Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Ancient Chinese art

The Middle Kingdom in China
'Qin' becomes 'China,' 
proclaimed the center of the world.
Port cities gleam but
Yellow River brings sorrow.
Yet, Nomads join anyway.

Neolithic China
Agriculture here.
Agriculture there.
In China and the Near East
independently arose
rice and millet. Yum!
Towns and cities come
quickly established in the 
neolithic period.

Neolithic Chinese pottery
Neolithic Chinese bowl.
Yangshao culture in Banpo.
No potter's wheel used.
Yet, it's perfection.
Two fish surround a human.
Two other fish are swimming.
Hoping the paint works,
asking for a good season. 

Beyond the Yellow River Valley

The Bronze Age in China

Shang Dynasty

Chinese characters

Ritual Bronzes

Zhou Dynasty

Qin Dynasty

Han Dynasty

The Silk Road

Daoism and Confucianism

Confucianism and the State

Confucius and Confucianism

Architecture

Six Dynasties

Painting

Calligraphy

Buddhist art
Fourteenth century.
Walking on Silk Road.
Five hundred caves stand,
a paradise depicted.
Amitabha Buddha sits.

Sui and Tang Dynasties
Found on an old scroll,
women at Tang court weaving 
textiles so pretty.
 
Buddhist Art and Architecture

The Nanchan Temple
The Nanchan Temple.
The Tang Dynasty style.
Made before 1400,
it's still exciting.

Great Wild Goose Pagoda
Ci'en Temple in Xi'an,
The Great Wild Goose Pagoda.
Built in masonry.
Returning from India,
a monk now resides.
Burial mound for Buddha.

Pagoda architecture

Figure painting

Song Dynasty
Tang Dynasty falls.
Song Dynasty rises up.
Philosophy reigns.

Neo-Confucianism
The Great Ultimate:
Neo-Confucianism.
Enlightenment now!

Song Dynasty landscape painting
Studying nature:
The route to Enlightenment.
The absence of (wo)man.
Myths show emotions.
Painting is for expression.
Symbolism reigns.

Southern Song Dynasty
North gave way to South,
the capital of Hangzhou.

Rational gave way
to emotional.
Transient pictures.
Subtly, asymmetry.
Paint. Ceramics. Harmony.

South gave way to Kublia Khan.
The Mongol Empire.
The capital of Beijing.

Work consulted: 
Stokstad, Marilyn. Art History. 1995. New York: revised ed., Harry N. Abrams, Inc., and Prentice Hall, Inc., 1999.

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