Course Code and Course Title

[CHES5150] Chinese Painting: Aesthetics and History

Time and Venue

Wed 10:30 - 13:15
YIA_502

Instructor

Prof. Yizhou Wang

Course Description

Through weekly on-site face-to-face sessions, the course provides an overview of premodern Chinese paintings and will guide the students to examine various topics in the study of the history of Chinese paintings, covering a long-time span from early China, through medieval and early modern periods. It introduces a range of approaches and perspectives to investigate the visual and textual primary materials from different sources and various contexts, e.g., tombs, Buddhist and Daoist temples, courts and imperial palaces, scholars’ studios, and women’s inner quarters. It focuses on the ink paintings on silk or paper, but also touches upon the mural paintings on the walls and considers the intermediality of Chinese paintings in relation to the pictorial arts of other media, e.g., ceramics, woodblock illustrations.

Course Outline

Week 1: Introduction

Week 2: Paintings for the Yellow Springs

Week 3: Paintings as Narrative Illustrations and Didactic Agents

Week 4: Figure Painting and Portraiture

Week 5: Study Trip (Hong Kong Museum of Art)

Week 6: Efficacious Landscape Painting and Political Authorities

Week 7: Emperors’ Paintings and Collecting Practices

Week 8: What is Chinese Literati Painting?

Week 9: Buddhist and Daoist Paintings

Week 10: Female Patronage and Women Artists

Week 11: Student Presentations