Lectures: MWF 9:05–10:00am, 112 Houghton House
Office hours: Mondays 11:15am–12:45pm, Fridays 1:15–2:45pm, or by appointment, 208 Houghton House

Course description:
This course will explore painting practice from the beginnings of China's “Golden Age” in 618 through the end of Mongol conquest and rule in 1368. Painting is regarded as one of the premier art forms in the earliest Chinese histories of art, second only to calligraphy. Material will be presented chronologically, but broader topics will include popular subject matter in early painting, including figural topics and landscapes; early theories on painting and the development of art criticism; notions of artist's places within specific social classes; questions of patronage and collecting; and relationships between painting, calligraphy and poetry. The course is cross-listed with Asian Studies.  It addresses two of the aspirational goals of the curriculum: a critical understanding of social inequalities (partially), and a critical understanding of cultural difference (substantially).

Learning objectives:
One objective is for students to gain practical skills useful in any study of art history, including an understanding of how meaning can be encoded in visual media and improved proficiency in writing. More conceptual learning objectives include understanding how works of art operate as historical artifacts that reveal current ideas on politics, religion, and society; and that Chinese painting is a creative endeavor with strong ties to literature.

Books (all available in the Library):

• Barnhart, Richard M. et al. Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997. (REQUIRED)
• Bush, Susan, and Hsio-yen Shih, eds. Early Chinese Texts on Painting. Cambridge, Mass., and London: Harvard-Yenching Institute, 1985. Reprint. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2013. (REQUIRED)
• Barnet, Sylvan. ed. A Short Guide to Writing about Art. 11th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson, 2015. (RECOMMENDED for students new to art history)

Supplemental reading list:

• Jing Hao. “Notes on the Method for the Brush.” Translated by Stephen H. West. In Ways with Words: Writing about Reading Texts in Early China, edited by Pauline Yu et al., 202–13. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000.
• Hansen, Valerie. “The Mystery of the Qingming Scroll and Its Subject: The Case against Kaifeng.” Journal of Sung-Yüan Studies 26 (1996): 183–200. (available on JSTOR)
• Tsao, Hsingyuan. “Unraveling the Mystery of the Handscroll ‘Qingming Shanghe Tu.’” Journal of Song-Yuan Studies 33 (2003): 155–79. (available on JSTOR)
• Su Shi. “The Red Cliff, II.” Translated by A. C. Graham. In An Anthology of Chinese Literature, edited by Cyril Birch, 383–84. New York: Grove Press, 1965.
• Powers, Martin J. “Discourses of Representation in Tenth and Eleventh Century China.” In The Art of Interpreting, edited by Susan C. Scott, 88–127. Papers in Art History from the Pennsylvania State University, no. 9. University Park, Pa.: The Department of Art History, The Pennsylvania State University, 1995.
• Four Song-era texts on Han Xizai, translated by Lara Blanchard.
• Lee, Hui-shu. “Art and Imperial Images at the Late Southern Sung Court.” In Arts of the Sung and Yüan, edited by Maxwell K. Hearn and Judith G. Smith, 249–69. New York: Department of Asian Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996. (available on Google Books)
• Blanchard, Lara C. W. “Mou Yi’s Pounding Cloth: Painting, Play, Reference, and Discourse in Song China.” Artibus Asiae 73, no. 2 (2013): 295–341.
• Murck, Alfreda. “The Buddhist Monks Muqi and Yujian.” In Poetry and Painting in Song China: The Subtle Art of Dissent, 252–58. Cambridge, Mass., and London: Harvard University Press, 2000.
• Fong, Wen C. “Sacred and Humanistic: Five Hundred Luohans at Daitokuji.” In Art as History: Calligraphy and Painting as One, 215–70.Princeton: P. Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Center for East Asian Art, Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University, 2014.
• Rossabi, Morris. “Kuan Tao-sheng: Woman Artist in Yüan China,” Bulletin of Sung-Yüan Studies 21 (1989): 67–84. (available on JSTOR)
• Vinograd, Richard. “De-centering Yuan Painting.” Ars Orientalis 37 (2007): 195–212. (available on JSTOR)
• Harrist, Robert E. Jr. “I Don't Believe in the Literati but I Miss Them: A Postscript.” Ars Orientalis 37 (2007): 213–17. (available on JSTOR)

Weekly schedule (please note: schedule may be subject to minor changes):

INTRODUCTION.

Aug. 27 (M).    Overview of the course.

Aug. 29 (W).    Approaches to Chinese painting.

• Richard M. Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997), 1–12.
• Susan Bush and Hsio-yen Shih, eds., “Introduction,” in Early Chinese Texts on Painting (reprint, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2013), 1–17.

Aug. 31 (F).     Themes in pre-Tang painting.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 19–47.

Sept. 3 (M).      The art of copying.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 47–58.
• Gu Kaizhi (Ku K’ai-chih), “Technique,” in Bush and Shih, Early Chinese Texts on Painting, 32–36.

Sept. 5 (W).     Images of imperial power.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 59–61.

Sept. 7 (F).       Landscape paintings.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 64–70.
• Bush and Shih, “Landscape,” in Early Chinese Texts on Painting, 66–71.

Sept. 10 (M).    Buddhist painting at Dunhuang.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 61–64, 70–75.

Sept. 12 (W).   Images of court ladies.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 75–78.

Sept. 14 (F).     Research in art history.

Sept. 17 (M).    Pictorial themes in the Five Dynasties.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 87–92.

Sept. 19 (W).   Jing Hao and his “Notes on the Method for the Brush.”

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 92–93.
• Jing Hao, “Notes on the Method for the Brush,” trans. Stephen H. West, in Ways with Words: Writing about Reading Texts in Early China, ed. Pauline Yu et al. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000), 202–13.
• RESPONSE PAPER due.

Sept. 21 (F).     Jiangnan (southern) landscape style: Zhao Gan and Dong Yuan.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 93–96.
• Shen Gua (Shen Kua), “Landscape,” in Bush and Shih, Early Chinese Texts on Painting, 119.

Sept. 24 (M).    Early Northern Song landscape painting: Li Cheng and Fan Kuan.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 96–102.
• Liu Daoshun (Liu Tao-shun) and Guo Ruoxu (Kuo Jo-hsü), “Landscape,” in Bush and Shih, Early Chinese Texts on Painting, 116–19.
• Shen Gua (Shen Kua), “Architectural Subjects,” in Bush and Shih, Early Chinese Texts on Painting, 112.
• RESEARCH PAPER PROPOSAL due.

Sept. 26 (W).   The Qingming scroll.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 102–105.
• Valerie Hansen, “The Mystery of the Qingming Scroll and Its Subject: The Case against Kaifeng,” Journal of Sung-Yüan Studies 26 (1996): 183–200 (available on JSTOR).
• Hsingyuan Tsao, “Unraveling the Mystery of the Handscroll ‘Qingming Shanghe Tu,’” Journal of Song-Yuan Studies 33 (2003): 155–79 (available on JSTOR).

Sept. 28 (F).Religious and secular figure painting.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 106–10.
• Bush and Shih, “Buddhist and Taoist Subjects” and “Figure Painting,” in Early Chinese Texts on Painting, 105–11.

Oct. 1 (M).Representations of nomads.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 111–14.
• Bush and Shih, “Barbarians,” in Early Chinese Texts on Painting, 113–14.

Oct. 3 (W).       Literati identity in the Song dynasty.

• Bush and Shih, “The Painter as Artisan or Scholar,” “Poetry and Painting,” and “Calligraphy and Painting” (excerpts from “Sung Literati Theory and Connoisseurship”), in Early Chinese Texts on Painting, 191–201, 203–206.

Oct. 5 (F).        Painting and Daoist thought in the Song dynasty.

• Bush and Shih, “The Tao and Painting,” “Naturalness and Painting, and “Spontaneity and Painting” (excerpts from “Sung Literati Theory and Connoisseurship”), in Early Chinese Texts on Painting, 206–20.
• RESPONSE PAPER due.

[Oct. 6–9, Fall Recess]

Oct. 10 (W).     The flower-and-bird genre of painting.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 114–18.
• Bush and Shih, “Flowers and Birds,” in Early Chinese Texts on Painting, 125–28.

Oct. 12 (F).      Landscape painting in the late Northern Song.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 118–19.
• Various texts by Guo Xi (Kuo Hsi), Guo Si (Kuo Ssu), and Han Zhuo (Han Cho): “The Significance of Landscape”; “Figures in Landscape”; “On Creativity”; “Traditions and Models”; “Landscape Formations”; “Atmosphere and Spatial Recession”; “Technical Secrets”; “Faults of Landscape Painting”; “Kuo Hsi as Court Artist,” in Bush and Shih, Early Chinese Texts on Painting, 150–55, 156–58, 160–62, 165–70, 177–84, 187–90.

Oct. 15 (M).     Painting at Huizong’s court.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 119–25.
• Deng Chun (Teng Ch’un), “The Emperor as Connoisseur and Artist” and “The Academy of Painting,” in Bush and Shih, Early Chinese Texts on Painting, 134–38.
• RESEARCH WORKSHEETS due.

Oct. 17 (W).     Poetry as inspiration: scholarly paintings in the late Northern Song.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 126.
• Su Shi, “The Red Cliff, II,” trans. A. C. Graham, in An Anthology of Chinese Literature, ed. Cyril Birch (New York: Grove Press, 1965), 383–84.
• Martin J. Powers, excerpt from “Discourses of Representation in Tenth and Eleventh Century China,” in The Art of Interpreting, ed. Susan C. Scott (University Park, Pa.: The Department of Art History, The Pennsylvania State University, 1995), 104–108.

Oct. 19 (F).      Painters at the early Southern Song court.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 126–29.

Oct. 22 (M).     Night Revels of Han Xizai.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 110.
• Four Song-era texts on Han Xizai, translated by Lara Blanchard.

Oct. 24 (W).     The Southern Song Painting Academy: Li Di and Xia Gui.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 129, 133.
• FIRST TEST due.

Oct. 26 (F).      The Southern Song Painting Academy: Ma Yuan and Ma Lin.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 130–33.

Oct. 29 (M).     Emperor and empress as patrons.

• Hui-shu Lee, “Art and Imperial Images at the Late Southern Sung Court,” in Arts of the Sung and Yüan, ed. Maxwell K. Hearn and Judith G. Smith (New York: Department of Asian Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1996), 249–69 (available on Google Books).

Oct. 31 (W).     The concept of play in Southern Song literati paintings.

• Lara C. W. Blanchard, “Mou Yi’s Pounding Cloth: Painting, Play, Reference, and Discourse in Song China,” Artibus Asiae 73, no. 2 (2013): 295–341.
• ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY due.

Nov. 2 (F).       Chan Buddhist paintings.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 133–37.
• Alfreda Murck, “The Buddhist Monks Muqi and Yujian,” in Poetry and Painting in Song China: The Subtle Art of Dissent (Cambridge, Mass., and London: Harvard University Press, 2000), 252–58.

Nov. 5 (M).      Writing workshop.

Nov. 7 (W).     Ningbo painting workshops.

• Wen C. Fong, excerpt from “Sacred and Humanistic: Five Hundred Luohans at Daitokuji,” in Art as History: Calligraphy and Painting as One (Princeton: P. Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Center for East Asian Art, Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University, 2014), 258–68.

Nov. 9 (F).       NO CLASS.

Nov. 12 (M).    Loyalist painters.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 139–44.
• RESEARCH PAPER DRAFT due.

Nov. 14 (W).   Zhao Mengfu and the politics of painting.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 144–49.
• Zhao Mengfu (Chao Meng-fu), “Scholar’s Painting and the Spirit of Antiquity” and “Figure Painting,” in Bush and Shih, Early Chinese Texts on Painting, 254–55, 271.

Nov. 16 (F).     The female painter Guan Daosheng.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 189–90.
• Morris Rossabi, “Kuan Tao-sheng: Woman Artist in Yüan China,” Bulletin of Sung-Yüan Studies 21 (1989): 67–84 (available on JSTOR).

[Nov. 19–23, Thanksgiving Recess]
                       
Nov. 26 (M).    Painters at the Mongol court.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 149–50.

Nov. 28 (W).   Daoist paintings in the Yuan.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 151–54.

Nov. 30 (F).     The landscapes of Wu Zhen and Huang Gongwang.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 157–60, 167–69.
• Huang Gongwang (Huang Kung-wang), “Landscape,” in Bush and Shih, Early Chinese Texts on Painting, 262–66.
• RESEARCH PAPER due.

Dec. 3 (M).      The landscapes of Ni Zan and Wang Meng.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 169–75.
• Ni Zan (Ni Tsan), “Landscape,” in Bush and Shih, Early Chinese Texts on Painting, 269–70.

Dec. 5 (W).      Natural subjects in Yuan painting: flowers-and-birds, bamboo, and plum blossoms.

• Barnhart et al., Three Thousand Years, 184–95.
• Bush and Shih, “Bamboo” and “Prunus,” in Early Chinese Texts on Painting, 272–88.

Dec. 7 (F).       Reconsidering the narrative of Yuan painting.

• Richard Vinograd, “De-centering Yuan Painting,” Ars Orientalis 37 (2007): 195–212 (available on JSTOR).
• Robert E. Harrist Jr., “I Don't Believe in the Literati but I Miss Them: A Postscript,” Ars Orientalis 37 (2007): 213–17 (available on JSTOR).
• RESPONSE PAPER due.

Dec. 10 (M).    Conclusions.

Dec. 16 (Sun.). SECOND TEST due, 11:30am.

Communications:
I am happy to meet with you outside of class during my office hours (see top of syllabus), or at another time that is convenient for you, in 208 Houghton House. The best way to reach me to set up an appointment is by e-mail, but please note that I regularly read e-mail only between 9:00am and 4:30pm. If I need to contact students, I generally will do so via HWS e-mail and through Announcements on Canvas (see Websites below). You should develop the habit of checking both on a regular basis (I recommend doing so daily).

Attendance policy:
I consider attendance at lectures to be mandatory. Asian art history is a challenging subject; don’t make it impossible by skipping class! That said, if you have a reasonable excuse for missing a class (including celebration of a religious holiday, athletic participation, a field trip for a different course, or illness), I expect you to notify me as soon as possible—preferably in advance—a to turn in a one- to two-page essay on the topics covered on the day of your absence, within a week of your return to class. Not doing so will directly impact your participation grade. If you are absent four times or more, you should be prepared for me to notify the Deans about your performance. I will be taking attendance regularly.

Course requirements:

1.         Class participation (15%). This includes regular and punctual attendance (see Attendance policy below) and participating in discussions in class or on the Canvas discussion board. I grade participation on a daily basis, as follows: check-plus-plus (95) for thoughtful commentary in class or on the discussion board that is analytical in nature or synthesizes material from readings and/or other classes; check-plus (85) for speaking up in class or on the discussion board on a topic relevant to the course material (even to ask a question or to answer one of my questions incorrectly); check (75) for showing up to class but not speaking; check-minus (65) for not paying attention, coming in late, or being disruptive or disrespectful; zero (0) for not coming to class at all..

2.         Response papers (15%). Throughout the semester you will write several 300–600-word papers responding to some of the assigned primary and secondary sources. More details to follow.

3.         Research project (30%), with final paper due Friday, Nov. 30 and related assignments due earlier in the semester. In this paper (1500–2100 words) you will focus on a single Chinese painting from the period 618–1368. More details to follow..

4.         First test (20%), due Wednesday, Oct. 24. This take-home test covers material through Monday, Oct. 15..

5.         Second test (20%), due Sunday, Dec. 16, 11:30am. This take-home test covers material from Wednesday, Oct. 17 through Monday, Dec. 10.

Format for written work:
Please follow these guidelines when you write your papers and tests.

1. Type all work in a 12-point font.
2. Double-space.
3. Leave one-inch margins on all sides.
4. Number your pages.
5. Put your name and the date on the first page.
6. Check that your spelling, grammar, and punctuation are correct—these are crucial to effective communication of your ideas. Your grade will drop if you have excessive errors.
7. If you cite another source, you must use a.) parenthetical references or footnotes, as well as
   b.) a list of works cited, as explained in The Chicago Manual of Style (http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html), the documentation style typically used by art historians. (See A note about cheating and plagiarism below.)
8. Include pictures (with captions) of works of art that you discuss.

You can submit written work via Canvas. Please upload a Microsoft Word document (.doc, .docx), Rich Text Format file (.rtf), or a Portable Document Format file (.pdf): these are the only formats that Canvas will accept. Alternatively, you can turn in a stapled hard copy during the class period. PLEASE NOTE: I do not accept papers via e-mail.

A note about cheating and plagiarism:
I will not tolerate any form of academic dishonesty. It destroys the trust that I have in you to do your best, it is unfair to the other students, and you will not learn anything if you resort to cheating. If I find that you have cheated on a test or on a written assignment, you will receive a zero for the assignment and I will contact the Deans and/or the Committee on Standards about your case. If a case goes to the Committee on Standards, I follow the Committee's recommendation; if it also finds evidence of cheating or plagiarism, the recommendation is usually failure of the course at a minimum.

Grading:
Tests and the research project assignments receive numerical grades. Class participation, response papers, and make-up written assignments will receive a check-plus-plus (95), check-plus (85), check (75), check-minus (65), or zero (0). If you are unsatisfied with a grade, please prepare a written statement explaining what grade you think you should have received and why, and submit it to me along with the assignment for review.

I mark down three points for each calendar day that an assignment is late. If you think you will need an extension, you should talk to me as early as possible before the assignment is due.

My grading scale is as follows:

The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL):
At Hobart and William Smith Colleges, we encourage you to learn collaboratively and to seek the resources that will enable you to succeed. The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) is one of those resources: CTL programs and staff help you engage with your learning, accomplish the tasks before you, enhance your thinking and skills, and empower you to do your best. Resources at CTL are many: Study Mentors help you find your time and manage your responsibilities, Writing Fellows help you think well on paper, and professional staff members help you assess academic needs. 

I encourage you to explore these and other CTL resources designed to encourage your very best work. You can talk with me about these resources, visit the CTL office on the 2nd floor of the library to discuss options with the staff, or visit the CTL website at http://www.hws.edu/academics/ctl/index.aspx.

The CTL resource that will be most essential in enhancing learning in this course is the Writing Fellows program. Writing Fellows help students develop their writing by providing feedback on essay drafts, offering strategies for the writing process, and enhancing students’ understanding of what good college writing means. In this class, Writing Fellow assistance with our research project will be extremely helpful to you, and I suggest that you make an appointment via StudyHub on the CTL website in the week of Nov. 5 to begin work on the research paper drafts.

Disability accommodations:
If you are a student with a disability for which you may need accommodations, you should self-identify, provide appropriate documentation of your disability, and register with Disability Services at the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). Disability-related accommodations and services generally will not be provided until the registration and documentation process is complete. The guidelines for documenting disabilities can be found at the following website: http://www.hws.edu/academics/ctl/disability_services.aspx.

Please direct questions about this process or disability services at HWS to Christen Davis, Coordinator of Disability Services, at ctl@hws.edu or x3351.

Websites:
There are two websites for this course: one at my homepage and one at Canvas. This syllabus, paper assignments, and links to online resources for Asian art can be found at both. The Canvas site also has a course calendar, daily handouts, discussions, and an online gradebook;I plan to post image presentations used in class there as well.

To use Canvas, log in with your campus username and password. Once you have logged in, you should see, at the left of the screen, a link for Courses you are enrolled in, as well as links for your Account, Dashboard, Calendar, Inbox, Commons, and Help.

It is essential for you to get in the habit of logging into Canvas regularly, as one way I will communicate with the class is via Canvas announcements, and I will post assignments and other course materials there. If you click on the Account link and then on Settings, you can set up Canvas to notify your e-mail or your cell phone about recent activity. I strongly recommend that you set Canvas to send you notifications of announcements ASAP.