Chinese Art

• Chinese art can be monumental and grand but also small and precious

• Artists apprenticed with master; religious and political patrons

• Often reflect one of two different philosophies– Daoism– Confucianism

• Importance of calligraphy as an art form

• Love and respect of nature

Daoism

• Dao= “the way”

• Laozi

• Emphasized religious journey searching for self-expression

• Oneness with nature, balance

• Representation in art

Confucianism

• Confucius

• Stresses education, devotion to family, mutual respect

• Huge focus on tradition

• Behavior, relationships, duty

Army of Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi, terra-cotta, c. 210 BCE, Qin Dynasty, Lintong, China

A Chinese Army Marching Into the Next World

• Archaeology-1974

• 8000 warriors, 100 wooden chariots, 2 bronze chariots, 30,000 weapons uncovered so far

• Scholars believe the soldiers were not meant to be seen

• Elaborate mausoleum designed to take emperor into the next life

• Started by Emperor Qin when he took the throne

• Made great advancements in China but brutal

• 700,000 laborers worked on army over 35 yrs

• Daoism represented

Literati

• Scholarly artists formed a counter-culture

• Defied tradition

• Often painted on paper, symbolic

• Painted for themselves rather than for fame/mass acceptance

Scrolls• Handscrolls-horizontal, can be unrolled

• Hanging scrolls-vertical, meant to display short term

• Colophon panels

• Neither for permanent display

• Taken out and admired, placed in special cabinet

• Silks often used

• Read right to left

• Relationship of painting and writing-especially with Literati artists

Dong QiChang, Dwelling in the Qingbian Mountains ,

1617, hanging scroll, ink on paper, Ming Dynasty.

• Literati artist

• Wealthy art critic and collector, also accomplished artist

• Painted in a way that was modern– Treatment of mountains looks very pattern-like– Composition is flattened by technique

Shitao, Man in a House Beneath a Cliff, ink on paper, Qing Dynasty, 17th century

• Literati painter who started a bold new movement in landscape painting

• Monk isolated in forbidding landscape

• Inaccessible terrain

• Dots of color arbitrary