyr play by Euripides.
3. Study Aristotle's Poetics.
K45100 Comparative Study of East-West Culture / 3 credits
Living in the period of great integration of Chinese and Western cultures, we
must gain a deep understanding of these two cultures in order to facilitate the
formation of World Culture in the 21st century. This course will compare critically
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the philosophy, religion, art, music, theatre, architecture, customs, etc. of both
cultures.
K45420 Special Topic / 3 credits
Topics and time are decided by the student and teacher jointly.
K45330 Special Studies on Sculpture / 3 credits
This course attempts to do a monographic study about the Chinese and foreign
sculpture, sculptures, and idea.
The course content includes the relation of Cernavoda and Venus, African
Sculpture, Rodin, Brancusi, Moore, Oldenburg, Cesar, Fontaine de l'oiseau de feu,
The Art of Assemblage, Landscape Sculpture, and the sculpture in Chinese
Buddhism and Taoism.
K45011 Field Study on Theaters in Southern Taiwan / 3 credits
The purpose of this course is to provide students with several opportunities to
understand the characteristics of local theatrical arts in southern Taiwan by way of
on--scene field researches. Students will learn how to conduct many cases by
learning basic skills such as photography, recording, videotaping, etc. Also, they
have to report and discuss the processes in seminars. The objects for this semester
are three modern theatrical troupes and two types of the three Taiwanese puppet
theaters: shadow puppet and string puppet.
K453400 Seminar on Taiwanese Contemporary Art
This seminar will investigate the development of Taiwanese contemporary
artsince the 1980s. We will explore the aesthetic and cultural meanings ofdiverse
artistic practices. The chief focus is the dialectics betweenglobalization and
localization as well as the intersection between a rangeof identity issues (nation,
gender, race, class, and so on). This seminaris organized around lectures, oral
presentations, and discussions. Active participation in class discussions is
essential, as is willingness to work with other members of the class to enhance the
learning experience. Special emphasis will be placed on developing the oral and
written skills necessary to use these methodologies in the student's own work.
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K45400 Aboriginal Art in Taiwan / 3 credits
The purpose of this course is to approach the aboriginal in Taiwan from a double
perspective of theoretical consideration and field investigation. First of all, the
origins, vicissitudes, and present situations of Taiwanese aborigines will be
presented. Then, the society, culture, and artistic activities of each tribe will be
discussed, in the order of the Ami, Saishia, Yami, Taiya, Bunu, Peinan, Paiwan,
Rukai, Tsao, and Shao.
The artistic activities concerned in the course center on costumes, pottery, and
woodcarvings, with music and dancing referred to occasionally. Then the class will
visit the tribes to do field investigations and interviews.
K45440 City Images: Special Topics / 3 credits
1. Lost Space in the City, 2. Origin and Transformation of the City, 3. Urban
Space and Historical City Precedents, 4. Development of
Twentieth-Century Space, 5. City Images Outlook.
K45580 Topics in Modern Art
This seminar explores crucial issues in the history of modern art. The teacher
will select one of the important topics to deal with each semester. The topic for
this semester is Surrealism. Surrealism was arguably the most influential
avant-garde movement of the 20th century, international in scope and extending to
every form of artistic practice from painting, photography, object, film, theatre to
poetry and prose narrative. The chief purpose of this seminar is to examine the
arts, the history, and the theoretical concerns of the Surrealist movement. We will
be looking closely at its manifold interventions in the visual field: painting,
photography, film as well as the Surrealist object. This seminar is organized
around lectures, oral presentations, and discussions. Active participation in class
discussions is essential, as is willingness to work with other members of the class to
enhance the learning experience. Special emphasis will be placed on developing
the oral and written skills necessary to use these methodologies in the student’s own
work.
K45600 Seminar on Gender and Film
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This seminar examines the construction of sexual difference in a range of
narrative films. Drawing on the insights of feminist film theory and criticism, we
will explore the ways in which films have reflected, reinforced, reshaped, and
contested the dominant gender ideology. We will also investigate the various
ways in which gender issue intersects with the wider identity issues of race, class,
sexuality, and so on. This seminar is organized around lectures, oral presentations,
and discussions. Active participation in class discussions is essential, as is
willingness to work with other members of the class to enhance the learning
experience. Special emphasis will be placed on developing the oral and written
skills necessary to use these methodologies in the student’s own work.
K46130 Postmodernism and Visual Culture
This seminar will interdisciplinarily examine how theoreticians, artists,
and art critics chart the theoretical and artistic maps of our postmodern
period. It will not only concentrate on training students to properly apply
poststructuralism and political criticisms to the study of postmodern visual
culture, but also attempt to theoretically and visually stimulate them to
reflect their intellectual standpoints. The contents will include the
following: 1. An Introduction to the Artistic and Theoretical Terrain; 2.
Consuming Spectacle; 3. The Critique of Originality; 4. The Death of the
Author; 5. The Birth of the Viewer; 6. The Critique of Institutions; 7.
Poststructuralism and Postmodernism; 8. Feminism and Postmodernism; 9.
The Death of Painting; 10. The Return of Painting; 11. Memory, Memorial,
and Monument; 12. Identity, Otherness, and Multiculturalism; 13.
Simulacra, Cyborgs, and Replicants; 14. Electronic Art.
K46230 Dutch Painting of the Seventeenth Century
The seventeenth century, which begot Rembrandt and Vermeer, was the golden
age of the Dutch art and culture. As the Dutch Republic had gained its political
independence from Spain, its economy began to prosper as a result of the
expansion of world trade. The Dutch Republic grew into one of the most
important powers in the world. As the capitalist economy of the Protestant Dutch
had led to unparalleled wealth for its citizens, the bourgeois class emerges as a new
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patron and an open commercial art market replaces private commissions. This
would result in significant changes in the kind of art produced, including size, style,
and subject matter. Different categories of subject matter that were favored by the
new middle class patron are introduced, including portraits, genre paintings,
still-lifes, landscapes. In addition to investigate the key historical and theoretical
issues related to the Dutch painting, we will concentrate on the case studies of
noted artists, including Hals, Leyster, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Ruisdael. This
seminar is organized around lectures, oral presentations, and discussions. Active
participation in class discussions is essential, as is willingness to work with other
members of the class to enhance the learning experience. Special emphasis will
be placed on developing the oral and written skills necessary to use these
methodologies in the student’s own work.
K46240 The Body in Visual Representation
This seminar will focus on the body in visual representation, including painting
and sculpture as well as photography and contemporary visual culture. Our
interest here is to explore how power is inscribed on the culturally and historically
embedded, bodily representations with particular reference to gender, sexual, social,
racial, and national identity. In particular, we will pay much attention to how
contemporary critical theories, including poststructuralist, feminist, queer, socialist,
and postcolonial theories, have reshaped our perspectives of bodily imagery. This
seminar is organized around lectures, oral presentations, and discussions. Active
participation in class discussions is essential, as is willingness to work with other
members of the class to enhance the learning experience. Special emphasis will
be placed on developing the oral and written skills necessary to use these
methodologies in the student’s own work.
K47010 Ceramic Decoration / 3 credits
This course concentrates on the techniques and aesthetics of ceramic decoration.
In addition to graving, fluting, stamping inlay, and other methods of achieving
decorative effects, we will emphasize glazing. Glaze formation, application and
firing technique will be the main points of own investigation.
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Feminist Theory and Art History in the West/ 3 credits
Feminist criticism and other related cultural discourses have offered
revolutionary new visions for the study of art history in the West. This seminar will
explore from a variety of perspectives how gender politics has influenced the
interpretations of visual practices, by women and men, in the past and at the present.
Readings will range thematically and widely through books and articles on gender
issues and on the intersection of gender issues and other categories of identification
(race. class, etc.) in visual culture from Renaissance to the present. Special
emphasis will be placed on developing the oral and written skills necessary to apply
these theories and practices in the student's own work. The contents will include the
following:1.feminism and art: then and now; 2.the economy of the gaze Ⅰ:
fundamental theories; 3.the economy of the gazeⅡ: male gaze; 4.the economy of
the gaze:Ⅲ: female gaze; 5.Orientalism/postcolonial discourse and female nude;
6.women on the market; 7.socail construction of gender/gender and space;
8.pornography, violence, and the representation of women; 9.gender politics of art
exhibitions; 10.women artists: from Renaissance to the middle of nineteenth
century; 11.modern women artists; 12.women artists and their significant others;
13.feminist art in the seventies; 14.feminism and postmodernism; 15.gender
performance.
The Art of Chinese and Japanese Woodcut Study/ 3 credits
The art of woodblock has always been considered as a sort of pop arts. It
combines skills of engraving, painting and printing in terms of its from;
nevertheless, it also absorbs the artistic content of literature and painting together
as one. Under the heavy influence of novels and musicals in the Ming Dynasty, the
so-called "intellectual painters" began embracing the art of woodblock, and thus
enhanced the position of woodblock in the Chinese art history. Then, when the
western woodblock was introduced into China, the differences between the Chinese
traditional technique of "bright and dark" and the western concept of "projection"
all clearly revealed on the Chinese woodblock.
The earlier stage of Japanese woodblock was greatly influenced by Chinese
woodblock. "The Pictorial of Ten Bamboo House" was the typical example of this
period. The reason why it was considered as a representative work simply because
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it was presented to the then Shogun by the well-known Confucian scholar
Ogyusorai 荻生徂來. Furthermore, in the end of 19th century, Japanese woodblock
also exerted a great amount of stimulation and inspiration to the shaping and
performance of Western fine art. This research on Chinese and Japanese woodblock
is to study the essence, characteristics and the influence of the art itself.
Course Structure:
1.Guideline, 2.The development of Chinese woodblock, 3.Factions of Ming's
Woodblock, 4.Concerning "The Pictorial of Ten Bamboo House," 5."The Pictorial
of Ten Bamboo House" and the Japanese woodblock, 6.The rising of Japanese
woodblock and its factions, 7.The style of Japanese woodblock of "Ukiyo" and its
history, 8.Chinses woodblock and the art form of western painting, 9.Japanses
woodblock of "Ukiyoe" and the art form of western painting, 10.Conclusion.
Ethnomusicology/ 3 credits
In this class we shall try to develop ways of situating music within the broader
fields of social history and cultural practice. While historically and etymologically
it is fashioned from the incorporation of ethnology (anthropology) and musicology,
ethnomusicology is itself distinct from these two disciplines. Ethnomusicology
departs from anthropology by involving the training of the musical specialist who is
sensitive to the musical expression and technique of a certain culture.
Ethnomusicology differs from musicology not only in its interest in all kinds of
music along with their cultural uniqueness, but also in its emphasis on
comprehending music and musical culture through examining certain patterns of
interconnecting forces (physical and social) in the field besides historical study. In
other words, ethnomusicology is born through the wedding of anthropology and
musicology, but it combines the strength of both disciplines to create a better
treatment of musical issues in a wider social or cultural context.
Ethnomusicologists recognize that the field of music--the musical object itself
and musical meaning--is shifting, situational, and constructed. Music, as sonic
activity in time, is abstract in its nature. Nevertheless, music becomes meaningful
through the arrangement of certain patterns and techniques that possess social and
cultural intention, and are saturated with concepts about time, space, feeling, style,
belonging, aesthetics, belief, identity, and imagination. The concept of music in
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different societies, in other words, is culturally specific to those societies, and as
such reflects the particular musical experience, language, and perception of the
people in them.
Ethnographical Methods/ 3 credits
Ethnography is actively situated among powerful systems of meaning. It
decodes and recodes culture, presenting the grounds of collective order and
diversity, inclusion and exclusion. However, culture and representations of
culture are comprised of contested codes and asymmetrical power relations.
Ethnography thus can be seen as an institutionally, historically, and politically
situated writing genre. This class discusses various styles and methods of
ethnography, through which we examine how the author’s perspective shapes
particular ethnographical analysis and results. We shall also further reflect certain
important issues on culture, identity, representation, and history, issues that
constitute ethnography as a wider practice of writing.
Cultural Studies and Popular Music/ 3 credits
The Subject of Cultural Studies is not focused on artifice and manner, concert
halls or gallery, subject that is used to be regarded as the elite or high culture. In
stead, the subject is the very material of our lives and our most commonplace
understandings-- the popular culture. The point from which we contemplate is the
everyday and the ordinary. The ordinary as well as those common senses are, in
reality, powerful cultural processes, through which the self-identity is made—as
individuals, citizens, race, gender, and so forth. This class studies major concepts
and ideas of the (British) cultural studies. In addition, in the class we will also
discuss certain studies on popular music. To use popular music as example, the
class hopes to institutionalize popular music as a subject for serious study, and to
see it as a cultural form of considerable consequences. Popular music is political,
social, and economic. It possesses communal values and a variety of cultural
capital. Recently, we can see that popular music, to many governments, becomes
a central concern, as a key site where cultural change might be managed.
Music of South Asia/ 3 credits
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South Asia possesses a great variety of musical cultures. Indian music, classical
as well as popular, has been influential in the musical practices of many countries
within and without the South Asia. This class introduces the music of South Asia
in various genres and geographical areas. Through analyzing musical practices of
South Asia, we better our understanding on the cultural system and social history of
the people. In this class, we shall also study Indian music in its belief system,
social structure, cultural practice of Hindu and Muslim, musical concept of time
and space, the relation between the mass media and musical practices, film and
music industry, the social role of musician, and so forth.
Religion and Music/ 3 credits
Sound is sacred in origin. Music, in many cultures, possesses as a means of
direct access to the ultimate reality of the religion, whether it is called the One, or
the Absolute, or God, or Brahma, or Nirvana. Music is able to magically produce
forms without substance, and thus can forcefully support and suggest ideas of the
sacred. The power of music resides in its ability to arouse and connect other
realities and, at the same time, to call forth a new and comprehensive response that
is at once intellectual, emotional, and aesthetic. However, some scholars emphasize
the delineated contexts of meaning, suggesting music as a practice that reflects the
relationship of a religion and certain fundamental realities in the cultural world.
We shall study in this class the music’s affinity in religion and in culture, as well as
religious music in relation to the everyday life of the performers. The class
introduces the major world religions (Jewish, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, and
Christianity) and their musical practices, including the concept of sound, the legal
status of music, and music and religious doctrinal practices. We shall also study
important issues that concern: patterns of history or social organization or emotion;
conditions of the soul of the practitioners; powers of the state; histories of material
production; structure of law; and models of cultural practices.
Chan Buddhism, Ritual and the Monastic Regulations/ 3 credits
There are now two big ambiguities when we come across Chan Buddhism. The
first is by what definition we speak about Chan? The second is the question if Zen
is identical to Chan? Japanese Zen, more than Chinese Chan, is a religious
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concept commonly understood and even practiced by many westerners, who also
even refer the Chan tradition to Zen. In addition to these ambiguities, we need to
inquire certain issues for getting the idea of Chan: what are the essences that form a
Buddhist tradition in East Asia for more than one and half millennia? What are
the experiences in which people have enlightened through practicing the Chan
Buddhism? What is the stake for developing this tradition? This class will take
a pathbreaking way to study these issues. During the class, we shall first review a
few still-fresh representative books on Chan Buddhism (mostly they are more about
Zen). Following this we should start to look at things, not words from books,
through the living tradition. Things that are involved in the daily life of the Chan
Buddhist monasteries will all be subjects of our study. The primary things we are
looking at are ritual practices, monastic regulations, and the Chan masters’
revelation. Although all three categories include the written forms of texts, they
are primarily for practice instead of for reasoning. These three categories have
formed and carried a tradition or a set of practices we call Chan Buddhism.
Rituals contain cardinal religious philosophy and symbols that are further embodied
in techniques and policies. While when we try to image the unimaginable
experience and knowledge of enlightened persons through their revelation, we must
also remember that they are the persons who had made and were trained under
many detailed, strict regulations. Our studying strategy is less to show the
representation of the Chan tradition through these categories, but more to locate the
relationships in which these three categories have interacted with each other and
have constituted the so-called Chan Buddhism in Chinese history.
Seminar on Women Photographers/ 3 credits
This graduate seminar will employ a “case study” approach to take a close look
at gender categories and how they struture the history of photography. Each week
we will examine in detail the work of one (or more than one) woman
photographer(s) -- from Julia Margaret Cameron to Carrie Mae Weems -- asking
under what particular lived conditions women became and continue to become
working photographers and professional artists, how their work is received and
categorized by its publics, how gender identity might intersect other categories of
identification (race, class, sexual preference, etc.), and mostly importantly, within
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what historical contexts the formal conventions of a “woman’s eye” have come to
be defined (and defied) in photography? Readings will range widely through
photographic history, photographic theories, feminist theories, and cultural studies.
Special emphasis will be placed on developing the oral and written skills necessary
to use these methodologies in the student’s own work.
Special Topic in The Meeting of Eastern and Western Painting
According to the Western painting history, we understand the change of the
Western painting, which becomes from concrete to abstract. The reason for its
change was that Western painting was suggested strong influence of the “Chinese
Style” and the “Japanese Style.” From the basic principle of art, we realize that
the emphasis of Eastern painting would mostly be put on “Spirit” and on “Subject.”
The course concentrates on the art’s theory and history, we will study the
relationship between the structure of the Eastern and Western painting from the
viewpoint of cultural exchange, the analysis of art’s works, and the spirit of art.
Special Topic in “Ukiyo-e”
Ukiyo-e” is a style of wood block printing created and developed during the Edo
era or Tokugawa era (1603-1867). Ukiyoe literally means “pictures of the floating
world.”
Ukiyoe describes the Japanese landscapes, the everyday life of
commoners, kabuki actors, sumo wrestlers and beautiful women. Ukiyoe reflects
the trend of thought in art of Japan, and it is a kind of common, consumptive, cheap
and popular art. The course is a basic understanding of “Ukiyo-e”, and about its
influence on the Western Art.
Special Topic in Shen-Chu’s Painting
This course is designed to help students realize what Shen-Chu’s Painting is and
the trend of thought in literature and art of Ming dynasty. We will concentrate on
Shen-Chu’s Painting in three aspects:
(1) We will read Shen-Chu’s history and his experience.
(2) We will analyses his paintings.
(3) We will study his thought of art and literature.
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Special Topic in Chinese Art History
The course is about Chinese Art. The Chinese painting reflects its creative
ideas of artists and tastes. Therefore, we are going to choose the Chinese painting
history and some paintings for discussion and analysis so that students would get a
whole understanding of cultural background and esthetical elements of the works,
artists and schools.
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