Introductory description

This course explores how concepts of nature were instrumentalised in painting and woodblock prints across a variety of social and cultural contexts in early modern China. From Ink monochrome landscape painting to illustrated drama editions, nature defined how early modern men and women engaged with each other but also with political, cultural and religious bodies such as the court, the theatre and the temple. Throughout the course we analyse representations of landscape, gardens, cities, and sites and their use to legitimise imperial power, construct elitist art historical discourses, alter gender relations and raise the status of an emerging mercantile class living in sophisticated urban centres. In-depth analysis of art objects, critical reading of primary and secondary sources, lectures and presentations will enable critical dialogue and engage students in a cross-cultural debate with the objective of understanding the early modern condition from the perspective of Chinese art and its discourses.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

Introducing the concept of ‘Chinese Art’ from the perspective of function and audience
Mountains and waters: why was landscape the major genre in Chinese painting?
The functions of imperial art in early modern China
Understanding the motivations of Chinese gentlemen-scholars as the producers and consumers of landscape paintings
Between Daoist paradise and ideal of secular retreat: Deconstructing the meaning and iconography of the myth of the Peach Blossom Spring
The lasting impact of Song dynasty (960-1279) artists on Chinese landscape painting
Landscape of the mind: nostalgia and dynastic loyalty in early modern Chinese painting
The forgotten audience: consumers and commissioners of Chinese paintings besides Chinese gentlemen-scholars and the imperial Court

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Command a broad knowledge of developments in Chinese painting in the early modern period
• Demonstrate familiarity with the types of audience that viewed and commissioned Chinese art in that period
• Demonstrate a beginner’s level vocabulary with which to describe a Chinese painting
• Initiate and sustain group discussion through intelligent questioning and debate at an appropriate level
• Ability to undertake research and to write up the results in the form of a well-structured argument at an appropriate level
• Familiarity with essential ICT skills
• Ability to collaborate effectively with others
• Show understanding of diverse viewpoints
• Ability to find, select, organize and synthesize evidenc
• Ability to formulate a sustained argument
• Think conceptually and independently at an appropriate level
• Sophisticated visual analysis
• Bibliographical skills at an appropriate level
• Critical analysis of cultural artefacts in their context

Indicative reading list

R.Barnhart, Peach Blossom Spring: Gardens and Flowers in Chinese Painting (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1983).
C.Clunas, Art in China (2d edition), (Oxford University Press, 2009).
C.Clunas, Chinese painting and its audiences, (Princeton University Press, 2017).
M.J.Powers, and K.R.Tsiang, A Companion to Chinese Art, (John Wiley & Sons, 2015).
P.C.Sturman, S.S.Tai, T.Brook & J.Chaves, The Artful Recluse: painting, poetry, and politics in Seventeenth-Century China, (Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 2012).

Subject specific skills

• Command a broad knowledge of developments in Chinese painting in the early modern period
  ● Demonstrate familiarity with the types of audience that viewed and commissioned Chinese art in that period
  ● Demonstrate a beginner’s level vocabulary with which to describe a Chinese painting
• sophisticated visual analysis
• critical analysis of cultural artefacts in their context

Transferable skills

• present an argument, initiate and sustain group discussion through intelligent questioning and debate at an appropriate level
• ability to undertake research and to write up the results in the form of a well-structured argument at an appropriate level
• familiarity with essential ICT skills
• ability to collaborate effectively with others
• show understanding of diverse viewpoints
• ability to find, select, organize and synthesize evidence
• ability to formulate a sustained argument
• think conceptually and independently at an appropriate level
• bibliographical skills at an appropriate level