Unit 5 AP Art History

Great Stupa at Sanchi

1. Buddhists would be buried in the stupas.

2. There were toranas, which were ceremonial gateways.

3. Pilgrims would circumambulate.

Lakshmana Temple

1. Naked statues symbolized how sensuality was a natural part of the human experience.

2. A Vishnu statue was stolen and this temple was built around it.

Shiva as the Lord of Dance

Hands up and down symbolize creation and destruction.

Jahangir preferring a Sufi Shaikh to Kings

1. Function: propaganda where Jahangir is depicted as moral for preferring Sufis over kings.

2. Artist is included!

Taj Mahal

1. Made for favorite wife (Mahal) buried in mausoleum

2. Symbol of love

3. Islamic influence: muqarnas & domes

Jowo Rinpoche

1. Incredible likeness, believed to be sculpted from life portrait of Buddha

2. Left hand: mudra hand gesture of meditation

3. Right hand: calling earth to witness

Borobudur Temple

1. Mandala plan: circumambulate until pilgrims reach the top, symbolizing enlightenment

2. Move from darkness to light = move from realm of earthly desire to realm of formlessness

   1. Open circular terraces

   2. Round stupas

3. Buddhist belief of enlightenment and journey as impermanent

Angkor Wat

1. Dedicated to god Vishnu, who was obsessed with immortality (Churning of the Ocean of Milk)

2. Hindu symbol of universe

Jade Cong

1. Function: ceremonies and burials

2. Shaministic: square shape symbolized earth, while cylinder symbolized heavens

Terracotta Warriors

1. Built by king who unified China under Qing dynasty by conquest

2. Facing east towards conquered Han dynasty to protect Qin Shihuang in the afterlife

3. Technique: molding, coiling

Funeral Banner of Lady Dai

1. Function: help discern Lady Dai’s body in her coffin

2. Duality: yin and yang, heaven and earth

Bamiyan Buddha

1. This was a point on the Silk Road where pilgrims could visit, meaning this piece depicts a mix of cultures.

2. Recently destroyed by Taliban who wanted to establish their “superior” Islamic religion

Longmen Caves

1. Cross-cultural connections: blend of Northern Wei & Chinese styles

   1. Low-relief carvings: proof that Northern Wei craftsmen adopted the Chinese tyle

2. Central Buddha (mudra hand gesture) with two boddhisatvas and two disciples

3. Context: during Tang dynasty (age of “international Buddhism”)

4. Fengxian Temple: monumental Buddha (1 supreme deity) presiding over others

5. Kanjing Temple: lineage of people who transmitted Buddhist doctrine

Travelers Among Mountains and Streams

1. Daoism: grandeur of nature compared to insignificant, miniscule human life

   1. Three stages which draw eye upward to experience how large nature is

2. Context: time of political upheaval so scholars fled to the mountains

   1. Tall pine tree became symbolic of the virtuous man

David Vases

1. Function: commissioned for dead general in Daoist temple

2. Context: China under Mongol control – cross-cultural connections between China and Iran

   1. Blue cobalt from Iran

Forbidden City

1. Hall of Supreme Harmony: only the Emperor could walk in the middle (= apex)

2. Dragon = symbol for emperor

3. Inner court inhabited by emperor, emperess & concubines

4. Animals and figures on rooves guarded against fire & evil spirits

Gold and Jade Crown

1. Evokes sacred tree connecting heaven and Earth (Shaminism)

2. Cross-cultural connections: Shaminism with Korea & Eurasia, burial traditions with China & Japan

3. Three Kingdoms Period: Korea independent! Korean culture!

Summer Trees

1. Cross-cultural connections: Western notions of abstraction merged with traditional Korean ink-wash painting

2. Trees symbolize friendship

Portrait of Sin Sukju

1. King that established Hangul (Korean alphabet) — independence from China

2. Represents Confucian values of loyalty & ancestral worship

Chairman Mao en route to Anyuan

1. Style: socialist realism modeled after USSR works

2. Depicts real historical event: Mao marching towards coal mines of Anyuan

3. Function: propaganda for Mao

   1. Mao center

   2. Telephone lines show how China is industrializing

Todai-ji

1. Bronze Buddha: eye-opening ceremony where monks paint Buddha’s eyes

2. Monumental! HUGE!

3. Intermingling of Buddhism and politics in Japan

Ryoan-ji

1. Zen Buddhism: meditation to enlightenment

2. Wet & dry gardens

Night Attack on the Sanjo Palace

1. Rebels attack Sanjo palace to seize power, failing

2. Visual recount of event

White and Red Plum Blossoms

1. Japanese folding screen

2. Thin line between naturalism and abstraction

3. Impacted modernism in the West

Under the Wave off Kanagawa

1. Ukiyo-e paintings: emphasis on movement reflecting impermanence of Buddhism

2. Made for toursits

Book from the Sky

1. Fake Chinese letters – Chinese propaganda has no meaning

2. Cultural Revolution: emphasized importance of group, state at the expense of the individual

   1. Intellectuals antagonzied

Sunflower Seeds

1. Function: defeat Western stereotype of Chinese people as all the same

   1. 100 million seeds individually created: all slightly different

   2. West relies on China for trade

2. Mao depicted as the “sun” and PRC citizens considered “sunflowers”

   1. Sunflower = camraderie