Arts of China

3 Units

This course explores a selection of major developments in Chinese visual and material culture from ancient times to the present day. We consider works in multiple media including bronzes, pottery, sculpture, calligraphy, paintings, ceramics and installations. We look into the roles of art in society, the relationship of art to political authority, the place of art in religious practice and experience, connections between art and literature, and how art relates to the expression of personal, social, political, and cultural identity. We pay particular attention to landscape painting; pictorial and sculptural programs of Buddhist grottoes; art commissioned and collected by the imperial court; objects associated with Daoist, Buddhist, and Confucian religious practices and sacred sites; art produced during periods of non-Chinese rule under the Mongols and Manchus; the affects of foreign styles and ideas on artists; and the role of Chinese artists in the contemporary global art world and market. We also examine the role of museums in selecting, preserving, and presenting Chinese art in the 20th and 21st century. Visits to the Cleveland Museum of Art form an integral part of the course. Offered as ARTH 307 and ARTH 407 . Counts as a CAS Global & Cultural Diversity course.