ARTH 364 Art in Later China

Chinese art of the last millennium. Primary attention will be paid to the arts of painting, calligraphy, and architecture (palaces and gardens) seen in the context of patronage groups and other intellectual, social, and political factors. The role of the scholar-gentry class in the consumption and production of art is particularly important, but we will also examine the impacts of the imperial court, the religious establishment (Chan or Zen Buddhist), and the merchant class on the art of imperial China. The course will conclude with a consideration of art in contemporary China and its relationship to pre-revolutionary Chinese traditions.