Author: campus

Eating Azurite and Malachite: The Age-Defying Connotation of the Blue-and-Green Style

Quincy Ngan

 (Ph.D. student, University of Chicago)

CWAC 156

 4:00-6:00 p.m. Jan. 16th, Friday

Abstract

I look at paintings which represent “the realm of the immortals” and, interestingly, all are painted with azurite and malachite, the two pigments which constitutes “the “blue-and-green style.” My presentation questions why “the blue-and-green style,” in Chinese visual culture, is usually deployed to represent “the realm of the immortals.” This phenomenon seems to indicate that “the blue-and-green style” can evoke immortality. In fact, there is a variety of reasons that “the blue-and-green style” can evoke immortality. Firstly, azurite is an ingredient for making elixir, as mentioned in Daoist writings dating back to the Jin Dynasty (265-420). The other reason is that both azurite and malachite are recorded in various pharmacopeias and gazetteers from the Sung to Early Qing Dynasties. These writings state that the two minerals have medicinal healing and age-defying effects. It is these two functions of the two minerals that make “the blue-and-green style” bear the connotation of immortality. Finally, I will use some works by professional painters and forgers to consolidate the above arguments. These professional paintings and forgeries, which I use as corroborations, were made under the influence of “an immortal vogue” in the 16th century. At that time, a number of Ming Dynasty Emperors were Daoist devotees who constantly sought immortality through making elixirs with minerals.

This talk is co-sponsored by The Literature and Cultural of Pre-Modern East Asia Workshop

Eugene Wang

 (Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Professor of Asian Art, Harvard University)  

“What Do Pictures Want in Tombs? Mawangdui Once More”

Jan.9, Friday, 2:00-4:00 p.m.

CWAC 156  

Abstract

Pictures are meant to be seen. What is the point of placing them in the dark space of sealed tombs when no one could see them? The speculation that they are intended for the dead to see does not quite hold up. Based on a close analysis of the paintings found in the 2^nd century BCE tombs at Mawangdui in south China, Professor Wang will offer his theory about what pictures do or want in tombs.

Ping Foong

 (Assistant Professor from Art History Department, University of Chicago)

“The Ritual Context for Painting in late Northern Song”

Dec.5, Friday, 4:00-6:00 p.m.

CWAC 152

Abstract

This talk is on intersections in the arenas of ritual, politics, and painting in late-eleventh century China.  I will present my latest research on the responses of two artists to ritual debates of the late Northern Song dynasty: Guo Xi, leading court painter of ink landscapes and Li Gonglin, scholar-official and figure-painter.  From the mid-eleventh century, ritualists and officials deliberated over the role of the Song ancestors in state and imperial sacrifices at key ritual centers such as the Southern Suburb Round Mound, the Bright Hall, the Ancestral Temple, and the Temple of Spectacular Numina.  Arguments intensified during the divisive period of sweeping reformations under the reign of Emperor Shenzong, and again after his death when the reformations were repealed.  Focusing on two surviving masterworks “Early Spring” by Guo Xi and “The Classic of Filial Piety” by Li Gonglin from this period, I will show how these painters demonstrated the ways in which the visual medium could engage in the conversation with erudition, contemporary relevance, and political delicacy.

New Observations on the Layout of the Western Han Imperial Mausoleums

Prof. Yang Zhefeng
(Institute of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University)

CWAC 152

4:00-6:00 p.m. Friday, Nov.21

Abstract

Western Han (Xi Han西漢) dynasty (206 BCE-8 CE), which lasted for more than two centuries, left eleven imperial mausoleums near its capital Chang’an長安. Nine of them are located on the Xianyang Plateau( Xianyang yuan咸陽原) north to the Wei River ( Wei shui渭水), while the other two are located to the northeast of Chang’an. Each of these mausoleums was accompanied with corresponding ritual architectures and satellite tombs of concubines and ministers, and some mausoleums were even assigned mausoleum towns. This is how a complex came into being. Many scholars have explored in various aspects the layout of these imperial mausoleums, but few of them have ever examined carefully the relationship between these mausoleums with the aid of the scientific geographic and topographic coordinate system. Nor have they combined the tumuli with the shape, the orientation and the location of the mausoleums to analyze the connection between these elements. Taking advantage of the current achievements in probing and measuring these mausoleums, my paper aims to explore the mausoleum planning and related ritual issues as revealed in the layout of the Western Han imperial mausoleums.

(trans. Shi Jie)

Julia K. Murray
Professor in the Department of Art History at University of Wisconsin-Madison
Visiting Professor in the Department of Art History at University of Chicago, Fall 2008

“Where Did the ‘Standard Portrait’ of Confucius Come From?”

When: Thursday, November 6, 4:30 PM
Where: CWAC 152 (Cochrane Woods Art Center)
 
Abstract:

Large sculptures of metal or stone that depict Confucius as a venerable elder have become a common sight in mainland China, as well as in other places around the globe.  The first wave of statues appeared after a 1974 conference sponsored by the Taiwan government, which identified an image to promote as most representative of the ancient sage.  However, early in 2006, the mainland’s China Confucius Foundation initiated a new effort to standardize the visual representation of Confucius, and its version was unveiled in Qufu that September.  Both versions were based to a greater or lesser extent on a portrayal allegedly painted by the Tang artist Wu Daozi, which was well-known from rubbings. My presentation will trace the origins and evolution of this image and discuss its significance in a variety of historical contexts.

This event was co-sponsored by Literature and Cultural History of Pre-Modern East Asia workshop.

Fall 2008 (Sep. 29 – Dec. 13)

Oct. 10 (2nd week)      Peggy Wang (Ph.D. candidate, University of Chicago)

Oct. 24 (4th week)      Zhang Lidong (Ph.D candidate, University of Chicago)

Nov. 7 (6th week)       Julia Murray (Professor, University of Wisconsin, Madison)

Nov. 21 (9th week)     Yang Zhefeng (Professor, Peking University), date tentative.

Dec. 5 (10th week)      Ping Foong (Professor, University of Chicago), date tentative.

Winter 2009 (Jan. 5 – Mar.21)

Jan. 16 (2nd week)      Quincy Ngan (Ph.D student, University of Chicago)

Jan. 29 (4th week)       Gregory Levine (Professor, UC Berkeley)

Jan. 30 (4th week)       Gregory Levine

Feb. 13 (6th week)      Julia Orell (Ph.D candidate, University of Chicago)

Feb. 20 (7th week)      Jung-ah Woo (Professor, KAIST)

Spring 2009 (Mar 30 –Jun.13)

Apr. 10 (2nd week)  Catherine Stuer  (Ph.D candidate, University of Chicago)

Apr. 24 (4th week)   Stephanie Su   (Ph.D student, University of Chicago)

May 8 (6th week)     Yuhang Li   (Ph.D candidate, University of Chicago, TBA)

May 22 (8th week)   Christina Yu (Ph.D candidate, University of Chicago)

May 29 (9th week)    Aida Wong (Professor, Brandeis University)