The Art of Later China

and Korea (1300-present)

Lauren Leonardo AP Art History

Introduction
in 1210 Genghis Khan (1167-1230) and the Mongols invaded
northern China from Central Asia
by 1215 they had destroyed the Jin dynastys capital at
Beijing
1235- Mongols attacked the Song dynasty in southern China
Kublai Khan (his grandson) killed the last Song emperor and
proclaimed himself the new emperor of China and founded
the Yuan dynasty
trade between Europe and China increases thus spreading
culture

Bamboo

Bamboo was a favorite subject of Chinese painters because the plant was
a symbol of the ideal Chinese gentleman, who bends in adversity but
does not break
Guan Daosheng (1262-1319) was best known for her paintings of bamboo
in her handscroll she dedicates another noblewoman and a second
inscription stating that she painted the hand scroll in a boat on the
green waves of the lake
she purposely blurred the bamboo in the distance to suggest fog
contrasting in style, Wu Zhen (1280-1354) shunned the Mongol court and
lived as a hermit but was considered a scholar-artist
uses the abstract patterns of the bamboo and leaves
each stalk is clearly differentiated

Guan Daosheng, Bamboo Groves in Mist and Rain (detail) Yuan dynasty, 1308. Section of
handscroll, ink on paper. 9 x 3
Wu Zhen, Stalks of Bamboo by a rock, Yuan dynasty, 1347. Hanging scroll, ink on paper,
2 x 1

Chinese Pottery

by the Yuan period, Chinese pottery had

extended their mastery to fully developed
porcelains
made up an altar set donated to a Buddhist
temple as a prayer for peace, protection,
and prosperity for the donors family
one of the earliest examples of porcelain
symbols painted on invoke high status
dragon and phoenix also symbolize the
emperor and empress

Temple vase, Yuan dynasty, 1351. White porcelain with cobalt blue underglaze,
2 x 8

The Forbidden City

in 1368 Zhu Yuanzhong led an uprising that drove the last Mongol
emperor from Beijing thus begins the Ming dynasty!
Ming Beijing was planned as three nested walled cities. The outer
perimeter wall was 15 feet long and enclosed the walled Imperial City
the Imperial palace compound was named the Forbidden City due to the
restricted access
The noon gate had five portals. Only the emperor could walk through the
central doorway, the two directly next to it were reserved for the
imperial family and high officials while others had to use the outermost
passageways
created using traditional Chinese bracketing system

Ming Court Painting

Official painters were housed in the Forbidden City itself
portraiture of the imperial family was their major subject
depicted historical figures as exemplars of virtue, wisdom,
or heroism
shows the historical emperor being presented with the
enemy
uses bright colors to emphasise the emperor and his
attendants who stand out sharply against the ink landscape
strength vs. vulnerability

Shang Xi, Guan Yu Captures General

Pang De, Ming dynasty, 1430. Hanging
scroll, ink and colors on silk. 5 x 7

Fan Painting

Men primarily painted landscapes while most women painted flowers and
other subjects
Wen Shu (1595- 1634) was well known for her arc-shaped fan paintings
the artist paints on a flat paper, then it gets folded and mounted on
sticks to be hung in homes or purchased and put in a collection
fragile red flowers contrast with the bold rocks

Wen Shu, Carnations and Garden Rock, Ming dynasty, 1627.

Fan, ink and colors on gold paper. 6 x 9

Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)

The Ming familys power slowly began to decay which permitted another
group of invaders, the Manchus of Manchuria, to overrun China
These Northerners quickly restored effective imperial rule, although
southern China remained rebellious
The second Qing emperor Kangxi (1662-1722) succeeded in pacifying all
of China
The Mancus adapted themselves into Chinese life and cultivated
knowledge of Chinas arts.

Primordial Line

While traditional painting still took place, other artists were

experimenting with extreme effects of massed ink or individualized
brushwork patterns
Shitao (1642-1707) began creating bold and freely manipulated
compositions with a new, expressive force
his art called for the use of the single brush stroke
or primordial line as the root for all phenomena
and representation
While he studied classical paintings, he believed that
he could not learn anything from them unless he
changed them

Shitao, Man in a House beneath a Cliff, Qing dynasty, late 17th century. Album leaf, ink and
colors on paper, 9 x 11

Jesuits at the Qing Court

European Jesuit missionaries become familiar

figures at the imperial court
Many of these missionaries were artists that
introduced the High Renaissance and Baroque
art to China
Jesuit painters had to appeal to the Chinese
who did not accept Western techniques so
they created a mix of Western and Chinese
Giuseppe Castiglione (Lang Shining) created
Italian-Chinese hybrid paintings
painted the celebrate the birthday of the
emperor

Giuseppe Castiglione (Lang Shining), Auspicious Objects, Qing dynasty, 1724.

Hanging scroll, ink and colors on silk. 7 x 5

Modern China and Marxist art

The overthrow of the Qing dynasty and the establishment of the Republic
of China under the Nationalist Party in 1912 did not bring an end to the
traditional themes and modes of Chinese art
Marxism triumphed in 1949 when the communists took control of China
and founded the Peoples Republic
this inspired a social realism that broke drastically with the past, the
intended purpose of this art was to serve the people in the struggle to
liberate and elevate the masses
in Rent Collection Courtyard, a team of sculptors grimly depicted the old
times before the Peoples Republic
114 life size figures
the message: we must not repeat the past or only collective action could
affect the transformation of a society

Ye Yushan
and others,
Rent
Collection
Courtyard,
China, 1965.
clay,
approx. 100
yards long
with life size
figures

<--Terracotta Warriors, 210 BC

A Heavenly Book

In the late 1980s and 1990s Chinese artists began to make a mark on
the postmodern international scene (chapter 34)
Xu Bing (b. 1955) created a large installation called A Book from Heaven
First exhibited in China and then in Japan, the United States, and Hong
Kong
presents an enormous number of wood-block printed texts in characters
that look like Chinese writing, but what the artist invented
it has been interpreted both as a critique of the meaninglessness of
contemporary political language and as a commentary on the illegibility
of the past
but of course, thats up for the viewer to interpret

Xu Bing, A Book from

Heaven, 1988.
Installation at Elvehjem
Museum of Art,
University of Wisconsin,
Madison, 1991.
Moveable-type prints
and books.

Conclusion

From 1279 until the founding of the Republic of China in 1912, three
dynasties ruled China
Just like in early Chinese art, there is a focus on nature and the natural
world (also just like Japan!)
Landscape continued to be a favorite subject
this period saw a rise of the literati movement in art, when scholarartists retreated from court life and practiced painting, calligraphy and
poetry
Chinese artists were able to keep their traditional forms of art, while
involving the new ideals brought by Western society