ARTH/EAST 357 Early Chinese Art Fall 2008 Arts W-215, MW 2:35-3:55 PM Instructor: Hajime Nakatani Office Address: 3434 McTavish, rm 401 Office Phone no: 514-398-3926 Email: hajime.nakatani@mcgill.ca Office Hours: Tu 1.30-4pm or by appointment N.B. MCGILL UNIVERSITY VALUES ACADEMIC INTEGRITY. THEREFORE ALL STUDENTS MUST UNDERSTAND THE MEANING AND CONSEQUENCE OF CHEATING, PLAGIARISM AND OTHER ACADEMIC OFFENCES UNDER THE CODE OF STUDENT CONDUCT AND DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURES (See www.mcgill.ca/integrity for more information). ACCORDING TO SENATE REGULATIONS, INSTRUCTORS ARE NOT PERMITTED TO MAKE SPECIAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR FINAL EXAMS. PLEASE CONSULT THE CALENDAR, SECTION 4.7.2.1, GENERAL UNIVERSITY INFORMATION AND REGULATIONS AT WWW.MCGILL.CA. Course Descrition: Survey of Chinese art and visual culture during the pre-imperial and early imperial periods (ca. 4000BCE to ca. 900CE). A wide range of visual images and media (painting, architecture, inscription, funerary art) will be examined in the historical context of the rise and development of imperial order and the emergence of diverse religious trends. Requirements: The course will consist of lectures and occasional class discussions. Requirements are: 1. Attendance and participation 2. Map and chronology quizzes 2. Mid-term exam: 1) In-class exam consisting of three slide comparisons. 2) A brief take-home essay (3-4 pages). List of essay topics will be handed out at the exam. 3. Final exam: 1) In-class exam consisting of three slide comparisons. 2) A take-home essay (5-6 pages). List of essay topics will be handed out at the last class. Grade Determination: Map & chronology quizzes: 5% each Mid-term in-class: 20% Mid-term take-home essay: 20%
Final in-class: 25% Final take-home essay: 25% Readings: There are no textbooks for the course. All readings are available at Redpath Reserve. A course pack is available for purchase at the McGill Bookstore that includes most readings (i.e. unless indicated otherwise in the table of content). Recommended Background Readings: The following are not required readings, but they are good references to gain an overview of Chinese art and history: Gernet, Jacques. A History of Chinese Civilization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972. Thorp, Robert L., and Richard E. Vinograd. Chinese Art & Culture. New York: Abrams, 2001. Schedule: Week 1-2 (Sep. 3) Introduction I. BEFORE CHINA Week 2-1 (Sep 8) The Neolithic Period Keightley, David N. "Archaeology and Mentality: The Making of China." Representations 18 (1987): 91-128. Week 2-2 (Sep 10) The Origins of Writing Keightley, David N. "Art, Ancestors, and the Origins of Writing in China." Representations 56 (1996): 68-95. II. DEATH TO LIFE: EARLY IMPERIAL ART AND COSMOLOGY Week 3-1 (Sep. 15) Structure and Evolution of Early Chinese Tombs Wu, Hung. Monumentality in Early Chinese Art and Architecture. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1995, 77-121 (chapter 2, except last section). Chronology quiz
Week 3-2 (Sep. 17) Shang to Zhou Dynasties: Ancestral Cult and the Evolution of Shang-Zhou Bronze Vessels Ledderose, Lothar. Ten Thousand Things: Module and Mass Production in Chinese Art. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000, 25-49 (chapter 2). Map quiz Week 4-1 (Sep. 22) Qin-Han Imperial Tombs: The Tombs of the First Emperor of Qin and Han Emperors Kesner, Ladislav. "Likeness of No One: (Re)presenting the First Emperor's Army." Art Bulletin 77, no. 1 (1995): 115-32. Week 4-2 (Sep. 24) Qin-Han Imagination of the Afterlife Wu, Hung. "Art in a Ritual Context: Rethinking Mawangdui." Early China 17 (1992): 111-44. Week 5-1 (Sep 29) Images of the Everyday Powers, Martin J. Art and Political Expression in Early China. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991, chapter 1. Week 5-2 (Oct 1) Wu Liang Shrine: Ideology, Cosmology, Style Wu, Hung. The Wu Liang Shrine: The Ideology of Early Chinese Pictorial Art. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1989, Epilogue. Week 6-1 (Oct 6) The Capital City Chang an Wu, Hung. Monumentality in Early Chinese Art and Architecture. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1995, 143-188 (chapter 3). Week 6-2 (Oct 8) Art and Cosmology Munakata, Kiyohiko. "Concepts of Lei and Kan-lei in Early Chinese Art Theory." In Theories of the Arts in China, edited by Susan Bush and Christian Murck, 105-31. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983. Week 7-1 (Oct 13) Thanksgiving Day: No class Week 7-2 (Oct 15) Midterm Prep Week 8-1 (Oct 20) Midterm
III. RELIGIOUS ART: BUDDHISM AND DAOISM Week 8-2 (Oct 22) Intersection Between Daoism and Buddhism Wu, Hung. "Buddhist Elements in Early Chinese Art (2nd and 3rd Centuries AD)." Artibus Asiae XLVII (1986): 263-73. Week 9-1 (Oct 27) Cave as Imperial Monument (Yungang) Huntington, John C. "The Iconography and Iconology of the 'Tan Yao Caves' at Yungang." Oriental Art 32, no. 2 (1986): 142-60. Week 9-2 (Oct 29) Cave as Site of Devotion & Meditation (Dunhuang) Abe, Stanley K. "Art and Practice in a Fifth-Century Buddhist Temple." Ars Orientalis 20 (1991): 1-31. Week 10-1 (Nov 3) Buddhist Heaven and Hell Teiser, Stephen F. "Picturing Purgatory: Illustrated Versions of the Scripture on the Ten Kings." In Images de Dunhuang: dessins et peintures sur papier des fonds Pelliot et Stein., edited by Jean-Pierre Drege, 169-97. Paris: École française d'extrême-orient, 1999. Week 10-2 (Nov 5) Making Buddhist Images as Religious Practice Sharf, Robert H. "The Scripture on the Production of Buddha Images." In Religions of China in Practice, edited by Jr. Donald S. Lopez, 261-7. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996. Week 11-1 (Nov 10) Portraiture and Buddhist Realism Faure, Bernard. The Rhetoric of Immediacy: A Cultural Critique of Chan/Zen Buddhism. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1991, chapters 7 & 8. Week 11-2 (Nov 12) Daoist Ritual Art Wu, Hung. "Mapping Early Taoist Art." In Taoism and the Arts of China, edited by Stephen Little and Shawn Eichman, 77-93. Chicago: Art Institut of Chicago, 2000. Week 12-1 (Nov 17) The Heavenly Script Lagerwey, John. "The Oral and the Written in Chinese and Western Religion." In Religion und Philosophie in Ostasien, edited by Gert Naundorf, Karl-Heinz Pohl and Hans-Hermann Schmidt, 301-21. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 1985.
IV. ART OF THE BRUSH: INTERSECTION BETWEEN ART AND WRITING Week 12-2 (Nov 19) The Art of the Brush Billeter, Jean-François. The Chinese Art of Writing. Geneva: Skira, 1990: 45-60. Week 13-1 (Nov 24) Wang Xizhi and the Formation of Calligraphy Billeter, Jean-François. The Chinese Art of Writing. Geneva: Skira, 1990: 85-108. Week 13-2 (Nov 26) Gu Kaizhi and the Birth of Painting Spiro, Audrey. "New Light on Gu Kaizhi: Window of the Soul." Journal of Chinese Religions 16 (1988): 1-17. Week 14-1 (Dec 1) Tang Court Art Goldberg, Stephen J. "Court Calligraphy of the Early Tang Dynasty." Artibus Asiae 49, no. 3/4 (1989): 189-237. Week 14-2 (Dec 2 - NOTE DATE!!!) Final Prep Exam Week Final Exam