The Arts of China
Spring 2017
Instructor: Deng Fei
Office: HGX209
Office Phone: 55664415
Mobile Phone: 15601869787
Office Hours: by appointment
Email: dengfei@fudan.edu.cn
Textbook:
Michael Sullivan: The Arts of China, 5th eds, Berkeley, 2008.
Craig Clunas: Art in China, Oxford, 2009.
R.L.Thorp and R.E. Vinograd: Chinese Art and Culture, New York, 2001.
Course Objectives:
This course is a chronological and thematic survey of Chinese art from the Shang period to the 20th century. Topics will cover major categories of Chinese arts, such as jade, bronze, painting, calligraphy and ceramics, in different contexts. The goal of this course is to consider the interrelationship between the visual properties of art objects and their materials, techniques, and the social, religious, and cultural contexts of their production. There are no prerequisites for this course. The course targets the enhancement of the following skills: to provide an understanding of the development of Chinese art; to increase knowledge and understanding of Chinese art and archaeology in general, and key art work and archaeological finds in particular; to increase student’s ability to evaluate ideas and arguments critically.
Course Requirements:
Students are expected to attend all lectures and sections and participate in discussion. Each student needs to give a 15-20 minute oral presentation on Chinese art and archaeology in the 14/15th weeks. At the end of the course, students are required to write a research paper related to Chinese art. The paper should incorporate readings from the course syllabus in addition to other sources. Students may consult with the instructor before deciding on a final topic.
Grading:
Attendance and Participation: 10%
Oral Presentation : 30%
Research Paper: 60%
Course Schedule:
Week 1 Introduction (March 2)
Art of the Early Bronze Age
Week 2 Art of the Western Zhou (March 9)
Week 3 Art of the Eastern Zhou (March 23)
Week 4 Art of the Qin and Han Periods I (March 30)
Week 5 Art of the Qin and Han Periods II (April 6)
Week 6 Art of the Three Kingdoms and the Six Dynasties (April 13)
Week 7 Elite and Court Art of the Sui and Tang Dynasties (April 20)
Week 8 Religious and Mortuary Art of the Sui and Tang Dynasties (April 27)
Week 9 Court and Elite Art of the Five Dynasties and the Song Period (May 4)
Week 10 Religious and Mortuary Art of the Song Periods (May 11)
Week 11 Art of the Literati of the Yuan Period (May 18)
Week 12 Art of the Ming Period (May 25)
Week 13 A visit to the Shanghai Museum (June 1)
Week 14 Art of the Qing Period (June 8)
Week 15 Oral Presentations (June 15)
Recommended Reading:
L. Michael and E. L. Shaughnessy eds., The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 B.C., New York, 1999.
K.C. Chang, Archaeology of Ancient China, 4th eds, New Heaven, 1987.
W. Fong, The Great Bronze Age of China, New York, 1980.
J. Rawson ed., The British Museum Book of Chinese Art, London, 1992.
R. Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting, New Haven, 1997.
W. Fong, Beyond Representation: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, 8th－14th Century, New York, 1992.
W. Fong and James Watt, Possessing the Past: Treasures from the NationalPalaceMuseum, Taipei, New York, 1996.
S. Bush and C. Murck eds., Theories of the Arts in China, Princeton, 1983.
A. Murck and W Fong eds., Words and Images, New York, 1991.
S. Abe, Ordinary Images, Chicago, 2002.
R. Whitfield and A. Farrer, Caves of the Thousand Buddhas: Chinese Art from the Silk Route, London, 1990.
S. Little, Taoism and the Arts of China, Chicago, 2000.
J. Cahill, Hills Beyond a River: Chinese Painting of the Yuan Dynasty, 1279－1368, New York, 1976.
J. Cahill, The Compelling Image; Nature and Style in Seventeenth-Century Chinese Painting, Cambridge, Mass., 1982.
Kao Mayching, Twentieth-Century Chinese Painting, Hong Kong 1988.