Visual and Material Perspectives on East Asia

Sun, Bo. PhD., Visiting Scholar, Department of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University; Associate Research Professor and Director of Science and Art Office, Exhibition Department in the National Museum of China

“A Complimentary Study of shuilu-hua (the Painting of Water-and-Land Rituals) in Qinglong Temple (Temple of Blue Dragon) in Jishan County (Shanxi, China) (稷山青龙寺水陆画考补)”

Discussant: Tao, Jin. Master’s student, Divinity School

This talk will be delivered in Chinese.

Friday, May 8, 2020

4:30-6:30 pm, Zoom meeting (please find the registration link below)

Abstract: The “Water-and-Land Ritual” (shuilu fahui水陆法会) was one of the most elaborated Buddhist rites developed in China for the universal salvation of the deceased and all sentient beings. The “Water-and-Land Painting” (shuilu hua 水陆画), which is an indispensable visual aid to this ritual, was often painted in Buddha halls or on hanging scrolls. It is one of the major subject matters of Chinese Buddhist painting since the Middle Periods. Among the numerous Water-and-Land Paintings that exist in China, the earliest example is a mural circle in the Middle Buddha Hall of the Qinglong Monastery (the Monastery of Blue Dragon), which was painted during the Yuan Dynasty (1279–1368). The Qinglong mural preserves many early features of the Water-and-Land Painting, such as a special and rigorous composition. The Qinglong mural, which differs from later paintings of the Ming (1368–1644) and the Qing periods (1644–1911), deserves a comprehensive case study. Since the publication of the author’s Master’s Thesis titled “A Study of The Mural Paintings in The Qinglong Monastery in Jishan County — With a Focus on The Water-and-Land Painting in The Middle Hall” (稷山青龙寺壁画研究——以腰殿水陆画为中心) in 2010, several North American scholars have conducted new researches based on the author’s primary study. In the past decade, gladly, new evidences have been found. These evidences not only approve some of the author’s theses, but also allow him to elucidate some painting details that initially appeared obscure. In these seemingly trivial details, the author finds a new approach to the meanings and the historical developments of the Water-and-Land Painting. In this talk, he will discuss five of the important details that shed light on the Qinglong mural and the genre of the Water-and-Land Painting.

A detail of the Water and Land mural painting, southern wall, the Middle Buddha Hall of the Qinglong Monastery, Yuan dynasty.

You can download Sun Bo’s pre-circulated materials here with the password shuilu.

Zoom Registration Link: https://uchicago.zoom.us/meeting/register/uZQsdOugrDsqfA9q4LSbPDDo1bcEpTNIrA

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Dr. Sun, Bo is an Associate Research Professor and Director of Science and Art Office, Exhibition Department in National Museum of China. Since 2010, he has participated in curating a series of exhibitions hosted by the National Museum of China ranging from ancient archaeology to contemporary art. In terms of research, his academic interests focus on Chinese religious art after the tenth century, and material and visual culture exchange in Eurasia. As a visiting scholar of CAMLab, he currently engages in three research or exhibition projects including paintings used for shuilu rites (水陸法會), and visual representation of Avatamsaka Sutra and Chan’an of Tang dynasty.

Tao, Jin is a 2^nd year MA student at the Divinity School University of Chicago, and also a practicing architect based in Beijing. Jin’s previous architectural projects mainly attribute to religious typology, especially a few Taoist temples in the sacred mountain in the south of China. His research interests cover the comparative study between Jewish and Taoist theology, ritual practice of ancient Chinese religions, and the sacred space generated by the body concepts, ritual actions, religious thoughts, and social structures. His current book in progress is The Covenant: The Religious Ethos and Conferral Liturgy of Taoist Register.

Hongxiang Jin, visiting student, Department of Art History; PhD candidate, School of History & Culture, Sichuan University

“To the Body or the Soul? ——The Funerary Practice of in-Burial Offering in Wei and Jin China (220CE—420CE)”

Respondent: Li Jiang, PhD student, Department of Art History

Friday, April 24th, 2020

4:30-6:30 pm, Zoom meeting (please find the registration link below)

Abstract: Funerary practice and ancestral worship have always been an important part of the system of rites in ancient China. In the fields of Chinese archaeology and art history, there have been heated discussions about the funerary ritual practice of making offerings inside the burials, with a focus on the Han dynasty (202 BC—220 CE). However, the practice of in-burial offering during the Wei and Jin dynasties (220CE—420CE) is little-studied. In almost every case among the few archaeological discoveries in Luoyang (in present-day Henan) —the capital city of the Wei and West Jin dynasties, the ritual offerings were found directly in front of the coffin. However, this practice did not pervade the whole country. In comparison, the practice in Nanjing (in present-day Jiangsu)—the capital city of the East Jin dynasty—was to worship the symbol of the dead in the tomb, often the Spiritual Seat. It is noteworthy that the practice varied even in the same family tomb complex. The variation of in-burial offering reflects the conceptual debate in ancient China on whether the soul exists in the tomb. And these varied practices were influenced by the well-known political order of “Economic Funeral” (bozang 薄葬). In the historical context of the Economic Funeral order, as I would suggest, a significant change in the architectural program of the tomb has intensified the problem of orientation in the in-burial offering practice. Since a tomb no longer comprised an antechamber and a rear chamber, the coffins—that represents the body—and the spiritual seat—that symbolizes the soul—would have not necessarily aligned in the same direction. Engaging with archaeological discoveries and historical documents, this talk will examine the variation in in-burial offering practice in the historical context and show how the political order accentuated the changes in tomb design and funerary practice.

A niche of Dunhuang Foyemiao tomb M37

Zoom Registration Link: https://uchicago.zoom.us/meeting/register/vJ0ldO2oqj8t83Pq0OGQo2PtMNvUeORf4g

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Hongxiang Jin is a PhD candidate of the Department of Archaeology of Sichuan University. His study focuses on the Tombs of the Wei and Jin Dynasties in China. He received a B.A degree from Sichuan University in 2015, after which he directly entered the PhD program. During the undergraduate studie, he examined the Tomb Passage System in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.  His current research concerns the changing of tombs under the ‘Economic Funeral order’(bozangling 薄葬令).

Li Jiang is a PhD student of East Asian art history, focusing primarily on funerary art in ancient and early medieval China. Li Jiang received her MA from the University of Chicago in 2018. Her thesis examined the fragments of a lacquer screen from an elite burial of the Northern Wei dynasty. Her current research involves the material cultural and inter-regional issues in northeast Asian tomb arts from the fourth to seventh centuries.

A conversation and lunch with Christina Yu, PhD, Matsutaro Shoriki Chair, Art of Asia, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Saturday, March 7, 2020

12:00-1:30pm, CWAC lounge

RSVP is required at this link by March 5

This event is sponsored by the University of Chicago Center for the Art of East Asia.

Persons with concerns regarding accessibility please contact Zhenru Zhou (zhenru@zhenruzhou.com) and Yin Wu (yinwu@uchicago.edu).

Google spreadsheet URL link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jD0kaB1Bb_vb12zyQFQBaFYKDwDwhrXPtwVOZnWx1p0/edit?usp=sharing

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Christina Yu Yu is Matsutaro Shoriki Chair of Asian Art of Asia at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA). Prior to this position, Christina has served as the director of the University of Southern California Pacific Asia Museum (USC PAM), and as an assistant curator of Chinese and Korean art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). She has also held positions at Chambers Fine Art, a gallery based in New York and Beijing, and the Yokohama Museum of Art in Japan. Yu Yu attended Wellesley College for her undergraduate studies. She earned her master’s degree from Boston University and completed her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, with a dissertation focused on paintings from China’s Yuan dynasty.

Delin Lai, PhD, Professor and Head of Art History Program, Department of Fine Art, the University of Louisville

“Regionality: A Resistant Issue and Keyword in Modern Chinese Architecture”

Respondent: Zhiyan Yang, PhD Candidate, Department of Art History

Friday, February 28, 2020

4:30-6:30 pm, CWAC 152

Refreshments and a catered dinner will be provided

Abstract: This paper decodes various manifestations of “regionality”, an important issue and keyword in modern Chinese architectural history. It argues that each manifestation was a response to cultural, political, social, or even professional challenges faced by architectural scholars, officials, or practitioners. The notion of regionality thus may be interpreted as strategies of criticism or resistance. As “vernacular architecture” it was to criticize monument-dominated historical study, as “the study of local geography” to resist the International Style, as “regional styles” to resist the monopoly of the state discourse, as “Critical Regionalism” or “land-based rationalism” to resist the hegemony of globalized architectural practice, and as “cultural-oriented regionalism” to strive for self-justification in the competition for a national expression.

Li Xiaodong Atelier, Bridge School, Xiaoshi Village, Pinghe County, Fujian, 2009

This event is sponsored by the University of Chicago Center for East Asian Studies with support from a Title VI National Resource Center Grant from the United States Department of Education.

Persons with concerns regarding accessibility please contact Zhenru Zhou (zhenru@zhenruzhou.com) and Yin Wu (yinwu@uchicago.edu).

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Delin Lai is an alumnus of the University of Chicago. He studied modern Chinese architecture under the guidance of Professors Wu Hung and Katherine Taylor in the Department of Art History, and graduated in 2007. He is now professor of art history at the University of Louisville. Delin specializes in modern Chinese cities and architecture and their relationship with nationalism, modernism, and Western influence. His publications include Jindai Zhejiang Lu (Who’s who in modern Chinese architecture, 2006), Zhongguo Jindai Jianzhushi Yanjiu (Studies in modern Chinese architecture, 2007), Minguo Lizhi Jianzhu yu Zhongshan Jinian (Ritual architecture in republican China and the cult of Sun Yat-sen, 2012), Zhongguo Jindai Sixiangshi yu Jianzhu Shixueshi (Changing ideals in modern China and its historiography of architecture, 2016), and the papers “Searching for a Modern Chinese Monument: the design of the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Nanjing, 1925-1929” and “Idealizing a Chinese Style: Rethinking Early Writings on Chinese Architecture and the Design of the National Central Museum in Nanjing” in The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. He is the Lead Editor of the five-volume book Zhongguo Jindai Jianzhushi (History of Modern Chinese Architecture, 2016).

Zhiyan Yang is a doctoral candidate specializing in the history of modern and contemporary East Asian Architecture. He is currently writing a dissertation on post-socialist architecture in China and its various cultural applications and reflections, including exhibits, journals, history writing and its intersection with contemporary visual culture and art. He received his B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College in 2013 and M.A. from the University of Chicago in 2015. Zhiyan has been a researcher and overseas liaison of the Contemporary Chinese Art Yearbook Project spearheaded by Peking University and the University of Chicago since 2015. He has also previously interned at Xu Bing Studio in New York and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Nancy P. Lin, PhD candidate, Department of Art History

“‘That artwork doesn’t exist’: Productive misreadings of performance documentation and what happens when you find out the ‘truth’”

Thursday, February 20, 2020

12:30 to 1:50 pm, CWAC 152

Co-sponsored with Speaking of Art: Artist Interviews in Scholarship and Practice

Lunch will be provided

Abstract: Multi-media contemporary artist Song Dong’s Writing Time with Water (Lhasa) (1996) exemplifies the artist’s longstanding performance actions featuring water as an artistic medium. Standing on the shores of the Lhasa River in Tibet, Song used an ink brush dipped in river water to mark each year of Lhasa’s 1,300-year history on 1,300 found stones, tossing each into the water and taking a photograph each time the stone is thrown. Along with several other works the artist created between 1996 and 1997, Writing Time (Lhasa) exemplifies the ways in which Song understood the relationship between action and trace, performance and documentation, while also articulating an expanded site-specific approach that links Lhasa to Beijing and Hong Kong. These points, based on archival photographs and video footage, have all been argued in my previous writings about Song Dong and the work. One aspect that hasn’t been considered, however, is the fact that this artwork doesn’t exist—not no-longer-extant, but in fact, never made. My talk reflects upon an instance of accidentally writing about a non-existent work as a way to ponder the methodological issues concerning artwork, documentation, and the artist interview. Where all can we locate the performance “artwork” and what evidentiary role can the artist interview play?

Writing Time with Water Lhasa, color photograph, 1996. © Beijing Commune

Persons with concerns regarding accessibility please contact Zhenru Zhou (zhenru@zhenruzhou.com) and Yin Wu (yinwu@uchicago.edu).

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Nancy P. Lin studies modern and contemporary Chinese art and architecture. She received her B.A. with highest honors in History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University. Her dissertation focuses on the intersection of art, architecture, and urban visual culture in examining the spatial and site-oriented artistic practices of Chinese contemporary artists in the 1990s. She received the 2015 Schiff Foundation Writing Fellowship and, together with fellow collaborators, was a recipient of the 2016 Graham Foundation project grant for the forthcoming publication Building Subjects, a survey of collective housing in China. She is currently the Andrew W. Mellon Graduate Curatorial Intern at the Smart Museum of Art and was previously a fellow of the Mellon Sawyer Seminar on Urban Art and Urban Form from 2017-2018. Her article on the Big Tail Elephant artist group is included in the edited volume Visual Arts, Representations and Interventions in Contemporary China: Urbanized Interfaces (Amsterdam University Press, 2018).

Panpan Yang, PhD candidate, Cinema and Media Studies and East Asian Languages and Civilizations

“Ink on Screen, or What Animation Calls Thinking”

Respondent: W. J. T. Mitchell, PhD, Gaylord Donnelley Distinguished Service Professor, English and Art History

Friday, January 17, 2020

4:30-6:30 pm, CWAC 152

Co-sponsored with Mass Culture Workshop

Refreshments and a catered dinner will be provided

Abstract: This presentation reanimates the history of ink animation (水墨動畫) from the 1960s to the present. In its two golden eras, Shanghai Animation Studio produced some extremely exquisite ink animated films, such as Herdboy and the Flute (1963) and Feeling from Mountain and Water (1988). Most frames of these ink animated films, if frozen, are Chinese landscape paintings (山水畫, sometimes translated as “mountain-and-water paintings”). I show that the animated landscapes in the distinct genre of Chinese animation importune contemplation on space and time to a degree unthinkable in either live-action cinema or traditional “motionless” landscape images in painting, photography, and other media. Segueing into the recent trend of experimental ink animation, this talk also addresses how animation, in all its mobility, moves in and out of the sphere of contemporary Chinese art.

Herdboy and the Flute (Shanghai Animation Studio, 1963). Courtesy of the China Film Archive.

Persons with concerns regarding accessibility please contact Zhenru Zhou (zhenru@zhenruzhou.com) and Yin Wu (yinwu@uchicago.edu).

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Panpan Yang is a Ph.D. candidate in the joint program in Cinema and Media Studies and East Asian Languages and Civilizations. She studies East Asian cinema, media, and visual arts. Her dissertation, of which today’s talk is a part, examines Chinese animation in relation to other art forms. Supported by UChicago Arts, she is also working on a work of experimental animation, which animates a series of “wave and ripple” drawings from Hamonshū, a 1903 Japanese design book by little known artist Mori Yuzan.

J. T. Mitchell is Gaylord Donnelley Distinguished Service Professor of English Language and Literature, and Art History. He is editor of the interdisciplinary journal, Critical Inquiry, a quarterly devoted to critical theory in the arts and human sciences. A scholar and theorist of media, visual art, and literature, Mitchell is associated with the emergent fields of visual culture and iconology (the study of images across the media). He is known especially for his work on the relations of visual and verbal representations in the context of social and political issues.

Jennifer Dorothy Lee, PhD, Assistant Professor of East Asian Art, Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

“Ideology of the Image: Wu Guanzhong’s Abstract Expression in Early Post-Mao China”

Respondent: Orianna Cacchione, PhD, Curator of Global Contemporary Art, Smart Museum of Art

Friday, November 22, 2019

4:30-6:30 pm, CWAC 156

Abstract: Discrepant abstraction has become a fulcrum of comparative “global” art histories, and this presentation enters the fray. Outside of contemporary China, abstraction maintains intellectual baggage redolent of Meyer Schapiro’s line about paintings “made up of colors and shapes, representing nothing.” Continuing a discussion conducted in the first “Writing & Picturing in Post-1945 Asian Art” symposium hosted by the University of Chicago in 2017, my paper reintroduces the painter Wu Guanzhong (吴冠中, 1919-2010) through a new critical lens that emphasizes Wu’s controversial writings and institutional critique from the late 1970s. Through Wu, I argue that abstraction in twentieth century China carried connotations distinct from its resonances in the North Atlantic, which inform how the concept can be understood in globalizing cultural discourses today. More specifically, I address how Wu Guanzhong repurposed abstraction for critical discourse in China in the wake of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). In this historical moment, institutional and political elites in Beijing regarded painterly abstraction with great suspicion, owing to its associations with the bourgeois-capitalist art worlds of Paris and New York. I show how Wu Guanzhong performed an intriguing series of aesthetic interventions through his writings, utilizing Maoist logic to reposition abstraction as a politically neutralized concept. Once filtered through the language of radical materialism, abstraction ultimately took hold as a renewed term of engagement in the early post-Mao art world by the 1980s.

Wu Guanzhong, Roots, 1980. Chinese ink and colour on paper, 96 x 179.5 cm. Collection of National Gallery Singapore. Image courtesy of National Heritage Board.

This event is sponsored by the University of Chicago Center for East Asian Studies with support from a Title VI National Resource Center Grant from the United States Department of Education.

Persons with concerns regarding accessibility please contact Zhenru Zhou (zhenru@zhenruzhou.com) and Yin Wu (yinwu@uchicago.edu).

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Bio:

Jennifer Dorothy Lee is Assistant Professor of East Asian Art in the Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In Spring 2020 Lee will serve as Getty Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Art History at the University of Chicago. Lee’s research focus encompasses social history and comparative and transnational perspectives on China, critical area studies of Asia, as well as theories of socialism. Lee’s first book project, Anxiety Aesthetics: Maoist Legacies in China, 1978-1985, offers a sustained study of aesthetic theory, art, and subjectivity redefined in the fleeting historical moment bridging the Mao era with Dengist reforms.

Orianna Cacchione is Curator of Global Contemporary Art, at the Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago. Her curatorial practice is committed to expanding the canon of contemporary art to respond to the global circulations of art and ideas.The recent exhibitions that Cacchione curated at the Smart Museum include Tang Chang: The Painting that Is Painted with Poetry Is Profoundly Beautiful, and Samson Young: Silver Moon or Golden Star, Which Will You Buy of Me? Prior to joining the Smart Museum, Cacchione was Curatorial Fellow for East Asian Contemporary Art in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Art Institute of Chicago.