Emerging and Contemporary Arts in Asia

A set of vocabulary flashcards detailing traditional and contemporary art forms, techniques, and platforms across China, Japan, South Korea, and India.

Shanshui

Chinese landscape painting, also known as mountain water painting, characterized by monochromatic colors, sparse strokes, and a focus on Nature, Heaven, and Humankind.

Tang Dynasty Poets

The first poets credited with introducing the combination of painting and poetry into a single artwork.

Chinese Calligraphy Materials

Traditional tools consisting of brush pens made from animal hair and black ink made from pine soot and animal resin, mounted on scrolls.

Small Seal Style

A style of Chinese calligraphy where characters are elongated and feature lines of even thickness throughout.

Clerical Style

A formal style of Chinese calligraphy historically used on official documents.

Regular Style

A Chinese calligraphy style that is less formal and heavy in appearance.

Running Style

A fluid style of Chinese calligraphy executed with a single sweep of the brush, creating a sense of speed and fluency.

Woodblock Printing

One of the oldest and most highly developed visual art forms in Japan during the Edo Period (1603-1867).

Hiroshige

A prominent Japanese artist who created more than 5,000 woodblock prints during the Edo Period.

Ukiyo-e

A popular style of Japanese visual art whose name translates to 'pictures of the floating world'.

Origami

The Japanese cultural art of transforming a sheet of paper into a finished sculpture using folding and sculpting techniques.

Kesho

Kabuki face painting art used in Japanese theater to convey a performer's specific role through facial features.

Manga

Japanese comic books printed in black and white that encompass all cartooning, comics, and animations for all ages and genres.

Korean Masks

Traditional masks worn in war by soldiers and horses, crafted with two expressions that shift depending on the angle at which the head is held.

Talchum

A regional term for Korean mask dances originating from Hwanghae, performed while miming, speaking, singing, and wearing a mask.

Webtoon

A full-color digital comic medium originating in South Korea, designed in a vertical scrolling format for mobile reading.

Naver Webtoon and KakaoPage

Major digital publishing platforms for webtoons originating in South Korea.

Toonsutra

A webtoon publishing platform operating in India that offers global webcomics, graphic novels, and manga in Indian languages.

Cell Animation

A traditional animation technique where individual frames are hand-drawn on transparent sheets.

Stop-Motion Animation

An animation method that physically manipulates real-world objects to produce a tactile, handmade aesthetic.

CGI

Computer Generated Images used in modern animation to create cost-effective and faster visual productions.

Masterful Color Grading

A post-production technique applied in music videos to establish specific moods and tones.