Visual Arts in China

• Chinese Painting
– closely related to writing or calligraphy. Most paintings
are enriched with verses or with observations of man
and nature
– Brush dipped in black or colored ink and silk or paper
– is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the
world.
– The earliest paintings were not representational but
ornamental; they consisted of patterns or designs rather
than pictures.
• Stone Age pottery was painted with spirals, zigzags,
dots, or animals. It was only during the Warring
States Period (403-221 B.C.) that artists began to
represent the world
 Formats
• Three principal formats:
– Vertical hanging scroll
– Horizontal hand scroll
– Small, album-leaf which may be square,
round, or fan shaped and framed on silk.
 Two techniques in painting
• Meticulous
– Gong-bi often referred to as "court-style"
painting
• Free hand
– Shui-mo -ink and wash painting.
• The Chinese character "mo" means ink and
"shui" means water. This style is also referred
to as "xie yi" or freehand style.
What makes Chinese painting completely different
from every other school of painting in history,
except its own pupils in Japan?

• Its scroll or screen form

• The Chinese scorn of perspective and
shadow
• The exclusion of color
JAPANESE ART
 History of Japanese Art
• Historically, Japan has been subject to
sudden invasions of new and alien ideas
followed by long periods of minimal
contact with the outside world.
• The earliest complex art in Japan was
produced in the 7th and 8th centuries
AD in connection with Buddhism.
• Painting
– the preferred artistic expression in Japan,
practiced by amateur and professional alike.
• . Japanese art (valued not only for its
simplicity but also for its colorful
exuberance)
– influenced 19th-century Western painting
and 20th-century Western architecture
JOMON AND YAYOI ART
• The first settlers of Japan, the
Jōmon people (10,000?-300?
BC)
– named for the cord markings that
decorated the surfaces of their
clay vessels
– nomadic hunter-gatherers.
• The next wave of immigrants
was the Yayoi people
– named for the district in Tokyo
where remnants of their
settlements first were found.
 • Japan’s Jōmon people
JOMON (thrived from 10,000 to 300
ART BC)
– made distinctive pottery for
boiling, steaming, and storing
food.
• The pots were made with
coils of clay and then
decorated by rolling carved
sticks, plant fibers, or
braided cords over the outer
surface.
– This cord-marked (jōmon)
pottery gave the culture its
name.
.

YAYOI ART
• These vessels are
characteristic of the
pottery of Japan’s
Yayoi culture, which
began about 350 or
300 BC.
• The Yayoi people used
the pottery wheel to
create their
earthenware pottery,
which they sometimes
fired with red slip (clay
and water).
 KOFUN ART
• The third stage in Japanese
prehistory, the Kofun, or Tumulus,
period (AD 300?-552), represents
a modification of Yayoi culture,
attributable either to internal
development or external force.
• Typical artifacts are bronze
mirrors, symbols of political
alliances, and clay sculptures
called haniwa, erected outside
tombs
– Representing human figures, animals,
and inanimate objects such as hats,
houses, and fans, haniwa were placed
in rings around the huge keyhole-
shaped earthen tombs built for
Japan’s early rulers
 AZUKA AND NARA ART
• During the Azuka and Nara periods,
– named because the seat of Japanese
government was located in the Asuka
Valley from 552 to 710 and in the city of
Nara until 784, the first significant invasion
by Asian continental culture took place in
Japan.
• Throughout the 7th and 8th centuries,
however, the major focus in contacts
between Japan and the Asian continent
was the development of Buddhism.
 Temple of Tōdai-ji,
Nara
• The temple of Tōdai-ji
is located in the city of
Nara, the first
permanent capital of
Japan.
– Built in the 8th century
and reconstructed in
1692
– one of the oldest and
most important Buddhist
temples in Japan.
• It is also one of the
world’s largest
structures made of
wood.
 HEIAN ART
• The term Heian period refers to the years between 794 and
1185, the end of the Gempei civil war.
– The period is further divided into the early Heian and the
late Heian, or Fujiwara.
– the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to
1185.
– named after the capital city of Heian-kyō, or modern Kyōto.
– It is the period in Japanese history when Buddhism, Taoism and other
Chinese influences were at their height.
• The Heian period is also considered the peak of the Japanese imperial
court and noted for its art, especially poetry and literature.
• The next period is named after the Fujiwara family, then the
most powerful in the country, who ruled as regents for the
emperor, becoming, in fact, civil dictators.
Zao Gongen Lotus Sutra
(bronze) (gold in indigo-dyed paper)
 Byodoin
Temple

The Amida (Buddhist) Byōdōin temple, located in Uji, near Kyōto,

features the Ho-o-do (Phoenix Hall), which contains a large gilded
wooden figure of the Amida Buddha created by the sculptor Jocho.
The Ho-o-do was originally an aristocrat’s country home but was
converted into a monastery in 1053 when the rest of the temple was
built.
 KAMAKURA ART
• In 1180 a civil war broke out between two military clans,
the Taira and the Minamoto; five years later the Minamoto
emerged victorious and established a de facto seat of
government at the seaside village of Kamakura, where it
remained until 1333.
• With the shift of power from the nobility to the warrior
class, the arts had to satisfy a new audience: soldiers,
men devoted to the skills of warfare; priests committed to
making Buddhism available to illiterate commoners; and
conservatives—the nobility and some members of the
priesthood who regretted the declining power of the
court.
• Thus, realism, a popularizing trend, and a classical revival
characterize the art of the Kamakura period.
 Daibutsu
• The Daibutsu (Great Buddha)
figure at Kamakura, Japan,
was cast in bronze in 1252 by
either Ono Goroemon or Tanji
Hisatomo, both leading
bronze casters of the time.
The statue is 11.4 m (37.4 ft)
high and weighs about 93
tons.
• The figure depicts Amitabha
(also known as Amida
Buddha) in perfect repose and
passionless calm.
 Unkei’s Statue of
Muchaku
• Celebrated Japanese
sculptor Unkei created this
wooden statue of the
Buddhist sage Muchaku in
1208 for the Kōfuku-ji
Temple at Nara.
• It is considered an
outstanding example of
realistic portrait sculpture
in Japanese art.
 MUROMACHI ART
• During the Muromachi period (1338-1573), also
called the Ashikaga period, a profound change
took place in Japanese culture.
• Cultural expression took on a more aristocratic,
elitist character.
Sesshu's Falcons and
Herons
• Japanese artist Sesshū, also a
Zen Buddhist priest, painted
Falcons and Herons in the 15th
century.
• one of the most important
artists of the Muromachi period
of Japanese art (1338–1573).
– While studying in China Sesshū
was influenced by the use of
monochromatic coloring, a
technique demonstrated in
Falcons and Herons.
– An adept of the Chinese Ma-
Xia (Ma-Hsia) style of landscape
painting, his work emphasized
delicate landscape
compositions and spontaneous
brushwork.
 Tea Ceremony
• Another major development of the
period was the tea ceremony (cha no
yu) and the house in which it was held.
– Purpose: spend time with friends who
enjoy the arts, to cleanse the mind of the
concerns of daily life, and to receive a bowl
of tea served in a gracious and tasteful
manner.
 MOMOYAMA ART
• In the Momoyama period (1573-1603), a
succession of military leaders, such as
Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and
Tokugawa Ieyasu, attempted to bring
peace and political stability to Japan after
an era of almost 100 years of warfare.
 Himeji Castle
• originally built in the mid-
14th century, but was
rebuilt in its present form
in 1609.
• The castle is made of
wood coated with white
plaster.
– The high rock wall on
which the castle sits was
necessary to protect the
inhabitants from firearms,
weapons that had recently
been introduced to Japan
from Europe.
• The design of the castle
was an attempt to combine
strength and elegance.
 Nijo Castle,
Kyoto
Nijō Castle, Kyōto
• Nijō Castle, in central Kyōto,
was built in the early 17th
century by Tokugawa Ieyasu, the
founder of the Tokugawa
dynasty of Japan.

• The walled compound is

surrounded by a moat and
features a wide array of hidden
defense mechanisms, including
strategically placed squeaking
floor boards, concealed
chambers, and trapdoors.
 Chinese Lions
(Kano Eitoku)
Kanō Eitoku was one of the mostt
influential Japanese painters of the
late 16th century.
• His work was frequently in demand
by the important warlords of the
period, including Oda Nobunaga, who
commissioned Eitoku to do many of
the interior paintings for Azuchi
Castle.

• These paintings were lost after the

destruction of the castle in 1582.
Chinese Lions is one of Eitoku’s few
surviving works.
 ART OF THE EDO PERIOD
• One of the dominant themes in the Edo period was
the repressive policies of the shogunate and the
attempts of artists to escape these strictures.

• The foremost of these was the closing of the country

to foreigners and the accoutrements of their cultures,
and the imposition of strict codes of behavior
affecting every aspect of life—the clothes one wore,
the person one married, and the activities one could
 Katsura Detached
Palace, Kyōto

Katsura Detached Palace, in Kyōto,

Japan, was completed about 1662,
during the Edo period, for a prince of
the imperial family.

The buildings of the palace complex

were designed to reflect the clean,
simple lines of classic Japanese
teahouses, with some innovative
restatements.

A traditional Japanese garden

surrounds the complex.
 Japanese
Merchant’s House
This reconstruction of a traditional
merchant’s house in Japan shows
some characteristic features of
Japanese architecture.

The bamboo screen provided privacy

while still allowing easy access for
customers, in a building that served
as both private house and business
premises.

The overhang of the tiled roof gave

protection from the rain to those
standing outside, while the shoji
(rice-paper screens) allowed light
into the interior while maintaining
privacy, in a country where glass was
once uncommon.
 Irises
Ogata Kōrin’s Irises, painted on
screens in 1701, is probably his most
famous work.

The minimal use of line is combined

with sophisticated color on a gold-leaf
background to create a style
unmatched in other Japanese art.

This screen is in the Nezu Art Museum

in Tokyo, Japan.
 Festival on the
Water, Japan
Festivals on the water were one
of the great sights of Edo (now
known as Tokyo).

In this print a crowd crosses

Nihonbashi in the centre of Edo,
while boats of revelers sail the
waters on a summer evening.

This woodcut is a relatively late

work from the Edo period.
Hokusai’s The Wave

Among the thousands of

woodblock prints that Japanese
artist Hokusai made during his
prolific career, among the most
famous is The Wave, created in
1831.
The print depicts a prostitute serving
sake to an unseen client while her
servant tends to the teapot.

The title refers to the period of time

between 9 and 11 PM.

This print is one of a set called Twelve

Hours of the Green Houses, referring
to brothels.

The actual size is 24.5 x 38 cm (9.5 x

15 in).
 ART SINCE 1867
In the years after 1867, when
Emperor Meiji ascended the throne,
Japan was once again invaded by new
and alien forms of culture.
 Poppies
Poppies
Poppies by Kokei Kobayashi is a
contemporary hanging scroll.
The influence of scroll painting
from the 16th century can be
seen, as well as that of 17th and
18th century screens.

The line work in the leaves is

extremely graceful, and
although there is no sense of
deep space, the overlapping of
the foliage is complex.
 Two Women
In the 1950s Japanese printmaker
Munakata Shiko won several
international art awards, bringing
attention not only to himself, but
to modern Japanese prints in
general.

Two Women is owned by Christie’s

in London, England.
 Tokyo Japanese architect Kenzō
Tange designed the Tokyo
National Gymnasium as a stadium
for the 1964 Olympics.

Since then it has become a

landmark of 20th-century
architecture.

With its curved roof suspended

from cables, the building is
notable for its structural
innovation.

A smaller stadium designed by

Tange can be seen to the right.

Tange’s National Gymnasium,

 Ando Tadao’s
Japanese Pavilion
Japanese architect Ando
Tadao created an elegant
wooden pavilion for Japan
at Expo ’92 in Seville,
Spain.

The building combined

traditional Japanese forms,
materials, and craftwork
with modern design and
construction.

Ando received the

prestigious Pritzker
Architecture Prize in 1995.
 The Yamato Bunkakan
Museum in Nara,
completed in 1961, fuses
traditional Japanese
architectural concepts with
modern ideas of museum
design.

A work by architect Isoya

Yoshida, the structure
uses Japan’s traditional
building material—wood—
along with modern
materials such as glass
and reinforced cement.

It produces the effect of an

up-to-date version of the
Japanese tea house.

Yamato Bunkakan Museum, Nara, Japan

 Museum of
Modern Art,
Takasaki,
Japan
The Museum of Modern
Art (1971-1974) is one
of the most important of
Japanese architect Arata
Isozaki's early work.