111-218 Studies in Asian Art and Architecture

Note

Available as 111-318 at 3rd-year level.

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Subject Description

This subject introduces students to the art and architecture of India, China and Japan from Neolithic times to the present. It examines the ways in which common themes are taken up in the artistic expression of different societies. Matters considered include: temples and tombs as expressions of religious concepts; the afterlife in Chinese bronzes; Buddhist iconography in India and its transformations across Central and East Asia; the expression of sacred and secular traditions in Japanese architecture; concepts of nature in Chinese landscape painting and Japanese court painting; castle architecture and popular woodblock prints in the ed. period in Japan; the popularisation of scholar painting and the merging of high and popular culture in China's late Imperial period; and contemporary film, painting and architecture.

Assessment

Written work which may comprise class papers, essays, visual tests or take-home examinations totalling about 5000 words.