Art History 370/East Asian 355: Arts of China

Study Sheet #6: The Period of Disunity

Map marking ancient sites, modern cities and provinces

Map - distribution of Buddhist cave-temple sites

CHRONOLOGY AND HISTORY:

The fall of the Han empire in 220 led to a long period of disunion. After the period of the Three Kingdoms (220-265), there was a temporary reunification by the Jin dynasty (265-316), which was ended by northern invaders. After 316, North and South were divided and each had its own series of regimes. The regimes most important culturally are:

• Northern Wei (386-535) in the North, with its capital first at Datong and then at Luoyang;
  
  

  
  
  
  
  

• Eastern Jin (316-420) in the South, with its capital at Nanjing.
  
  

  

PHILOSOPHY AND CULTURE:

• Entrenchment of Buddhism (see Study Sheet #5)
• Resurgence of Daoism - escapism, interest in Nature, qi (vital breath).
• Fashion for "pure talk" (qingtan) - characterization in pithy phrases - among southern aristocratic elite.
• Development of esthetic theory in literature, calligraphy and painting - written by practitioners of these arts.

ART:

 

Buddhist images:

 

Icons and narrative representations. Freestanding votive stone sculptures and small bronzes; and cave-temple complexes:

Yungang caves - near Datong, Shanxi. Northern Wei; worked on from 460-494. "archaic" style, foreign-looking. Sandstone.

Longmen caves - near Luoyang, Henan. Late Northern Wei (after 494), e.g. "Binyang Cave." "elongated" style, emphasis on linear movement. Limestone.

Xiangtangshan caves - Henan-Hebei border. Mid 6th c. "columnar" style, more substantial figures. Limestone.

Dunhuang - oasis in NW Gansu, on Silk Route. Painted murals and clay sculptures in some 480 caves, 5th-13th c. Early caves show mixture of Central Asian and Chinese styles. [The numbering system most widely used was devised by the Dunhuang Research Institute; however, the older system of Paul Pelliot is occasionally seen].

Calligraphy:

 

evolution of "modern" scripts: regular script (kaishu), semi-cursive or "running" script (xingshu), and cursive or "draft" script (caoshu).

Wang Xizhi (ca. 303-361) considered the greatest calligrapher of all time. Developed informal writing into a high art, one that was particularly revealing of the artist's personality.

Painting:

 

maturation of figure painting, great age of narrative illustration, particularly in horizontal handscroll format.

Gu Kaizhi (ca. 344-406) "father of figure painting."

• Admonitions of the Court Instructress to the Palace Ladies.
  
  
  
• Nymph (or Goddess) of the Luo River.
  
  
  
  

Zong Bing (375-443), painter and theorist of landscape painting.

Xie He (early 6th c.) - "6 Principles of Painting" (Liufa) - first formulation of enduring core ideas of Chinese painting criticism.