This course offers a general introduction to the history of East Asian art, while
concentrating on a few selected, central aspects or phases of the tradition.  It aims, in other
words, at both breadth and depth.  Three areas are singled out for special study:
The Buddhist tradition: the art of Buddhism and its evolution as Buddhist teachings spread
from India to China and then to Japan.  We will pay special attention to the emergence of Zen
Buddhism, the development of Zen arts, and their place in the history of religious and secular
culture in China and Japan.
Nature and the self in China: Chinese landscape painting, and its links with calligraphy and
poetry.  Painting landscape was a way to grasp the principles of the world of nature, and the place
of people in it; brushwork was understood as an expression of both the individual mind and the
broader forces and rhythms of nature.
Art and power in Japan: the decorative and useful arts of later Japan, in various social
contexts: the castle, the teahouse, the theater, the private home, and the city street.  The
relationships between art, politics, and class will be a main theme of this unit.
These three topics are linked, overlapping, and roughly consecutive; together they offer an
overview of important characteristics and directions in East Asian art history.
Throughout the course, works of art are considered in the context of cultural history--that
is, in connection with the social and economic conditions, the political pressures and the
intellectual issues of the times and places in which they are made.  The problems art historians
face as they try to reconstruct the events, the human values and perspectives of remote times and
places will also be a subject of discussion.
There are two lectures and one discussion section each week.  Assignments include slide
and essay tests and brief written projects.  Participation in discussion sections is also expected.