AH 307, Fall 2013

Early Chinese Art: From Antiquity to the Tenth Century

Class: T, R, 11:00-12:15, Elvehjem L 150 Professor: Yuhang Li Office: Elvehjem 218 Office hours: Tuesday: 3:00-5:00 or by appointment Email: yuhang@wisc.edu

Course Description:
This course will introduce art forms and concepts that developed in China from remote antiquity to the mid-10th century. The artworks that survive from this long period were created primarily in the contexts of funerary culture and religion, while knowledge of art made for other purpose is based on texts. Organized chronologically, the course will examine the materials, techniques, and functions of the most important artistic media in each period. These media will include jade-carving, metalwork, sculpture, ceramics, calligraphy, painting, woodblock prints and architecture. We will also consider the aesthetic concepts and social groups associated with the various art forms.

Learning Objectives:
Student will be able to read art historical texts critically to interrogate authors for their argument, evidence, and content. This course will enable students to analyze how an artworks format, materials, and visual properties convey meaning, content, and social function. Students will be able to discuss how an artwork relates to its socio-historical context, andin turnhow its socio-historical context informs our reading of the artwork.

Course Requirement:
Attendance at all class meetings is required and attendance will be taken. The course format is a combination of lecture and discussion. You should do the reading assignments for each block of the course before the general lecture, so that you will get the most out of the presentation and discussion. You do not need to know Chinese for this course, but I do expect you to become familiar with important names and terms in their transliterated spellings. For the most part, the course uses the pinyin spelling system, but some readings use the older Wade-Giles system. Conversion charts are provided on the course website. We will spend time at the beginning of the course to talk about spelling and pronunciation of Chinese to help you build confidence for learning and using important names and terms.

Grading:

Course grades will be based on two examinations, two quizzes and two short writing assignments. The exams will cover the assigned readings and class lectures in just the preceding portion of the course there is no cumulative final exam. Exam questions will include slide identifications and comparisons to test your knowledge of major works and your ability to apply skills of visual analysis learned in class and practiced in the short writing assignments: short-answer questions without slides will address the history, contexts, and ideas associated with early Chinese art. If you miss an exam and have not contacted me in advance, you will need to show me a medical excuse or note from the Office of Student Academic Affairs in order not to receive an F for that exam. For graduate students in Art History, East Asian Languages and Literature, or East Asian Studies, there will be additional meetings and writings assignments, to be arranged after the beginning of the semester. Attendance and course participation: 10% 2 short papers 15%x2=30% 2 quizzes 5%x2=10% Final and Midterm Exams 25%x2=50%

Required Course Textbooks (available at the University bookstore and on Reserve)

1. Clunas, Craig. Art in China. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. 2. Ebrey, Patricia Buckley. Cambridge Illustrated History: China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996 or 2010. (Both editions are good.) 3. Optional: Moore, Oliver. Chinese. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2000.

PDF Files of Other Assigned Readings will be uploaded to Learn@UW AH 307 course material week by week. The PDF file is marked with * in the syllabus. Images:
A web site (http://www.arthistory.wisc.edu/ah307/studyimages.html) is an essential part of this course. It contains reproduction of some important images. For reasons of copyright, you need to connect through the UW computer network in order to see large-size images.

Reading Schedule: Week 1 9/3 Course objectives and policies 9/5 Introduction to Chinas geography, history, language, etc.

Ebrey, pp.10-15, 333-334 (to last paragraph) Clunas, pp.9-13, look at maps on p.75 *Mote, pp.1-25 Moore, pp. 7-17.

Week 2

9/10 Neolithic period (around10,000-2000 B.C)

Ebrey, pp. 16-20. Clunas, pp. 15-17, look at maps on p.75. *Keightley, David N. "Archaeology and Mentality: The Making of China." Representations 18 (1987): 91-128. *Rawson, Introduction, Chinese Jade: from the Neolithic to the Qing, pp.26-36. Optional: Moore, pp.7-19.

9/12 Shang dynasty (C.1600-c.1050B.C.)

Ebrey, pp.21-30 (to header), 36-37. *Bagley, Shang Ritual Bronzes. The Great Bronze Age of China, look at color plates on pp. 79-94 and 135-173. (Kohler Art Library Reserve) Optional: Moore, pp. 18-46 (to header).

Week 3 9/17-9/19 Zhou dynasty (C.1050-256 B.C.)

Ebrey, pp. 30-35, 38-59. Clunas, pp. 22-29 (to header). *Wu Hung, Concept of Liqi and The Legacy of Ritual Art in Monumentality, pp. 1827. Browse more images of bronze vessels and jade objects: Great Bronze Age of China, look at plats on pp. 215-238 and 271293. (Kohler Art Library reserve) Rawson, look at examples on pp.229-231, 241-243, 252-255, 264-276, 281-284. (Kohler Art Library reserve) Optional: Moore, pp. 46 (from header)-53.

Map quiz

Week 4 9/24-9/26 Qin dynasty(221-207 B.C.) , The Tomb of the First Emperor of Qin
Ebrey, pp.60-63. Clunas, 29-32 (to the end of the first paragraph) *Kesner, Ladislav. "Likeness of No One: (Re)presenting the First Emperor's Army." Art Bulletin 77, no. 1 (1995): 115-32. Optional: Moore, pp.54-65.

Week 5

10/1

Han dynasty (206B.C.-A.D.220) (1): Images of the everyday

Ebrey, pp.63-85. Clunas, pp.32-35 (to header) Powers, Martin J. Art and Political Expression in Early China. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991, pp. 1-35.

10/2

Han dynasty (2): Imagination of afterlife

*Lillian Lan-ying Tseng, The Journeys to Heaven

Week 6

10/8

Han dynasty (3): Prince Liu Shengs tomb

*Wu Hung, The Prince of Jade Revisited: The Material Symbolism of Jade as Observed in Mancheng Tomb

SHORT WRITINTING ASSIGNMENT #1 DUE (DETAILS WILL BE POSTED LATER). 10/10 Han dynasty (4): Wu Liang Shrine: Ideology, Cosmology, Style
*Wu, Hung. The Wu Liang Shrine: The Ideology of Early Chinese Pictorial Art.

Week 7

10/15

Han dynasty (5): Mapping early Taoist Art

*Mote, pp.59-76. *Wu, Hung. "Mapping Early Taoist Art," 77-93.

10/17 Week 8 10/22 10/24

Midterm Prep Midterm exam Period of Disunity (220-589)(1): Northwest region: Silk road and Buddhist art

Ebrey, pp.86-107. Clunas, pp. 35-41. (to last paragraph), 42, 46 (box), 50, 71 (box), 8997(to header), 134-138 (to end paragraph) *Monks and Merchants: Silk Road Treasures from Northwest China

Week 9

10/29

Period of Disunity (2): Yungang and Longmen Buddhist caves

*De Bary, Buddhism: v1. Pp. 415-421. *Huntington, John C. "The Iconography and Iconology of the 'Tan Yao Caves' at Yungang." Oriental Art 32, no. 2 (1986): 142-60.

10/31

Period of Disunity (3): Painting tradition in both North and South

Clunas, pp.35-43. *Silbergeld, Chinese Painting Style, pp. 115. *Wu Hung, The Origins of Chinese Painting, in Three Thousand Years of Chinese Paintings, pp. 34-58

Week 10 11/5

Period of Disunity (4): Gu Kaizhi and the Birth of Painting

*Spiro, Audrey. "New Light on Gu Kaizhi: Window of the Soul." 1-17.

11/7

Period of Disunity (5): Wang Xizhi and the Formation of Calligraphy

*Harrist, A Letter from Wang Hsi-chih and the Culture of Chinese Calligraphy Moore, pp. 65 (from header)-68. Chronology quiz

Week 11 11/12

Sui (581-681) and Tang dynasty (618-906)(1) Tang dynasty, tomb figurines
Ebrey, pp. 108-135 Clunas, pp. 41 (from last paragraph), 43-49 (to end of paragraph), 138140 (to end of paragraph). *Yang Hong, Chinese Sculptures, pp.124-143 (to header) * Cahill, Suzanne. Our Women Are Acting like Foreigners Wives! Western influence on Tang Dynasty Womens Fashion,103-18. 5

Yang, look at recent finds on pp.450-501. (Art Library reserve)

11/14

Meet in the Chazen Museum, Object Study Room

*Valenstein, Suzanne. Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, pp.63-74

Week 12 11/19

Tang dynasty (2): Court Art *Wu Hung, The Sui and Tang Dynasties, in Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting, pp.59-83.

SHORT WRITINTING ASSIGNMENT #2 DUE (DETAILS WILL BE POSTED LATER). 11/21 Dunhuang Cavethe Golden Age of Buddhist Art
Clunas, pp.97-112 (to header) *Whitfield, Cave Temples of Mogao, 169

Week 13 11/26

Buddhist Heaven and Hell *Teiser, Stephen F. "Picturing Purgatory: Illustrated Versions of the Scripture on the Ten Kings." 169-97.

11/28

Thanksgiving break

Week 14 12/3-12/5 Five Dynasties (907-960) (1)

Ebrey, p.136 (to last paragraph), 164-167 (to last paragraph) *Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting, pp.87-102. Yang, look at recent finds on pp.506-513.

Week 15 12/10

Five Dynasties (2)

Wu Hung, The Night Entertainment of Han Xizai, the Night Entertainment handscroll in reproduction: Images Project, CAEA, University of Chicago: (also t.b. posted on Link to digital reproduction available online at http://scrolls.uchicago.edu/view.php?env=STD_PUB&_scroll_id=9&lan g=default

12/12 Week 16 17/12

Review Final Exam 12:25-2:25 pm

AH 307: Books for Reserve at Kohler Art Library

HD2346 C6 B37 2007
Barbieri-Low, Anthony. Artisans in Early Imperial China, Washington, 2007.

N+1040 T48 1997 Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting. Richard Barnhart, et al. comp. New Haven and Beijing, 1997. NK 3634 A2 C465 1973 (also CL with call number PL 1171 C557 1973) Chiang, Yee. Chinese Calligraphy, 3rd ed. Cambridge, 1973. +N 7343.23 +C55 2004 China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200-750 A.D. James C.Y. Watt et al., Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York & New Haven, 2004. N 7340 C 59 1997 Clunas, Craig. Art in China. Oxford, 1997. DS 721 D37 1999 Ebrey, Patricia. The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. New York, 1996. PL 1281 F3413 1987 Fazzioli, Edoardo. Chinese Calligraphy: From Pictorial to Ideogram. New York, 1988. ND 2849 D86 F73 2004 Fraser, Sarah E. Performing the Visual: The Practice of Buddhist Wall Painting in China and Central Asia, 618-960. Stanford, 2004. NK +7983.22 +N48 1980 The Great Bronze Age of China, ed. Wen Fong. New York, 1980. N7340 L38 2000 Ledderose, Lothar. Ten Thousand Things: Module and Mass Production in Chinese Art. Princeton, 2000. PL 1171 M66 2000 Moore, Oliver. Chinese. Berkeley & Los Angeles, 2000. DS 721 M73 1989B Mote, F. W. Intellectual Foundations of China, 2nd ed. New York, 1989. NB 1880 C6 P.68 1991 Powers, Martin. Art and Political Expression in Early China. New Haven, 1991.

NK 5750.2. C6 R38 Rawson, Jessica. Chinese Jade from the Neolithic to the Qing. London, 1995. Wu Hung. The Art of the Yellow Springs: Understanding Chinese Tombs, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i
Press, 2010. (online book) NB1280 W77 1989

Wu Hung. The Wu Liang Shrine: the ideology of early Chinese pictorial art, Stanford, 1989.
N7343.2 W8 1995

Wu Hung. Monumentality in Early Chinese Art and Architecture, Stanford, 1995

ND 1040 S475 1982 Silbergeld, Jerome. Chinese Painting Style. Seattle, 1982. NK 4165 V34 1989 Valenstein, Suzanne. Handbook of Chinese Ceramics. 2nd ed. New York, 1989. DS+715+G651999 Yang, Xiaoneng. The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology. Washington, 1999.