Topic: Picturing Protest: The Codes of Political Dissent in
Chinese Painting

All art is political, they say. But how do we understand the
politics of traditional Chinese nature painting--landscapes of
mountains and river valleys, pictures of flowers, bamboo, birds,
and fish? Encoded in this seemingly innocent imagery are views of
the world, society, and the moral order. Painters, like all
educated men in China, were often involved in political life;
particularly during periods of social disorder or stress,
paintings represent an oblique but pointed commentary on current
events and the state of the nation.

This course focuses on a striking example of such a period: the
seventeenth century, a century of violent transition between the
Ming and the Qing dynasties when imperial power passed from a
Chinese ruling family to the hands of Manchu conquerors. It was
also a time of dramatic changes in economic and social life:
urbanization, the development of regional identities,
redistribution of wealth, the commodification of high culture.
Seventeenth-century painters--among them Ming loyalists (even a
couple of Ming princes), xenophobes, war victims, and garden-
variety grouches--produced a remarkable body of what may be
called "resistance painting," and this will be the subject of
study in the course.

Class sessions consist of informal lectures integrated with
discussions based on assigned readings. The principal assignment
is a research paper, to be presented orally in class towards the
end of the term and also handed in. There will be a few short
slide tests to establish basic familiarity with important works
and artists. Vigorous participation in class discussion is
expected throughout. There's no final exam.