This Visual Arts course is designed to introduce students to the philosophic and cultural underpinnings of modern and contemporary Chinese art. Topics to be explored will include: prehistoric beginnings and preparation for the afterlife; Daoism and its impact on the creative process; the three perfections: poetry, painting and calligraphy; the Confucian scholar and amateur painting; Chinese landscape and the colors of ink; Chan Buddhism and the "spontaneous accident"; Ottoman and Qing Dynasty ceramic wares: cultural exchange along the silk road; Mao's Yan'an Talks and their impact on the arts; New China, New Art-tradition, change, and new directions for the future. Instrumental to this course is an appreciation and understanding of the philosophic roots of early China and their impact on the arts. How relevant to the New China are these ideas? What role have economic, social, and political changes had upon the "Chinese world" (mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong)? Germane to such discussions is an understanding of the internal values that separate the three Chinas and their impact on modern day Chinese art? On their respective modes of creative expression in the arts?
This Visual Arts course is designed to introduce students to the philosophic and cultural underpinnings of modern and contemporary Chinese art. Topics to be explored will include: prehistoric beginnings and preparation for the afterlife; Daoism and its impact on the creative process; the three perfections: poetry, painting and calligraphy; the Confucian scholar and amateur painting; Chinese landscape and the colors of ink; Chan Buddhism and the "spontaneous accident"; Ottoman and Qing Dynasty ceramic wares: cultural exchange along the silk road; Mao's Yan'an Talks and their impact on the arts; New China, New Art-tradition, change, and new directions for the future. Instrumental to this course is an appreciation and understanding of the philosophic roots of early China and their impact on the arts. How relevant to the New China are these ideas? What role have economic, social, and political changes had upon the "Chinese world" (mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong)? Germane to such discussions is an understanding of the internal values that separate the three Chinas and their impact on modern day Chinese art? On their respective modes of creative expression in the arts?