Chinese Art and Culture

by Thorp, Robert L.; Vinograd, Richard Ellis

• ISBN13: 9780810941458
• ISBN10: 0810941457
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-03-01
• Publisher: Harry N Abrams Inc

Summary

Lucid, authoritative, written with verve by two respected American scholars, this generously illustrated work provides an introduction to more than 7,000 years of Chinese art -- from the pottery-making and jade-carving cultures of the Neolithic Age to contemporary Chinese artists working in video, installation, and performance media.

By placing the arts in context -- in active engagement with societies, economies, and wider fields of culture -- the authors of this much-needed general survey introduce a dynamic and continually evolving tradition rather than a sequence of isolated museum masterpieces. Although the story of Chinese art unfolds chronologically, the authors introduce relevant themes for each era that will deepen the reader's understanding of and appreciation for what they describe as arguably "the most abundantly productive, continuous artistic culture in the history of the world".

Author Biography

Robert L. Thorp, is professor in the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Washington University in St. Louis Richard Ellis Vinograd, chair of the Department of Art and Art History at Stanford University since 1995

Table of Contents

Map: China	p. 12
Introducting Chinese Art and Culture	p. 14
Map: Macroregions of China	p. 18
Time Chart	p. 25
Prehistoric Roots: Late Neolithic Cultures	p. 27
Village Societies	p. 27
Village Life	p. 29
Death and Burial	p. 31
Material Culture: Making Things	p. 32
Hardstones of the Hongshan and Liangzhu Cultures	p. 34
Pottery	p. 39
Yangshao Cultures	p. 40
East Coast Cultures	p. 42
The Shandong Longshan Culture	p. 44
Mind in Matter	p. 46
Images of Animals and Humans	p. 47
Boxes
Working Hardstones and Jade	p. 33
Working with Clay	p. 38
Precursors to Writing?	p. 49
The Early Bronze Age: Shang and Western Zhou	p. 55
The Early State and Society	p. 55
Settlements	p. 56
The Shang Royal Cult	p. 59
The King and the Political Order	p. 62
Warfare	p. 63
Craft Production for the Elite	p. 64
Bronze Ritual Vessels	p. 68
Terms of Analysis	p. 69
Function	p. 69
Typology and Decoration	p. 71
Motifs and Meanings	p. 76
Beyond Shang and Zhou	p. 81
Boxes
Building with Pounded Earth	p. 57
Divination: Communicating with the Ancestors	p. 61
Piece-mold Bronze Casting	p. 67
Map: Shang and Zhou Sites in Henan and Shaanxi	p. 56
The Late Bronze Age: Eastern Zhou	p. 89
State and Society	p. 89
Zhou Urbanism	p. 91
Warfare: "The Great Affair of State"	p. 95
Craft Production for the Elite	p. 96
Luxury Life-styles	p. 96
Personal Attire	p. 96
Lacquer	p. 98
Jades	p. 99
The Bronze Industry	p. 100
The Spring and Autumn Period	p. 102
The Warring States Period	p. 106
Ritual and Representation	p. 108
Funerary Ritual	p. 110
Representational Art	p. 111
A Wider View: Peoples of the North and Southwest	p. 114
Boxes
Writing Tools and Scripts	p. 90
The "Royal City" Plan	p. 93
Making Lacquer Wares	p. 98
Map: States of the Warring States Period	p. 91
The First Empires: Qin and Han	p. 119
The Imperial State and Society	p. 119
Qin Unification	p. 120
Structure of the Han Realm	p. 122
The Qin and Han Capitals	p. 123
Han Society	p. 127
Picturing Elite Life	p. 128
Court Patronage and Luxury Arts	p. 132
Lacquer Wares, Metalwork, and Jade	p. 133
Imperial Ideology and World View	p. 136
The Emperor	p. 137
The Tomb of the First Emperor	p. 139
Han Imperial Tombs	p. 142
Myths and Portraits	p. 142
The Souls and the After-life	p. 144
Beyond the Middle Kingdom: Peoples of the Frontiers	p. 147
Boxes
The Myth of the Great Wall	p. 121
The Land of Silk	p. 131
Map: Xi'an Region	p. 124
Age of the Dharma: The Period of Division	p. 151
State and Society	p. 152
Imperial Capitals: The North	p. 152
Imperial Tombs: The South	p. 154
Elite Tombs: The North	p. 155
The Dharma Comes to the Middle Kingdom	p. 160
Central Asian and Liang Buddhism	p. 161
Northern Wei Patrons	p. 163
Court Patronage at Luoyang	p. 165
Dunhuang: Early Narratives	p. 169
Northern Qi Patrons	p. 172
Luxury and Elite Arts	p. 172
Stonewares and Glazes	p. 172
Calligraphy	p. 174
Secular Painting	p. 176
Beyond the Middle Kingdom	p. 182
Boxes
Script Types	p. 175
"The Six Laws of Xie He"	p. 177
A New Imperial State: Sui and Tang	p. 185
State and Society	p. 185
A New Capital: Daxing cheng and Chang'an	p. 186
The Imperial Tombs	p. 190
Scenes from Court Life	p. 192
State Patronage of the Dharma	p. 195
Temples and Pagodas	p. 197
The "Great Image Niche" at Longmen	p. 201
Tang Chapels at Dunhuang	p. 203
Buddhist Themes at Dunhuang	p. 205
The "Sutra Cave"	p. 207
Elite Life and Elite Arts	p. 209
Cosmopolitan Life	p. 212
Calligraphy	p. 215
Secular Themes in Painting	p. 218
Beyond the Middle Kingdom	p. 221
Boxes
The Timber-frame System	p. 196
Precious Metals	p. 213
Technologies and Cultures of the Song	p. 225
Measuring Everyday Life	p. 227
Art Technologies and Economies	p. 232
Song Architecture and Urbanism	p. 232
Ceramic Production	p. 233
Social Coordinates of Style and Taste	p. 236
Constructing Landscapes	p. 242
Cultures of Art	p. 251
Court Cultures	p. 251
Women's Culture	p. 257
Literary Culture and the Arts	p. 261
Art Literature and Discourses	p. 261
Varieties of Poetic Painting	p. 265
Buddhist Artistic Culture	p. 268
Architecture	p. 268
Sculpture	p. 269
Song Buddhist Iconographies	p. 270
Chan Art	p. 272
Boxes
Urban Life and Culture in Hangzhou	p. 234
A Song Court Painter at Work	p. 249
Painting Formats and Materials	p. 263
Training and Examination of Court Artists	p. 266
Maps: Northern Song and Liao Empires	p. 226
Southern Song and Jin Empires	p. 226
Official, Personal, and Urban Arts of the Yuan to Middle Ming	p. 279
Art and Official Ideology	p. 285
Official Patronage of Religious Art and Architecture	p. 290
The Porcelain Industry at Jingdezhen	p. 297
Personal Arts of the Educated Elite	p. 301
Urban Arts	p. 311
Boxes
The Establishment of the Yuan Capital City of Dadu at Beijing	p. 281
Ceramics from a Yuan-dynasty Shipwreck	p. 298
Art Systems and Circulations: Late Ming to Middle Qing	p. 317
Woodblock Illustration	p. 320
Literati Painting and Calligraphy	p. 322
Orthodoxy and the Fate of Literati Painting	p. 324
Arts of Desire and Memory	p. 326
Loyalist Arts of Memory	p. 330
Commercial and Domestic Arts	p. 333
Residential Architecture	p. 336
Hardwood Furniture	p. 337
Craft Objects from the Suzhou Region	p. 339
Ceramics for Domestic Markets	p. 342
Urban Professional Painters	p. 343
Court Arts	p. 347
Palace Architecture	p. 350
Buddhist Arts at Court	p. 352
Court-sponsored Crafts	p. 354
International Arts	p. 356
Export Ceramics	p. 357
Other Export Crafts	p. 359
European Arts and Artists at the Qing Court	p. 360
European Images of China	p. 363
Box: The Arts of Living: Leisure, Pleasure, and Material Culture	p. 340
Map: Southeast China	p. 318
Identity and Community in 19th- and 20th-Century Chinese Art	p. 367
Images of the Self	p. 369
Sites of Community and Public Spaces	p. 374
Post-literati Arts and National-style Painting (Guohua)	p. 379
Functional Arts	p. 384
Illustrational and Design Arts	p. 385
Popular Arts	p. 387
Political Arts	p. 390
Images of War, Resistance, and Propaganda	p. 390
Political Spaces and Art Institutions	p. 395
Satire and Protest	p. 400
Transnational Arts and Avant-garde Movements	p. 403
The Arts of History	p. 408
Box: Ideological Control of the Arts	p. 394
Glossary	p. 415
Bibliography	p. 420
Picture Credits	p. 430
Index	p. 431
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