Foundations of Literati & Culture

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

At present when we consider Chinese art and culture, we have ideas about objects we find in museums and collections. This course examines how some of these objects came to be regarded as art. More specifically some objects and styles of painting are associated with the literati, a highly educated group of scholars who established certain forms of culture as their own. By looking at the contexts of when ceramics, bronzes, calligraphy and some forms of painting were first assigned as art we can see the literati mind guides the process. This course examines the construction of such objects as literati art.