Chapter 7: Chinese Art
Gardner 181-205
Only continuing civilization from antiquity
Cultural continuity from the Neolithic era to the present
Dynasties
Xia
Shang
Zhou
Western Zhou
Eastern Zhou
Spring and Autumn Period
Warring States Period
Qin
Han
c. 2100 – c. 1600 BC
c. 1600 – 1046 BC
1046 – 256 BC
1046 - 770 BC
770 – 256 BC
770 – 476 BC
475 – 221 BC
221 – 207 BC
206 BC – AD 220
Western (Former) Han
Eastern (Later) Han
Six Dynasties
220 – 589
Three Kingdoms
Western Jin
Eastern Jin
Northern and Southern Dynasties
Sui
Tang
Five Dynasties
Liao
Song
Northern Song
Southern Song
Jin
Yuan
Ming
Qing
581 – 618
618 – 907
907 – 960
916 – 1125
960 – 1279
960 – 1127
1127 – 1279
1115 – 1234
1271 – 1368
1368 – 1644
1644 – 1911
China was deliberately isolated
Thought of herself as center of the world
Self-sufficient
Silk Road so named for what was exported not what entered
Jade and horses were the only items of significance that entered
Until opium (from India)
First Opium War ended 1842: British got Hong Kong and China was opened
1843: first China exhibit in Philadelpha and then London
Contrasts btw mythological tradition and archeological
Chinese view of the beginning of history merges legend and fact much like the OT
In the beginning was an egg, which hatched into a man called Pan Gu; one
half of the shell remained above as the sky and the other below as the earth
For 18000 yrs he grew taller and taller until he fragmented: his limbs became
mts, blood became rivers, breath the wind, voice the thunder, eyes into the sun
and moon; his parasites became humankind
Myth in keeping with later Chinese philosophy of Confucius and Daoism
Ancestor worship >> founder of universe = man
Harmony with nature >> Daoism
After Pan Gu came three imperial reigns: Emperor of the Sky, the Earth and Mankind
Then five emperors who introduced technological and cultural developments
(myths to explain developments)
1st three dynasties: Xia (founder Yu who cut the ravines for the rivers)
Shang (not entirely historical)
Zhou
China: Neolithic to First Empire (c. 5000-206 BC)
China has a vast and very long history
Varied land
Different languages
Distinct regional styles
Born in the basin of the Yellow River (like Mesopotamia, Egypt and India)
Bronze was first used in 2nd millennium in Yellow River valley
Neolithic China
High quality ceramic ware
Neolithic vases, from Gansu Province, 3000-2500 BC
Geometric decoration in red and brown
Shang Dynasty c. 1600 – 1100 BC: captal at Anyang
complex agricultural society with class system
Beginnings of centralized government
Ruler = both political and spiritual
Kings buried with servants, chariots, horses and many objects
Chinese writing = only system of writing to have become sophisticated without an
alphabet >> use symbols for object or concept (rather than sounds)
Written Chinese transcends barriers of dialect or pronunciation (unlike the
inconsistencies of old English spelling)
Characters on the page are stable, self-contained symbols…so too each word (no
gender, no number, no tense)
A statement of any complexity is far more ambiguous in Chinese than in west
>>
A sentence needs to be interpreted (words are unconnected)
Poem is a kind of painting >> same brush for calligraphy and landscape
Scholar is both an administrator and an artist
Culture/civilization built on sacrifice >> buildings were guarded by buried battalions
Prisoners of war = sacrificial beasts
Principle of burial: deceased should be accompanied by useful people/objects
Secret of bronze casting arrived from the West around 2000BC
Bronze vessels primarily used in ancestor worship
The very nature of archeological remains tends to focus on the ruling classes
Bronze used for domestic use (mirrors, wash basins etc)
Jade ear cleaners
Shells used for money
Silk
Calendar
Shang astronomers figured out how to fit lunar months into solar years
Towns were square and oriented to cardinal points (still used today)
Bronze animal gong, from Anyang, China, 12th or 11th century BC, SF
Covered libation vessel
Pattern = integral part of whole
Decoration seems to belong to the animal
Important medium and symbol >> denoted power, associated with aristocracy
Standing Figure, 8’ 5”, from Guanghan Sanxingdui, Shang Dynasty, China, c.
1200 BC
Discovered in 1986
Stylized human figure
Unprecedented scale
Zhou Dynasty c. 1100-250 BC: warrior culture, feudal state
New designs: scenes of hunting, religious rites and magic practices
Ostentatious feudal courts >> demand for luxurious objects
Beginnings of Daoism and Confucianism
Influence of the Scythians >> interlace
Social upheaval during the late Zhou dynasty
Mandate of Heaven (Tien)
Cyclical view of history
Different from divine right of kings >> anything king does is ok
Mandate is conditional on performance of king
Good government = a condition of lawful inheritance
Tien = natural operating system >> overarching mechanism that governs all
Capacity for action >> bestowing the mandate
Mandate = proper way for society to be organized…
Central is a good ruler
Heaven bestows right to rule >> given to ruler and his descendents
King Wu proclaims that the Shang have failed the mandate of heaven
Heaven has withdrawn the mandate from the Shang and given to Zhou
Rational for shift in political power
Shang moved to SE area of China and still respected, incorporated into new order
Capital moved from Anyang to Xian
New pattern for building a capital city >> becomes standard
Physical representation of well-ordered world
Square, oriented N-S, in north ruler residence, in S daily life
Ritual complexes along E-W axes
Model of order, connection with natural world around it
Human order linked to natural order
Worship heaven (all encompassing order, along with traditional ancestors)
Blue vault of the sky (translation of heaven)
Expansion of empire
Creation of administrative local power holders, closely bonded to king
Bonds weaken
Concept of cultural unity is born under Zhou
Scholars travel freely from court to court
Produced classics of Chinese literature
Period of Fragmentation >> Chaos
Intellectually creative period
Zhou delegated power to family members, then to military leaders
Administrative leaders begin to subvert the established hierarchy
8c BC certain leaders take on the title as Wa (King)
Confucius d. 479 BC
Born into impoverished noble class
Self-educated
When he enters into history was already running 1st school >>meritocracy
(rather than class based)
Contemporary with Socrates (similar teaching method – yet different kind of subj
matter >> Chinese less abstract and more practical)
Socrates scorned active political life
Confucius wanted to put his principles to work
Pyramid of respect and obligation
Well ordered hierarchy (musical harmony)
Daoism: founded by Laozi (probably mythical)
Way of nature (conceptually similar to Buddhism which probably allowed for
the rapid spread of Buddhism throughout China)
Water = ideal symbol (indispensable to life but seeks lowest spot)
Confucianism and Daoism are both opposite and complementary
Town and country
Practical >< spiritual
Rational >< romantic
Bi (disk), late Zhou Dynasty, 4th – 3rd century BC, jade, Kansas City
Symbol of circle of heaven
Stylized dragons >> dragons flew between heaven and earth
Symbols of good fortune
Bringers of rain
Symbolized rulers’ power to mediate between heaven and earth
Jade = tough and hard >> metaphor for fortitude and moral perfection
Symbol of rank
Qin Dynasty 221-206 BC
buffer state btw civilization to north and barbarians to NW
Learned art of fighting on horseback from nomads
256 overran Zhou state
221 unified China into single state: the most powerful families from all the states
were herded together to the new capital (Xi’an) and encouraged to build palaces
private weapons were gathered and melted down
First emperor of China = Shihuangdi
Controlled about half of modern China
Built the Great Wall to defend against nomadic peoples (Huns)
Means of unifying the country – 1500 miles
700,000 laborers (system of forced labor)
Financed monumental building campaigns and used the arts to strengthen
power and consolidate rule
Central bureaucracy
Standard language, weights and measure, coinage
Codified the law
Written language
Canon for imperial art
Administrative system dividing China into provinces
National network of roads: uniform width of axles on carts
System of compulsory labor
Built vast complex of linked palaces – so that no one would know
where he was at any given moment >> like Saddam Hussein
Tyrannical >> set stage for later dynasties (like Hitler)
Intellectual suppression – killed 360 Confucian scholars
Book burnings – harsh laws
After ShiHuangdi’s death in 210 BC, his empire crumbled
206 BC >> civil war
is tyranny necessary to create unified, organized state?
Army of Emperor Shihuangdi, terracotta, Shaanxi Province, c. 210 BC
Immense burial mound discovered in 1974
6000 life size terracotta figures of soldiers and horses (in pit 1 alone)
began constructing tomb complex w hen he took the lead at age 13
not complete when he died suddenly at age 50
recreation of his city and court to bring to heaven
figures conform to ideal types, yet convey a sense of personality
immortal imperial guard outside funerary palace
simplicity of volume, frontal
extremely detailed and real >> individualization
think about the obsession with death and afterlife in tyrannical governments….similar
to Egypt where so much attention was paid to the tombs of the pharaohs who were
considered gods on earth – life was great on earth and so they wanted to take all the
fun with them to the afterlife
Ancient Chinese culture laid the foundations for later East Asian civilizations,
including Korea and Japan (today there remains animosity in China towards the
Japanese)
System of writing
Fundamental ideals in philosophy and religion
Basic technologies
Standard aesthetic principles
Formats, material, basic forms and subjects of art and architecture
Issue of authenticity….Chinese culture of the copy
China has a radically different set of attitudes not only toward what is an
original work of art and what is a copy but also toward the past, art
conservation, and monuments – in other words what is ancient and what is
new
2 different words for copy
Fang Zhipin = reproduction/knockoff
Fu Zhipin = high quality copy/worthy of being in a museum
American museum curators refuse to exhibit fu zhipin! >> cultural insult
Copying = major part of artistic training and sign of reverence
The most celebrated Chinese artist of the 20th century, Chang Dai-chien (the Picasso
of China) was also a world-famous forgerer of ancient paintings
Copying (forgering was a sign of reverence)
By fooling connoisseurs and curators he was demonstrating his deep
understanding of ancient masterpieces
Recreations of paintings described in Chinese literature ie conserving and
inventing the past
Tradition of conserving by copying or rebuilding
Zen approach to conservation >> Ise Shrine, Japan (ritually destroyed and
rebuilt every 20 years)
Asian cyclical view of history (West strives for permanence >> fresco/stone)
Dynastic upheavals masked a world of remarkable continuity
Language, social customs, food….hardly changed until communism
Western civilization has been marked by radical discontinuity
Egyptians > Persians > Greeks > Romans > Christians
Each new group imposed its own language, culture, religion,
architectural style etc
Layering of civilizations led to a linear view of time (rather than cyclical)
1911 revolution >> adoption of western/Christian calendar
>> end of cyclical imperial world view
>> shift from handcrafts to industrial technique
>> break down of culture of copy
discovery of Xi’an tomb at end of Mao’ domination
revitalization of Shihuangdi as great unifier:
rehabilitation of violent despot was valuable to Cultural Revolution
Mao compared to Shihuagndi
Han Dynasty 206 BC – AD 220 (contemporary with Roman empire)
Han emperors created a new, but equally powerful, centralized government
Extended China’s southern and western boundaries
Rewarding officials with land
Change in agricultural patterns >> market system
Beginning of private property ownership >> aristocratic elite (tied to dynasty)
End of Han dynasty >> aristocratic social structure
Cultural sophistication
Increasing involvement of military in power
Rise of eunuchs
Increasing corruption >> chaos, rebellions, incr military power
Later 2c: ceases to be a functional entity…effective functioning power dissolves
Status of women:
A man kept as many women as he could afford
Precarious role of principal wife
Chinese harem different form Moslem one
Far less emphasis on female purity
Chinese harem = more of a safe place to keep one’s prized possessions
14 ranks of beauty for concubines
Rise of Eunuchs >> closest to the Emperor (no danger of siring a rival dynasty)
Their disability was also the source of their strength
United by rejection by others
Undistracted by family ties
Exclusive entrée to every corridor of power
Enemies of the Eunuch = scholarly bureaucrats (ie the Confucians)
Disability >< ability
Emperor Wudi 141-87BC >> ruthless and autocratic
Most powerful of all Han rulers
Establishment of Confucianism
Banning from court of other scholars
Establishment of Imperial Academy
Increased use of exams to seek out talent
Extreme autocracy: stifling bureaucracy and obsession to detail
Development of Confucius worship
AD 59 it was ordered that sacrifices be offered to him in all govt schools
Ancestor worship = the periodic remembrance of an ancestor at his tomb was in effect
an repetition of his funeral
Detailed ritual >> followed by family feast
Funerary objects became symbolic (rather than real and living)
Extravagant objects as well as symbolic figures
Tombs of Wudi’s brother Liu Sheng and that of his wife
3000 objects including 2 Jade suits
jade believed to have magical properties to preserve
Galloping Bronze Horse from Han tomb (hoof presses down on swallow)
Models of houses included in tombs as well
Expansion of trade along the Silk Road
Chinese silk for sale in Rome
Policy of conciliating the Xiongnu (Huns) led to territory and trade expansion
Meeting of East and West occurred in Afghanistan (Bactria)
st
1 caravan to travel along line of oases through to Persia departed in 106 BC
Chinese instituted a policy of confiscating all privately held gold in exchange
for bronze or copper – built up a huge horde. In response, Tiberius prohibited
the wearing of silk as its purchase was draining the empire’s gold reserves
China less interested in products of the West (ie. naming of the rte for Chinese
product)
By the end of the 1st century A.D., the Chinese found out that they had been joined in
trading with another civilization in Central Asia called the Kushans. This power was
formed by the Scythians and the Indo-Greeks. They were once descendants of
Alexander the Great's army in India. At that time, the Kushans became a strong new
force on the silk route. Their power stretched from the western oases of the Takla
Makan basin, south into the Indus basin, east to what we now call Soviet Central Asia
and north to the Aral Sea. The empire was as extensive as that of the Parthians.
With the rise of the Kushans, there were four great powers along the silk route. The
Chinese, the Kushans, the Persians, and the Romans. At that time silk route reached
its first great period. The route was divided into different sections, goods and art are
being carried by Chinese, Kushan, Persian and Roman caravans.
Xian = capital
Geometrical layout
Importance of cardinal points in all Chinese ceremonies
Concern with north and south relates to balance of yin and yang
Yang = male, light, heat, activity, life, sun cleanliness, China, civilization
Yin = female, darkness, cold, passivity, death, dirt, moon, night, barbarism
(in Greece, Pythagoreans devised a similar scale in which right, good, motion,
light, square and straight were on the side of men, leaving left, bad, rest,
darkness, oblong and curved for women)
Emperor Wudi went too far in his spending and expansion
Gradual breakdown of central authority
Overthrown in AD 8 by Wang Mang >> Later Han Dynasty
Period of Disunion (comparable kind of label to Dark Ages)
Break up into 3 successor states: 220-265 Three Kingdoms
Sichuan (part of imperial family Leo Bai) >> Shu Han
Wei Kingdom (N China)….Tao Pei
Military strongman adopted son of eunich
Wu State (S-E China)
Age of great heroism and romance: golden age of adventure
Legends of military heroism
Migrations: beginning 4c
Kushan into India
Turkish into NW China
Introduction of Buddhism to China from India
Philosophy and religion
Ideas of nature of life
Organization of monasteries and rituals
Welcomed by Daoists (myth that Laozi was indeed Buddha)
Similarity with Daoism: priests, monasteries, structure, spells
Daoists withdrew from ordinary life in hopes of prolonging their spell on
earth; Buddhists withdrew for opposite reason…to reach enlightenment and
not be reborn
Origins of Buddhism in India around 6c (contemp with Confucianism and
Daoism)
Beginning of great philosophy in Greece
Important systems of thought in Persia
Axial age
Many stories of origins….numerous versions and forms
Historical Buddha who undergoes life transforming experiences
Siddhartha
Sakymuni
Gautama
Discovers suffering and imperfections (drooling wife)
Spiritual quest
Sarnath Deer park (hunting park) sits under tree >> enlightenment
Realizes answers
1st teaching
attracts followers
time of his departure (death) leaves his physical body behind (relics)
nature of suffering: part of natural life
arises from material attachments
4 Noble Truths
notion of impermanence
teaching developed and spread
2 schools of Buddhist thought:
Theravada: attainment of individual spiritual liberation possible for each
Early development of monasticism
Individuals renounce attachments to society
Mahayana (great vehicle): concern with salvation of all conscious beings
To liberate oneself and to feel compassion for others
Bodhisattvas
Functions similar to saints
Ashoka
Buddhism makes the most sense
Patron of Buddhism
Erects pillars of stone to proclaim and promote doctrines of Buddhism
Mahayana B uddhism >> travels north and west
Silk Road: Mahayana arrives in China in second half of Han dynasty
Welcomed into Han court
Emperor = son of Heaven (patron of all kinds of spiritual practices)
Later Han dynasty = a time of suffering and disorder >> spread of Buddhism
Teachings spread by texts and oral teachings
Becomes popular religion
Collapse of Han and 3 Kingdoms set stage for expansion of Buddhism
Vitality of Buddhism in China: rapid spread
Only the Chinese, among Buddhists, are passionate/obsessed with mountains and
mountain scenery – this they adopted from Daoism
Funeral banner, from Tomb 1 (tomb of Dai), Mawangdui, Han Dynasty, China,
c. 168 BC
Painted silk, discovered 197
Continuity through ancestor worship (like Republican Rome)
T-shape
Top section = heaven
Dragons and gods dance between sun (raven) and moon (toad)
Vertical section = earth
Wife of Marquis of Dai awaits ascent to heaven
Depiction of funeral
Bottom = underworld
Intertwined dragons link underworld to heaven
Mythological Scenes, Wu family shrine, Shandong Province, China, 147-168
Scenes from history and folklore reflect deceased virtues
Organized in registers
Linear
Distance represented by figures atop figures
Some overlapping
Hieratic scale (more important figures larger)
Buildings and elaborate trees indicate setting
Period of Strife and Disunity 220-589
Competing states
1st century AD: Buddhism enters China >> through trade routes
Buddhism’s promise of hope beyond this world’s troubles >> popularity
Entered China at time when increasing numbers of disenfranchised
Sakyamuni Buddha, late Zhou dynasty, 338, gilded bronze, San Francisco;
inscription dates it to 338 = earliest known dated Buddha image from China
Donated to accrue merit and good karma
Sakyamuni Buddha = historical buddha
Resembles Gandhara prototype >> influence traveled along Silk Rd
Artist misrepresents meditation gesture
Chinese Painting: Critical difference between Chinese and Western approaches
Chinese way of appreciating a painting is expressed by the words ‘du hua’ = to
Read a painting
Western: Aristotle characterized dramatic poetry as mimesis, or the imitation of
nature >> emphasis on role of spectator rather than that of artist
emphasis imitation rather than presentation
Chinese: aim to capture not only the outer appearance but also inner essence
Color = a distraction
Emphasis on line
both script and pictorial representation (image) functioned as graphic signs that
expressed meaning
script and image = transmissions of heavenly patterns
calligraphy and painting have representational and presentational function
The key to Chinese painting lies in its calligraphic line, which bears the presence,
or physical “trace” of its maker
Importance of artist’s action
Brushwork in Chinese painting is thought to express the artist’s ideas
Chinese Painting >> major format = horizontal scroll
Unrolled to the left and then rerolled from the right, one section revealed at a time
Act of unrolling >> physical connection with work
Illustrated religious texts
Developed continuous landscapes
Practice of copying helps to explain the remarkable continuity of Chinese art
“just as one’s mortal body both replaces and transforms that of one’s
ancestors, the life and authority of artistic tradition, through endless
repetition, can remain forever ancient and forever new.”
Reverence for the past
Conscious references to past styles – style = language to convey beliefs
Attributed to Gu Kaizhi, Lady Feng and the Bear, detail of the Admonitions of
the Instructress to the Court Ladies, Period of Disunity, late 4th century, BM
Minimal setting
Calligraphic line
Fluid poses and fluttering drapery ribbons
Individualized facial expressions
Representation of inner vitality and spirit more imp than surface appearance
Gu Kaizhi, Admonitions of the Instructress to the Court Ladies, late 4th century
Realism relates to magic properties of representation
Hairline brush idiom
Simple linear schema
Art of the brush and line
“correspondence between the form and motion in nature and the motion of the
artist’s own hand in drawing”
Chinese Architecture
Did not change over the centuries
Pagoda = developed to serve Buddhist needs
Rectangular hall covered by pitched roof with projecting eaves
Walls not weight bearing
Distinctive colors: red, black, yellow and white
Xuankong Si (Hanging Temple), Hunyuan, China, Northern Wei dynasty, 386534, reconstructed during the Ming dynasty 1368-1644
Clings to steep cliff
Startling contrast of light and fragile structure against mass of stone
Reunification of China under Sui dynasty 581-618
Influx of foreign peoples, wealth and ideas
Artists achieved more independent status
Tang Dynasty 618-907: climax and new beginning: The Golden Age of China
Culmination of all that went before
Funerary sculpture
Portraits and scenes of human activity
New developments in poetry: tone of striking simplicity and clarity
Li Bai, b. 701 >> became daoist recluse
Du Fu
Introduction of new kind of poetry emphasizing everyday realism
Bai Juyi: insisted that poetry should be understandable by all
Subject matter should attack a social or political injustice
Influenced many modern western writers esp Brecht
My heritage lost through disorder and famine,
My brothers and sisters flung eastward and westward,
My fields and gardens wrecked by the war,
My own flesh and blood become scum of the street,
I moan to my shadow like a lone-wandering wildgoose,
I am torn from my root like a water-plant in autumn:
I gaze at the moon, and my tears run down
For hearts, in five places, all sick with one wish.
As in Elizabethan England, to be able to write verse was more than a branch of the
arts, it was also a game and a necessary accomplishment for anyone pretending to
culture
50,000 Tang poems by some 2300 poets survive
ability to improvise
strictly controlled court
system of censorship
repetitive names of Chinese emperors and lack of interest in individual personalities
Chinese do not use numbering (like Louis XIV)
Government hostility toward Buddhists (like communists)
845: massive desecration of monasteries and dispersal of their art
instigated by Daoists and Confucians
continuous cycle of politics and religion = one in power, the other destroyed
China seems to retain whatever seems to suit in each rival theory
offensive economically that so much wealth and land should have been
accumulated by non-productive monasteries
monks were exempted from military, labor and taxes
like medieval Europe
monks saw themselves as outside/above mundane gov’t administration
influence of Indian caste system where Brahman are the highest
monks were non-filial (acc to Confucians): ie celibate
Internationalism of Tang Court
Xian = capital of 2 million inhabitants (largest metropolis in the world)
Sassanid ruler sought refuge in Xian after losing their throne in 650 to Arabs
Tang pottery found in Egypt
751 Tang armies defeated at the Talas River by the Arabs
755 rebellion of An Lushan who captured both capitals
758 Arabs burned and looted Canton
Attributed to Yan Liben, Tang emperor and attendants, detail of the Thirteen
Emperors, c. 650, handscroll, MFA
Line drawing and colored washes
Hieratic scale
Undefined spatial setting
Horse, Tang Dynasty, glazed earthenware, 8-9th centuries
Shape derived from clay’s plastic qualities
Cosmopolitan character of the Tang court
Horses incredibly important to emperors >>
Horse = emblem of China’s military strength // symbol of China
Expertise in judging horses = metaphor for ability to recognize talent
Tang Dynasty supported Buddhism
Sponsored great monuments for Buddhist worshippers
Cave complexes
Vairocana Buddha, Longmen Caves, Luoyang, China, c. 675; under sponsorship
of Emp Gaozong and Empress Wu Zetian who underwrote much from her
private funds (when Gaozong died she declared herself emperor and ruled until 705)
(compare her to Hatshepsut)
Natural rock, 50’ high
Personification of the cosmos
1352 caves, 97,000 statues, 3600 inscriptions, 785 carved niches
Vairocana Buddha = not the historical Buddha but the Mahayana Cosmic Buddha, the
Buddha of boundless space and time)
Dunhuang Grottoes
Westernmost gateway to China on Silk Road
Wealthy cosmopolitan trade center
Buddhist pilgrimage center
Hundreds of sanctuaries with painted murals
Earliest recorded cave dedicated in 366
For all its popularity, Buddhism never replaced native Chinese religions
845: Emperor Wuzong instituted persecution of Buddhism
4600 temples destroyed
260,000 monks forced to return to secular (lay) life
Wuzong’s persecution did not affect Dunhuang which was then under Tibetan rule
Paradise of Amitabha, Cave 172, Dunhuang, Tang Dynasty, mid-8th century
Pure land sects taught that enlightenment was not possible through individual
because of waning of Buddha’s law
Rebirth through faith in Amitabha’s promise of salvation
Opulence of Tang dynasty
Amitabha sits in center on raised throne
from Six Dynasties through the Song (4th through late 13th centuries), human
genius was the agency that brought creativity into a universe lacking a single
creator; in post-Song era (14th century on) it was individuality or selfhood that
was considered the agent of change
Song Dynasty 960-1279
Northern Song 960-1127 >> capital in Kaifeng
Consolidated China after fall of Tang
Defeated by Jin
Southern Song 1127-1279 >> capital in Hangzhou
Confucianism reigns supreme
Neo-Confucianism = combination of traditional Chinese thought and certain
Buddhist ideas
Orthodox Buddhism declined in popularity
Civil service based on talent alone
Classless bureaucracy reached its most developed form
Greater emphasis on examinations instead of lineage
Success in exam led to career entrée and social status
Successful candidates came from varied backgrounds
High political office was linked with intellectual excellence
Close connection between artists and government
Best writers held high administrative (political) offices
All educated Chinese felt the pull towards a quiet life in nature
(Daoist respite from Confucian responsibilities)
official state religion = worship of certain nature deities, such as Heaven and Earth
ceremonies were officiated by Confucians
Imperial Painting Academy: painters employed by imperial court
To enter artists had to illustrate lines of poetry
close relationship of poetry, calligraphy and painting
“…when someone raised his brush there was no way of knowing for certain what he
was about to do with it. Had a poem just occurred to him? Or was he moved to
produce some calligraphy, the rhythms of his whole body expressing themselves
through the tip of the brush in the almost sacred beauty of Chinese characters? Or
was he about to paint a picture? The three activities merged almost imperceptibly.
Not only would the same brush serve each purpose, but the poem would be all the
more admired for beautifully written; the calligraphy would make use of precisely
those qualities of rhythm and space which are necessary in a painting; and the
painting, done in flowing and unalterable sweeps of the brush, would demand the
same type of ease and spontaneity as an improvised poem.” Bamber Gascoigne, The
Dynasties of China, 122.
Master Li had a phrase he didn’t want to express in words
So with light ink he sketched out a soundless poem
Similarity of verse and painting
The wind blows the line out from his fishing pole.
In a straw hat and grass cape the fisherman
Is invisible in the long reeds.
In the fine spring rain it is impossible to see very far
And the mist rising from the water has hidden the hills.
Landscape paintings were often considered substitutes for the actual retreat into
nature
Process of unfurling scroll painting
Historical interests of Song scholars: connoisseurship and study of ancient times
Comparable to Italian Renaissance humanism
Emperor Huizong: connoisseur and collector
6396 paintings by 231 artists from the end of the Han Dynasty to present
Emperor himself was a distinguished painter…esp birds
Established academy (artists had to take exams like administrators)
Superimposition of one taste and style >> conventionalism
Zen Buddhist painters in later Song Dynasty
Liang Kai = romantic unruly artist
Attended academy and won great distinction, which he rejected
Spent life in zen monastery inspired by alcohol
Immediacy of his ptg
Chinese discovery of paper, traditionally credited to Eunuch Cai Lun in 105.
Chinese inventions = paper, printing, gunpowder and compass
Not until the Chinese defeat by the Arabs in 751 did paper make its way to
Europe
Earliest printed book found at Dunhuang: Buddhist Diamond Sutra , printed May 11,
868
Printed from 6 large blocks
As court became more lavish and extravagant…economic crisis looming
Aristocratic extravagance
Military weakness
Increasing payment of peace insurance to northern tribe, the Liao
Increasing taxation of peasants
Landscape painting:
Chinese viewed universe as not having an ultimate cause but rather to be
characterized by spontaneous creation and transformation
Daoist nature cults and new appreciation of pastoral themes in poetry led to early
development of landscape painting
Landscapes were more important to Chinese than to westerners
Landscape = ideal harmonious relationship with order to universe
Magical potential of landscape painting >> process
Spiritual attitude toward the unbounded vastness of nature
Means of evoking a contemplative response in viewer
Shifting perspective system allows viewer to wander through image
Unlike control of Western perspective
Aerial perspective – no single vanishing point
Viewer meant “travel….dwell or ramble” in the landscape
Fan Kuan, Travelers among Mountains and Streams, early 11th century, hanging
scroll, ink and colors on silk, Taipei
Masterpiece of landscape painting
Overwhelming natural forms dwarf the human
Viewer led on a journey through landscape >> process
Emperor Song Huizong, The Five-Colored Parakeet, c. 1100, hanging scroll, ink
and color on silk, MFA
Avid art collector, patron and painter
Meticulous detail
Zhou Jichang, Arhats giving alms to Beggars, 1178, ink and colors on silk, MFA
New relationship to Buddhism
Arhats = enlightened disciples who have achieved freedom through rebirth
Repression of desire for all earthly things
Carefully delineated landscape
Sense of spatial relationships: foreground, middle and background
Clear distinction between arhats and beggars
Ma Yuan, Bare Willows and Distant Mountains, 13th century, album leaf, ink
and colors on silk, MFA
Pure landscape
Asymmetrical, built around diagonal
Foreground anchored by weight in corner
Middle distance >> landscape and mist
Far distance >> mountain peaks >> infinity of space
Ideal of peace and unity with nature
Attributed to Hsia Kuei, Mountains and Clouds, Southern Song Dynasty, c.
1190-1225
Misty background melts into silk
Importance of negative space
Emphasis on foreground
Figures define scale of landscape
Liang Kai, The Sixth Chan Patriarch chopping bamboo, 13th century, hanging
scroll, ink on paper, Tokyo
Chan Buddhism = means of enlightenment lie within the individual
Direct experience with some ultimate reality
Meditation
Master of an abbreviated, expressive style of ink painting
Calligraphic
Quick and seemingly casual execution – spontaneity
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ssong/hd_ssong.htm
Woods and Valleys of Mount Yu, 1372
Ni Zan (1306–1374), Hanging scroll; ink on paper; 37 1/2 x 14 1/8 in.
Why didn't the artist use any color in this painting?
To understand the lack of color in many Chinese landscape paintings, one must fully
appreciate the interrelationship of calligraphy and painting.
Calligraphy and painting use the same formats and tools (brush, ink, paper, and silk). The
basic methods of handling a brush and ink to create the individual strokes of a Chinese
character can also be used to create descriptive lines and textures in painting.
It was during the Tang dynasty that the full expressive potential of ink was realized, as
suggested in this quote from the ninth-century art historian, Zhang Yanyuan:
Grasses and trees may display their glory without the use of reds and greens; clouds and snow
may swirl and float aloft without the use of white color; mountains may show greenness
without the use of blues and greens; and a phoenix may look colorful without the use of the
five colors. For this reason a painter may use ink alone and yet all five colors may seem
present in his painting.
In this hanging scroll, entitled Woods and Valleys of Mount Yu, by the artist Ni Zan (1306–
1374), the correspondence between calligraphy and painting becomes apparent. It is a sparse,
seemingly simple landscape devoid of human presence.
Western paintings, like photographs, tend to present images of landscapes from a fixed point
of view with a mathematically constructed illusion of recession, or perspective, which makes
space appear to recede toward a single "vanishing point." Chinese landscape paintings use a
moving perspective based on the notion of three distances (near, middle, and far) which
allows the eye to move between various pictorial elements without being limited to one fixed,
static point of view. Thus, the viewer is encouraged to ramble through the landscape image.
Ni Zan, using abstract brushstrokes to suggest three-dimensional forms, exploits the tension
between surface pattern and the illusion of recession to animate his composition. In this
painting, where the bottom section acts as the foreground while the top acts as the
background, a series of diagonal forms draws the viewer's focus upward across the picture
surface as well as deeper into the represented space.
Summer Mountains
Attributed to Qu Ding (active ca. 1023–ca. 1056), Handscroll; ink and light color on silk
How is nature depicted in Chinese landscape painting?
Summer Mountains, attributed to the mid-eleventh century artist Qu Ding, a court painter
employed by Emperor Renzong (r. 1023–63), presents a vast, panoramic landscape of a
summer evening following a rain shower. By juxtaposing immeasurably high mountains with
minute details of human activities, the artist conveys the Daoist belief of the primary
importance of nature, and of man's small yet harmonious existence within this orderly
universe. The contrast of the dark, velvety ink washes and brushstrokes that define the
mountains and trees with the empty, unpainted areas that suggest clouds, mists, and water is a
visual reference to the rhythmic flow of the opposing forces of yin and yang (dark/light and
wet/dry) found in nature.
The concept of traveling through time and space in one's imagination is exemplified in this
painting. Beginning at the right, imagine unrolling this handscroll slowly toward the left
about a foot or so at a time, identifying with the tiny human figures in the landscape so that
you can walk along its pathways and relax in its pavilions and temples. In this way you focus
on small sections in sequence, creating a visual journey through the dense wet foliage and
mountain passes on this summer evening.
Yuan Dynasty 1279-1368
Founded by Kublai Khan (1215-1294)
Mongols took the name Da Yuan (Great Origin)
Even before conquering the Song, Kublai Khan made his capital at Beijing
Built a 2nd grand canal to bring the grain from the south
Beginnings of Chinese theater (created by unemployed scholars)
Pax Mongolica – peace along the entire Silk Rd
1260’s Polo brothers traveled along Silk Rd
KKhan sent back message of peace to the pope
Requested 100 learned priests and oil from lamp in Holy
Sepulchre
1275 Polo brothers returned to Beijing with Marco
Marco’s desc of K Khan’s summer palace became Coleridge’s Xanadu
Describes the overwhelming luxury of Hangzhou
1340 Francesco Pergolotti compiled a trader’s guidebook
details of stopping places and duties levied on each kind of commodity
Perennial problem for China is the control of the Yellow River
“the Yellow River has no respect at all for Chinese law and order”
stability and tendency towards absolutism is often ascribed to the need to control
water
disastrous series of floods
taxation on southern peasants
rebellion >> chaos >> collapse of dynasty
Zhu Yuanzhang, Buddhist monk, became leader of rebel band
1356 captured Nanjing
1368 captured Beijing >> Ming Dynasty
Huang Gongwang, Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains, 1347-50, section of
handscroll, Taipei (inscription states that artist sketched the full composition in
one burst of inspiration and then added to it over several years)
Teacher of daoist philosophy
Literati painting = scholar amateurs who painted to express moods
New intimacy
Loose and flowing brushstrokes
Expressiveness of brushstrokes
Wu Zhen, Bamboo, 1350, album leaf, ink on paper, Taipei
Bamboo = symbol of the ideal Chinese gentleman who bends in adversity
Invention of porcelain: fired at extremely high heat until clay becomes dense and hard
Made of fine white clay
Decorated with finely ground minerals suspended in water and binding agent
Symbols
Elephant = strength
Phoenix = ying or passive feminine energy
Dragon = yang or active masculine energy
Wu Chen (1280-1354), Landscape, Yuan Dynasty, 13th century
Lived as recluse, devoted to poetry, calligraphy and painting
Subtle effects achieved by variety of ink tonality
Temple Vase, Yuan Dynasty, 1351, porcelain, inscribed with prayer and
dedication
Part of altar set along with incense burner as prayer for peace, protection and
prosperity for donor’s family
Earliest example of fine porcelain with cobalt blue underglaze decoration
Floral design with important symbols: phoenix, dragon
Reference to high status, often imperial….also ying and yang
Ming (Brilliant) Dynasty 1368-1644
Promise of reviving ancient glory
Series of great maritime expeditions btw 1405 and 1433
To India, Persian gulf and even Africa
Absolute despotism
Increasing caution and conformity of court
Gone were the free-thinking and speaking of early Song court
Obsession with rank and privilege
Proliferation of petty court rules (like running in the presence of Emperor)
Puritanical
Designed and built the Forbidden City and rebuilt the Great Wall
1583 arrival of Matteo Ricci, Jesuit from Rome
learned Chinese and wrote a dictionary and grammar text
studied the classics and translated 5 into Latin
enamored with Confucius
changed his name to Li Matou
brought presents to the emperor (incl western clock)
emperor remained secluded deep within Forbidden City
Christian missionaries in China destroyed many Buddhist and daoist images
Irony of replacing one set of images with that of another
Chinese architecture: use of wood meant that no building was expected to last for
long
Comfort with reconstruction
Jingdezhen = center of porcelain
Proximity of china clay and china stone which combined together make
porcelain
Technique perfected during Tang Dynasty, as early as 700
In Europe ground glass was combined with clay resulting in much
softer substance
secret discovered in Europe in 1707 by two men working for Elector of
Saxony
>> Dresden/Meissen
1644 rebels captured Beijing
Emperor hung himself
Ming commander enlisted the support of Manchurians to regain city
Manchus conquered city >> Qing Dynasty
Imperial palace was the heart of the empire, which the Chinese believed spread
over the entire world
Court painting flourished
Regional schools emerged
Foreign ambassadors were received only as tribute bearers, until 19th century
Celestial meridian determined the whole layout
Emperor ruled by a mandate from heaven
Performed rituals that were intended to ensure harmony on earth, in tune with
Cosmos >> cosmic symbolism
Squares and circles, cubes and domes
Taihe Dian (Hall of supreme harmony), Imperial Palace, Forbidden City,
Beijing, Ming and Qing Dynasties, 15th century and later
Capital moved from Nanjing to Beijing in 1417
Surrounded by 15 mile wall
Only emperor’s closest family members, attendants and advisors could enter
Persistence of standard Chinese architectural style
Overhanging eaves
Upturned roof lines
Axial plan: dominated by 3 great halls of state
halls elevated on triple tiered white marble platform
Shang Xi, Guan Yu Captures General Pang De, c. 1430
New interest in portraiture
Historical figures as exemplars of virtue
Use of color to highlight important figures
Du Qiong, Nancun Dwellings, Album leaf, 15th century
Expressive quality of line (relate to Chinese calligraphy)
Use of shadow
Wu Wei, Pleasures of Fishing, c. 1490, hanging scroll, ink and color, Beijing
Aerial perspective
No single vanishing point
Landscape seen from above
Dong Qichang, Autumn Mountains, early 17th century, handscroll, Cleveland
Looked back to painting of Yuan period
Attempt to reveal inner structure of nature >> often not naturalistic
“If one considers the uniqueness of natural scenery, then painting is not the equal of
mountains and waters. But if one considers the wonders of brush and ink, then
mountains and waters can never equal painting.”
Meiping Vase, 1426-35, Ming Dynasty, porcelain
Blue and white associated with Chinese porcelain evolved under Ming rule
Marriage of Chinese and Iranian processes and materials
China >> porcelain
Iran >> cobalt-oxide medium (influence of the Mongols)
The Summer Palace, Beijing, late Qing period, completed 1888
Last great architectural achievement of the Manchus
Built by dowager empress Cixi, to west of forbidden city
Funds raised by public subscription to construct a navy
Condemned for extravagance
Qing (Pure) Dynasty 1644-1912
Greatest expansion: recovering Inner Mongolia and Chinese Turkestan and
including for the first time Tibet, Outer Mongolia and Taiwan
Kangxi ruler
We have seriously considered the question of the Europeans….They do
not excite disturbances in the provinces, they do no harm to anyone….and
their doctrine has nothing in common with that of the false sects of the empire,
nor has it any tendency to excite sedition.
Since, then, we do not hinder either the Lamas of Tartary or the bonzes
of China from building temples….much less can we forbid these Europeans,
who teach only good laws, from having also their churches and preaching
their religion publicly in them.
Later
In this Catholic religion, the Society of Peter quarrels with the Jesuits,
and among the Jesuits the Portuguese want only their own nationals in their
church while the French want only French in theirs. This violates the
principles of religion.
1703
With so many Westerners coming to China it has been hard to
distinguish the real missionaries from other white men pretending to be
missionaries…meddlers…out for profit, greedy traders who should not be
allowed to live here….I feat that some time in the future China is going to get
into difficulties with these various Western countries. That is my prediction.
China had little need of European ambassadors or European products
The virtue and prestige of the Celestial Dynasty having spread far and wide,
the kings of the myriad nations come by land and sea with all sorts of precious things.
Consequently there is nothing we lack, as your principal envoy and others have
themselves observed. We have never set much store on strange or ingenious objects,
nor do we need any more of your country’s manufactures.
English passion for tea … to solve the problem of the imbalance of trade….opium
Opium war
1842 Treaty of Nanking
Hong Kong ceded to GB
1860 capture and looting of Beijing by French and English
1895 war btw China and Japan over Korea
Empress Dowager Cixi
Entered palace in 1851 as 16 year old concubine
Gave birth to emperor’s first son – became emperor in 1861
1900 Boxer Rebellion – to rid China of foreigners
1912 abdication and end of Chinese empire
Japanese Woodblock Prints
1854 Commodore Perry led an expedition that forced Japan to end policy of isolation
opened up trade with Far East
set stage for cultural exchange
1867 Paris Universal Exposition
Japanese woodblock prints exhibited
Japanese artists flocked to Paris
Woodblock printing began in China in 4th century AD
6th century: Buddhist missionaries brought technique to Japan
Edo Period 1615-1868
Ukiyo-e school of painting, mid 17th century
Literally translates “pictures of the floating world”
Buddhist notion of transience of material existence
Most popular subjects = theater, dance, female services / leisure genre scenes
Similar subjects to French impressionists
Many ukiyo-e functioned as advertisements for entertainments or celebrated
the performers
in 1760’s landscapes were added to the images of urban amusements
increasingly mobile population
eclecticism: combines 3 spatial techniques
1. birds-eye view combined with overlapping of pictorial planes
no fixed point to define picture’s center
viewer invited to wander through pictorial space
2. western linear perspective
fixed vanishing point
controls placement of viewer outside pictorial space
3. motif of cropped close up
photographic
draws attention to surface
defines or captures certain/precise moment in time
Utagawa Kunisada, The Actor Seki Sanjuro in the Role of Kiogoku Takumi,
1860
Bold forms extend beyond frame
Close-up viewpoint
Stylized facial expression – Kabuki theater
Flattened space
Boldly graphic
Utagawa Kunisada, Scene from Sukeroki, c. 1835
Episode from Kabuki play
Stylization reflects theatrical practices
Figures large in relation to space
Elaborate patterning
Emphasis on flatness of surface
Utagawa Toyokuni, Portrait of the Actor Onoe Matsusuke, 1800
All focus on mask-like face
Geometry of costume
Repetitive curves and lines
Flattened space
Relation between stylization of figure and calligraphy
Kitagawa Utamaro, Young Woman with blackened teeth examining her features
in a mirror, c. 1792-3
Stylization eliminates specificity
Lack of shading, yet sense of 3-d
Arrangement of curved outlines
Intimate, close-up view
Private moment of self-absorption
Captured unaware (like photography)
Voyeurism and exclusion
Leisei Eisen, The Prostitute Hanaoka Holding a Poem
Utamaro’s pupil
Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Tairano Koremochi Waking up from a Drunken Sleep,
1843
Scene from tale of Genjii, an epic Japanese romance
Man sees woman reflected in sake as demon
Sense of place
Scattered leaves and branch >> outdoor setting
Attention to detail
Katsushika Hokusai, Great Wave of Kanagawa, from series, Thirty-six Views of
Mount Fuji, 1831
Series of views from different angles and seasons >> impressionists
Use of Prussian blue imported from Europe
Linear perspective and fore-shortening
Flat, patternistic quality
Arrested movement
Inspired Debussy’s La Mer
Katsushika Hokusai, The Horsetail Gatherer, c. 1840
Landscape creates atmosphere of stillness
Birds-eye view
Diagonals carry viewer back into landscape
Hiroshige = undisputed master of the wood-block medium
10-15,000 editions of each print!
40% represent places never previously depicted
element of surprise to increase sales
invented new traditions (like impressionists’ new subjects/places)
also recalled ancient tradition “pictures of famous places”
visual tradition going back to 10th century
idealized, picture postcard atmosphere >> commercial strategy
vertical format
comparison: Thomas Moran, Grand Canyon with Rainbow, 1912 (left)
Alfred Bierstadt, Yosemite Valley, 1870’s (right)
One of first artists to present an image of American west
Composite views assembled in studio
Theme = frontier quest for peace and prosperity in golden land
Divinely created, unmarked by progress
Tourism – transcontinental railway
Utagawa Hiroshige, Travelers in the Snow at Oi, late 1830’s
Subject of travel
Sense of season
Stark geometric quality
Utagawa Hiroshige, Kasumigaseki, from series, One Hundred Famous Views of
Edo, 1857
Vertical format – harks back to traditions of hanging scrolls
Harmony between kites and inscriptions
Linear perspective and aerial perspective
Transitional times of day
Atmospheric
Abrupt shifts of perspective
Influences:
Hiroshige, Bamboo Quay by Kyo-bashi Bridge >Whistler Nocturne in Blue/Gold: Old
Battersea Bridge
Hiroshige, Plum Park in Kameido > Van Gogh
Sudden Shower over Shinobashi Bridge and Atake >
Hiroshige > Cezanne
Hiroshige > Mary Cassatt