Chinese Art Final

Guanyin — wood with polychrome, Liao or Jin dynasty, 11th or 12th century

• bodhisattva of compassion, mercy, kindness

• female depicted

• realistic, naturalized, court fashion

Gu Hongzhong, The Night Entertainments of Han Xizai, handscroll, ink and color on silk, Song dynasty

• late night lavish party of the courts with many forms of entertainment

• turbulent political climate, psychology of the court minister

Emperor Huizong, Five-Colored Parakeet, hanging scroll, ink and color on silk, Song dynasty

• “slender gold” script

• “feminine”

• divine imagery of animals

• Intersection between politics and art

Master Li, Dream Journey through the Xiao and Xiang Rivers, handscroll, ink on paper, Song dynasty

• place of exile and reverance for monks

• encourages finding meaning in painting, not realistic

Eighteen Songs on a Nomad flute, handscroll, Song dynasty

• Ladu Wenji’s Return to China

• kidnapped, forced to marry, had to leave her children

• displaced, awat from home, longing, sadness

Ma Yuan, On a mountain path in spring, album leaf, ink and color on silk, Song dynasty

• consort of the Emperor Ningzong

• court artist

• Emperor composes and writes incouplet, artist responds

• man and nature — presense sets things alight, disturbs nature

Ding ware bowl incised with peonies, white glaze, lip banded with copper, proto-porcelain, Song dynasty

• silhouette, still lines

• simple in shape

Ru ware brush washer, bluish-green glazed stoneware, Song dynasty

• extremely rare

• simplicity of work, deliberative crackle effect

• small, precious, aesthetic

Guan ware vase, reddish brown stoneware body, grayish green glaze, Song dynasty

• imitates ancient forms of art

• similar to Jade cong tubes and ritual bronzes

• collection culture

Cizhou pillow, stoneware painted brown on white slip under clear glaze, Song

• very utilitarian

• painting done quickly because they were made at mass

Jian ware tea bowl, brown stoneware body w “hare’s fur” glaze, silver rim, Song

• glazeness very evident, pooled at bottom

• thickness ideal for tea drinking

• utilitarian, low cost, mass produced

Liu Guandao, Khublai Khan Hunting, hanging scroll, ink and color on silk, Yuan

• trade and communication

• no clear narrative, snapshot of ritualized hunting activity

• affirms Mongolness — absense of hierarchy, welcoming of different cultures

Zhao Mengfu, Mind Landscape of Xie Youyu, handscroll, silk, Yuan

• leftover subject serving Mongol court

• recluse at court

• blue-green landscape — lack of grace, childlike awkwardness, primitiveness

• transcend self into natural world

Guan Daosheng, Bamboo Groves, handscroll, paper, Yuan

• Chinese family, leftover subjects

• scholar-official class not professional

• bamboo strong, resilient, but also delicate, naturalistic

• painting done to be gifted, not monetized

Liang Kai, Shakyamuni Descending, hanging scroll, ink and color, Song

• emerging from mountains after meditation and deprivation

• court painter

• realistic/naturalistic in showing the non-chinese qualities (hanging ears, beard, feet w hair)

Liang Kai, Sixth Patriarch Cutting, hanging scroll, Song

• depicts patriarch/teacher

• done in a monastic setting

• Kai became a monk

• Abstract

Qian Xuan, Wang Xizhi Watching Geese, handscroll, Yuan

• disjuncture, reflection of betraying culture

• blue and green style, primitive

• leftover subject

• drawing inspiration from natural world

• using history to comment on the present

Ni Zan, Rongxi Studio, hanging scroll, Yuan

• very delicate, sparse, dry

• volume and anticipation

Wen Zhengming, Wintry trees after Li Cheng, hanging scroll, Yuan

• references past artist but uses own personalized style

• formal, distinct relationship between giver and reciever

• obligation to return the favor

• personal loss

Wen Zhengming, Ancient Cypress, hanging scroll, Ming

• complicated nuances lost over time

• inscription references Tang dynasty poem

• grappling with age and death, beauty in old age

• gift given to sick friend

Shen Zhou, Poet on a Mountain Top, ink on paper, Ming

• painter is the poet, makers hand splotchy, unrefined

• missing a departed friend

Zhou Chen, Beggars and Street Characters, handscroll, paper, Ming

• study of lower-class societies

• professional artist painted what he saw outside his window

• documentary, awareness, injustice

Bridal Du Painting a self portrait, Peony Pavillion, based on a play, wood block, Ming

• heroine painting her own portrait

• has dream of a man, dies from sadness, herp must excel at exams in order for heroine to be brought back to life

Ming Qiji, Yingying reading a letter from student Zhang, woodblock print, The Story of the Western Wing, based on Yuan play, Ming

• young girl of elite family not allowed to date man outside class

• maid facilitated love between the students

• man rescues girl from bandits, takes imperial exam to prove self

Porcelain bowl decorated with the “Three friends of Winter”, porcelain, Ming

• elie-society iconography

• plants, animals, relationships between men

• popularizing, democratizing images for all to enjoy

The Forbidden City

• Chinese imperial palace from the Ming dynasty to the end of the Qing dynasty. It is located in the center of Beijing, China, and now houses the Palace Museum

Yuanmingyuan, The garden of perfect brightness, Old Summer Palace, ruins, Qing

• main imperial residence of the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty and his successors, and where they handled state affairs

• Destroyed in second opium war

Giuseppe Castiglione, A Hundred Horses in a landscape, handscroll, silk, Qing

• naturalistic, largescale

• blending of Western realism and Chinese tradition

Humble Administrator’s Garden, Suzhou, Qing

• allude to ideal city plan, split walls, spirits and eye of pedestrian out

• multi-generational living

• reflect, think, recluse

• akin to landscapes, reflection of character of the patron

• complex spacial relationships

Gong Xian, A Thousand Peaks and Myriad Ravines, hanging scroll, paper, Qing

• had to flee as Manchus conquered the South

• stability and strangeness

• heaping up of paint, very inky, textured, dreadful, dramatic

Shi Tao, A man in a house, album leaf, ink and color, paper, Qing

• concept of one line

• unified uninterrupted flow, nature

Zhu Da, Fish and Rocks, ink on paper, handscroll, Qing

• carp transforming into dragon (children living up to destiny, imperial exam)

• no coherent sense of space, ambiguous, comical and strange

Ren Yi, the distressed official, hanging scroll, ink, Qing

• awkward appearance represents official’s character, portrays his likeness

• self deprecation, irony

• blurry outline, ambiguous, surprised

Ren Xiong, Self portrait, ink and color, hanging scroll, Qing

• displaced by difficulties of period

• inscription declares despair, loss

• heroic representation of ancient martial figures

Guan Zilan, Portrait of Miss L, oil on canvas, Qing

• inspired by European art, sourced through Japan

• known for her art and beauty, celebrity cosmopolitan status

• Fauvism (Matisse)

• splotchy abstraction, doll-like quality, criticism or reflection?

Ye Yushan and a Team of Sculptors, The Rent Collection Courtyard, clay plaster, Republican Period

• unfair process of rent collection and how it made citizens and farmers suffer. It is an artistic product of propaganda influenced by the cultural revolution

Shi Lu, Fighting in Northern Shaanxi, ink and color on paper, Republic of China

• before cultural revolution

• Depicts Mao on mountain top leading army

• Traditional format with modern figure

Forging Ahead Courageously while Following our Great Leader, poster, People’s Republic of China

• soldiers, industrial workers, peasants

• cult of personality, “love” from Mao, holding mangoes as gifts

• could be reproduced and widespread

Wang Guangyi, Great Criticism Series: Coca-Cola, oil on canvas, People’s Republic of China

• soldier, peasant, industrial worker

• serial numbers, automated manufacturing

• power of capitalism

• problem-solving relationship with old art via cultural artifacts — scholarly, not innovative

Cai Guoqiang, Rent Collection Courtyard, installation of clay, People’s Republic of China

• watch sculptures get built in front of you and decompose

• separated from narrative, unfinished clay, not clear happy ending

Xu Bing, Tian Shu, Installation, People’s Republic of China

• search for how to make art

• 126 copies of 4 volumes of books, 604 pages, 4,000 invented characters, illegible

• meditative practices implicated with ancient bookmaking