Art of India, China, and Japan

T, R, 9:30AM-10:50AMProfessor Paige Prater

Mapping it!

Asian Religious Traditions

• Buddhism– Buddha’s teaching (563-483 BCE) – life’s

difficulties>enlightenment>nirvana• Confucianism

– Confucius’ philosophy (551-479 BCE) – ethics for social order• Daoism – The Way

– Lao Zi (604 BCE) – Dao de jing: harmony with universe• Hinduism – karma, reincarnation, polytheistic• Shintoism- The Way of the Gods – respect for nature

and ancestors, polytheistic. Kami = spirits

Overview of Asian Artistic Styles

• Indian art: elaborate decoration/human body; sensual

• Chinese art: religion, heritage, and ancestors; precise, symmetrical

• Japanese art: nature; asymmetrical, organic, spontaneous, contemplative

Art of India

• Buddhist and Hindu

Great Stupa, third century BCE, enlarged under the Sunga and Andhra Dynasties, c. 150–50 BCE, Sanchi, India

Detail of East gate at Great Stupa, 3rd Century BCE

• Pilgrims: east gate, clockwise

• Stupas/gateways (toranas)= recreation of the universe in a 3D mandala pattern.

• 35’ columns• Scenes of Buddha’s

multiple lives (jatakas)

Bodhisattva Padmapani, Cave 1, Ajanta, India. Cave painting,

second half of 5th century

• 29 caves carved into a horse-shoe-shaped cliff in Ajanta (western India)

• Buddhist sculptures/paintings

• Lotus• Bodhissatva – one who

achieved nirvana but voluntarily stays to help others reach enlightenment

Indian Art: Hinduism• 3rd largest world

religion; most followers in India

• Large temple complex in northern India

• Dedicated to Shiva, Hindu god of creation and destruction

Kandariya Mahadeva temple, c. 1000, Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh, India

Detail of exterior sculpture, Kandariya

Mahadeva temple

• More than 600 sculptures

• Sensual• Unity of

male/female represents unity of cosmos

Indian Art: ISLAM

• Mid-16th century, Mughals took over India (Mongolian descent, Muslim), ruled hundreds of years– Jahangir, “World Conqueror” (1569-1627)– Shah Jahan, (1592-1666) and wife, Mumtaz Mahal

(1593-1631)• Sufism• Commissioned artworks

– Persian– Indian

Bichitr, Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaykh to Kings, from the St. Petersburg album, Mughal Dynasty, c. 1615–18. Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on paper, 18⅞ × 13”. Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C

Taj Mahal, 1631-1648, Agra, India• White marble inscribed; reflects the sun• Dome: 58’ diameter, 213’ tall

Art of China• 221 BCE – first unified Chinese

dynasty• Buddhism and Daoism• Calligraphy

– Different dialects, ONE written form of communication!

Wang Xizhi Portion of a Letter from the Feng Ju Album, mid-4th century CE, 24.7 x46.8 cm.

Art of China

• Scene from life of well-known Chinese writer: Ge Zichuan– First alchemist– Daoist

Wang Meng, Ge Zhichuan Moving His Dwelling, c.1360. Hanging scroll, ink and color on paper, 54¾ × 22⅞”. Palace Museum, Beijing, China

Art of ChinaZhang Zeduan, Along the River during the Qingming Festival, Northern Song Dynasty, 11th century. Handscroll, ink and color on silk, 10” × 17’ 3”. Palace Museum, Beijing, China

Zhang Zeduan, Along the River during the Qingming Festival, Northern Song Dynasty, 11th century. DETAIL

• 800 people, daily activities

• Right to left

Art of China

• Respect of afterlife• Tomb objects

Ritual wine vessel (guang), late Shang dynasty, c. 1700–1050 BCE. Bronze, 6½ × 3¼ × 8½”. Brooklyn Museum, New York

• Lady Dai – noblewoman from Han Dynasty

• Tomb excavated in 1972

Detail from painted banner from tomb of Lady Dai Hou Fu-ren, Han Dynasty, c. 168 BCE. Silk. Hunan Museum, Changsha, China

Art of Japan• Buddhism and

Shintoism• Chanoyu – Way of

the Tea; peace and solace, zen buddhism

• Tsumugi-ori textiles– Water, light, and

wind– kimonos

Sonoko Sasaki, Sea in the Sky, 2007.Tsumugi-ito silk thread and vegetable dyes, 70⅞ × 51¼”. Collection of the artist

Sonoko Sanaki at her loom…

Art of Japan

• 16th century tea master

• Only remaining room by him

Sen no Rikyu, Taian teahouse, interior, c. 1582. Myoki-an Temple, Kyoto, Japan