Asian Art

• The huge Asian continent has given birth to numerous types of art that predate
anything seen in the West. Ancient pottery, for example, first appeared in China,
as did large scale bronze sculpture, sericulture, as well as jade carving and
lacquerware, and also calligraphy.
• In other fields - such as terracotta sculpture, for instance - Chinese ingenuity and
creativity is unmatched, while in the arts of painting and metalwork the
contribution of Chinese artists has been outstanding.
• The gigantism of Chinese statues is also well known. Chinese culture has had a
major impact on the arts and crafts of other East Asian countries like Korea and
Japan, although Japanese artists and craftsmen have also achieved worldwide
renown in disciplines as diverse as woodcuts, paper-folding, ceramic art, origami,
ink-and-wash painting and wood-carving.
• Art on the Indian subcontinent - distinguished above all by its exceptional
longevity - has developed more independently of China, although it was strongly
influenced by Greek sculpture during the era of Hellenistic art, and latterly by the
Islamic art of the Persian Mughal Empire.
• On the mainland, south-east Asian culture is exemplified by
Khmer temple architecture, as well as Buddhist sculpture,
batik textiles and certain types of metallurgy, while on the
archipelagos of Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, it
shares many characteristics with the Oceanic art of the
South Pacific. Unfortunately, with the exception of certain
types of stone and metalwork, most art of south-east Asia
has - like much of the tribal art of Africa - disintegrated due
to the effects of the climate. However, following the amazing
find of cave painting in the Maros-Pangkep caves near
Maros, on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, experts believe
there is a great deal more prehistoric art there, waiting to be
Cambodian Architecture
• Along with the Kandariya Mahadeva Temple at Khajuraho, Central India, and the
Taj Mahal in northern India, the Cambodian Khmer temple complex of Angkor Wat
ranks among the greatest examples of religious architecture in the whole of Asia,
comparable to the finest specimens of Gothic architecture or Baroque architecture in
Europe. Situated some 4 miles (6 km) north of the modern town of Siem Reap in
northwestern Cambodia (Kampuchea), the temple was built about 1115-1145 in
Angkor, the capital of the Khmer Empire, by King Suryavarman II (ruled 1113-1150), to
serve as his mausoleum. Angkor Wat operated first as a Hindu shrine dedicated to
Vishnu, then a Theravada Buddhist temple in the late 13th century. Today Angkor Wat
is Cambodia's most famous site of religious art and its silhouette appears on the
Cambodian national flag. The temple is renowned for its high classical style of Khmer
architecture, as well as the staggering quantity of its relief sculpture and architectural
carvings. Artifacts taken from the site and large sections cast from the temple
buildings were exhibited in Paris in 1867, announcing a great and unknown civilization
rivalling in sophistication the work of the greatest architects in the West. In 1992,
along with a sister temple Angkor Thom, Angkor Wat was proclaimed a UN World
Heritage Site.
Chinese Art
Characteristics of Chinese Art
Metaphysical, Daoist Aspect
• Ever since the era of Prehistoric art, Chinese society - itself almost wholly
agricultural or rural until the 20th century - has always placed great
importance on understanding the pattern of nature and co-existing with it.
Nature was perceived as the visible manifestation of God's creativity, using
the interaction of the yin (female) and yang (male) life forces. The main
aim of Chinese art - initially centered on propitiation and sacrifice - soon
turned to the expression of human understanding of these life forces, in a
variety of artforms, including painting (notably that of landscapes, bamboo,
birds, and flowers), pottery, relief sculpture and the like. The Chinese also
believed that the energy and rhythm generated by an artist resonated
closely with the ultimate source of that energy. They thought that art -
especially calligraphy and painting - had the capacity to refresh the artist or
to retard him spiritually, according to the harmony of his practice and the
character of the individual himself.
Moral, Confucian Aspect
• Chinese art also had social and moralistic functions. The
earliest mural paintings, for instance, portrayed
benevolent emperors, wise ministers, loyal generals, as
well as their evil opposites, as an example and a
warning to observers. Portrait art had a similar moral
function, which aimed to highlight not the facial or
figurative features of the subject so much as his or her
character and status in society.
Inspirational But Not Essentially Religious
• Court painters were frequently commissioned to depict
auspicious and memorable events, but high religious painting
is unknown in Chinese art. Even Buddhism, which stimulated
the production of numerous masterpieces, was actually a
foreign import. The main thing is that themes used in
traditional Chinese art were almost always noble, or
inspirational. Thus overly realistic subjects such as war, death,
violence, martyrdom or even the nude, were avoided.
Furthermore, Chinese artistic tradition does not separate form
from content: it is not enough, for instance, for the form to be
exquisite if the subject is unedifying.
Inner Essence Not Outer Appearance
• Unlike Western artists, Chinese painters were not
interested in replicating nature, or creating a true-life
depiction of (say) a landscape. Instead they focused on
expressing the inner essence of the subject. Remember,
rocks and streams were seen as "live" things, visible
manifestations of the invisible forces of the cosmos.
Therefore, it was the role of the artist to capture the
spiritual rather than the material characteristics of the
object concerned.
Symbolism in Chinese Visual Art
• Chinese art is full of symbolism, in that artists typically seek
to depict some aspect of a totality of which they are
intuitively aware. In addition, Chinese art is packed with
specific symbols: bamboo represents a spirit which can be
bent by circumstance but not broken; jade represents purity;
a dragon often symbolizes the emperor; the crane, long life;
a pair of ducks, fidelity in marriage. Plant symbols include:
the orchid, another symbol of purity and loyalty; and the pine
tree, which symbolizes endurance. Some art critics, however,
prefer to describe Chinese art as essentially expressionist,
rather than symbolic.
The Impact of the Amateur Artist
• During the Warring States period and the Han Dynasty, the growth of a
merchant and landowning class led to increased numbers of art lovers and
patrons with time on their hands. This led to the emergence in the third century
CE of an elite class of scholarly amateur artists, involved in the arts of poetry,
calligraphy, painting and a range of crafts. These amateurs tended to look down
their nose at the lower-class professional artist, employed by the Imperial court,
and other regional or civic authorities. Moreover, this division of artists later had
a significant influence on the character of Chinese art. From the Song dynasty
(960–1279) on, the gentlemen-artists became closely associated with
increasingly refined forms of ink and wash painting and calligraphy, and their
works became an important media of exchange in a social economy where the
giving of presents was a vital step in building up a personal network. Just like
skill in writing letters or poetry, the ability to excel at calligraphy and painting
helped establish one's status in a society of learned individuals.
 • Bronze Age Art
History of • Bronze Art

Chinese Art
• Calligraphy
History of
Chinese Art
• Zhou Dynasty Iron Age
Art
History of Chinese Art
Daoism (Taoism)
• Dao (Tao) means The Way or the Universal Principle. Daoism
is an attitude to life not a system. It implies being in harmony
with nature and shuns all dogmas and restrictive moral
codes. Its most famous theoreticians were Laozi (Lao-tzu)
History of Chinese
Art

Qin Emperor and 3-year

Dynasty
• Emperor Qin Shihuang
History of Chinese Art
Chinese Lacquerware
History of Chinese Art
Han Painting and Printing
• Silk Making
• Zhezhi – Chinese paper folding
History of Chinese
Art
Buddhist Sculpture
• Wei Sculpture
History of
Chinese Art
• Tang Dynasty
• Tang Fresco Paintings
History of Song Dynasty Art
• Landscape Painting
Chinese Art
History of
Chinese Art
Yuan Dynasty Art
• Blu and White Porcelain
20th Century Chinese Art
• Following the communist takeover in 1949, many of the
established traditions of Chinese art were labeled
reactionary. New forms of modern art geared to Socialist
glorification - such as Socialist Realism - appeared in
music, literature and the visual arts. In 1966, the Cultural
Revolution accelerated this process. Despite this political
modernism, traditional Chinese arts not only continue to
mould young Chinese artists and inspire other artists
around the globe, but have combined with more
experimental twentieth-century art forms to produce a
vibrant market for contemporary Chinese art.