Image, Medium and Context of Chinese Pictorial Art

In this course, pictorial representations are approached and interpreted, first and foremost, as concrete, image-bearing objects and architectural structures-as portable scrolls, screens, albums, and fans, as well as murals in Buddhist cave-temples and tombs, and relief carvings on offering shrines and sarcophagi. The lectures and discussion investigate the inherent features of these forms, as well as their histories, viewing conventions, audiences, ritual/social functions, and the roles these forms played in the construction and development of pictorial images.