Nov
2, 4, 6

W (9/9) Images of Asia and Fundamentals of Visual Analysis

 

PART I: INDIA

*** Useful Resource for Part I (optional reading) Historical Outline of India

F (9/11) Prehistoric Beginnings

Dehejia, 25-40.
"The Ancient Indus Civilization" read: "Introduction" and browse slide sets from main page

Week 2: Buddhist Art in Early India: This Week's Timeline

M (9/14) Origins of Buddhist Art

Dehejia, 40-48.
"About Buddhism" read: all sections except Dhammapada
"The Edicts of King Asoka" read: "King Asoka" and select a few of the edicts to comment on in class

W (9/16) Stupas and Stories

Dehejia, 51-76.
Great Stupa at Sanchi

F (9/18) The Buddha Image

Dehejia, 79-99 and 103-124.
Acts of the Buddha (Buddhacarita by Ashvagosha (2nd c. CE)), especially chapter 4
"Buddhist Symbols," pay special attention to "Mudra"

Week 3: Seeing the Divine: Hinduism and the Visual Arts

M (9/21) Seeing the Divine: Image and Ritual Practice

Dehejia, 137-152.
"Meeting God: Elements of Devotion in India"

W (9/23) Hindu Iconography: Shiva, Visnu, and Devi

Dehejia, 429; entries on Devi, Shiva, and Vishnu and scan other entries for gods and terms related to these three
"The Sensuous and the Sacred: Chola Bronzes from South India" exhibition at the Freer-Sackler Gallery
"Devi: The Great Goddess," exhibition at the Freer-Sackler Gallery

F (9/25) Hindu Temple

Dehejia, 124-134; 155-170.
Diana Eck, "Image, Temple, and Pilgrimage," in Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image in India (electronic reserve)

**DUE: First Paper, Formal Analysis of Early Indian Art. ALL STUDENTS MUST SUBMIT

M (9/28) Islam Comes to India: The Turkish Sultans and Mughal Empire

Dehejia, 249-272. 
"The Birth of Islam" from Metropolitan Museum of Art Timeline

W (9/30) Imperial Visions of Grandeur: Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan

Dehejia, 299-334
"The Art of the Mughals" from Met Museum timeline (read both "before 1600" and "after 1600")
Online virtual tour of the Taj Mahal

F (10/2) Collaboration and Resistance: The Rajput Courts

Dehejia, 337-362.
"Power and Desire: South Asian Painting from the San Diego Museum"; read "Curator's Essay," "The Royal Courts," "Rule and Domain," and "Looking at South Asian Paintings" (follow all links from those pages)

useful timelines for this week from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Timeline (not required reading):
"South Asia and the Himalayan Region, 1800–1900 a.d"
"South Asia and the Himalayan Region, 1900–present"

M (10/5) Missionaries and Imperialists: The Portuguese and British

Dehejia, 365-376 and 379-406.

W (10/7) Art and Nationalism: The Early 20th Century

Dehejia, 409-424.

" The Rise of Modernity in South Asia" from Met Timeline
"Early Modernists and Indian Traditions" from Met Timeline
"Modern Art in India" from Met Timeline

F (10/9)  International Modernism: Indian Art Since Liberation

"Postmodernism: Recent Developments in Art in India"

**DUE: Second Paper, Option 1: Expository Essay on Indian Miniature Painting (Option 2 will be due later in the semester)

 

PART TWO: CHINA

***Useful Reference for Part Two (optional reading) Chinese Historical Outline

Week 6: The Religio-Political Forcefield: Ritual Vessels in Early China

W (10/14) Early Chinese Bronze Culture

Clunas, 9-25.
"The Great Bronze Age: An Exhibit from the P.R.C." Use gallery on right of page; view all bronze vessel images
Robert Bagley, "Meaning and Explanation"

F (10/16) The First Emperor's Tomb

Clunas, 25-32.
The Museum of Qin Shihuang Terra-cotta Warriors and Horses.
Hoh, Erling, "China's Great Enigma," Archaeology 54 (2001).

 

Week 7: Early Imperial China: Art Expresses Belief

M (10/19) Ideas About Life and Death: Han Dynasty Tomb Art

Clunas, 32-43.

W (10/21)Buddhism Arrives in China: Early Cave Monuments

Clunas, 89-112.
"Buddhist Art and the Trade Routes," at the Asia Society
"The Universal Gate of Guanshi yin Bodhisattva " from The Lotus Sutra, chapter 25

F (10/23) Hidden Powers: The Forbidden City

The Palace Museum (Forbidden City) Virtual Tour. Browse the site, especially the "Forbidden City 360" section
"Secular Architecture," especially section on "The Forbidden City" from Grove Art Online Dictionary

**DUE: Third Paper, Option 1: Argumentative Essay on First Emperor's Tomb (Option 2 will be due later in the semester)

M (10/26)

W (10/28) Visualizing Guo Xi's Early Spring

Clunas, 45-63.
Kuo Hsi, "The Significance of Landscape"
View Paintings by Guo Xi and Fan Kuan at the National Palace Museum, Taiwan.
Click on Sung (in small green letters); view the first two images, "Travelers's" and "Early Spring"

F (10/30) Visual Language: Confucian Theories of Painting and Calligraphy

Clunas, 140-169 and 187-194
Bush and Shih, extracts.(on handout sheet for today

M (11/2) Writing in China (come prepared to lift a brush)

Clunas, 135-141.
Addiss, 77-93.
Jiang Kui, Sequel to the Treatise on Calligraphy

W (11/4) The Development of "Modern" Chinese Art

Clunas, 194-209 and 84-87.

F (11/6) Chinese Artists and the Communist State

Clunas, 209-223.
View: "Inner Visions: Avant Garde Art in China" (video)
Xu Bing dot com

PART III: JAPAN

*** Useful Reference for Part III (optional reading): Japanese Historical Overview. Click on "History" in Japan from A-Z.

Week 10: Contexts for Understanding Early Japanese Art

M (11/9)Prehistoric Japanese Ceramics

Addiss, 7-19.

W (11/11) Shinto and the Arts in Early Japan

Addiss, pages 33 and 15-24.
"Sacred Spaces in Shinto"

F (11/13) Library Session; Discussion of Final Project

**DUE: Fourth Paper, Review of Online "Exhibition" (All Students Must Submit this Paper)

M (11/16) Buddhism Comes to Japan

Addiss, 35-53

W (11/18) Sesshu Toyo: Zen Buddhism and Individual Expression (come prepared to lift a brush)

Addiss, 58- 61.
“Japan, 1400-1600”

F (11/20) The Tale of Genji: Text and Image

Addiss, page 75 and 55-58.
Overview of The Tale of Genji; read "Background" and Summary"
Murasaki Shikibu, Chapter 36, "Oak Tree," from The Tale of Genji

M (11/23) The Tea Ceremony

Addiss, 24-32.
"The Tea Room," Section IV. from Kakuzo Okakura, The Book of Tea, (1906).
"Quiet Beauty"
Soetsu Yanagi, The Kizaemon Tea-bowl, (1931) in The Unknown Craftsman,190-196.

**DUE: Second Paper, Option 2: Expository Essay on Sesshu's Broken Ink Painting (Students who submitted Option 1 do not need to write this paper)

THANKSGIVING BREAK

Week 12: Popular Pictures of the Edo Period

M (11/30)Gardens in Japan

Addiss, 117-134.
Japanese Gardens Virtual Tours.Read general information and do an extensive tour of one garden.

W (12/2)Hakuin's Vision: Teaching Zen Through Art

Addiss, 62-66.
Paintings by Hakuin
A Short Biography of Hakuin by Don Webley

F (12/4) Prints and Patrons (possible museum visit)

Addiss, 95-115.
and The Floating World of Yukiyo-e: Shadows Dreams and Substance, online exhibition at the Library of Congress, read "Overview" and "Major Genres"
Leutner, "Saikaku's Parting Gift. Translations from Saikaku Okimiyage," in Monumenta Nipponica 30:4 (1975). Read at least one of the stories beginning on page 369.

**DUE: Third Paper, Option 2: Argumentative Essay on Soetsu Yanagi's tea ceremony aesthetics (Students who submitted Option 1 need not write this paper)

Week 13: Modern Japanese Art

M (12/7) Modern Japanese Prints

 

W (12/9) Japanese Artists in the Atomic Age

 

F (12/11) International Dimensions of Contemporary Japanese Arts

"Hiroshima" by the photographer Hiromi Tsuchida
Masami Teraoka's Art Theater
Yayoi Kusama's Official Site