Dec. 1, Yifan Zou

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Friday, December 1,  4:30 – 6:30 pm, CWAC 156

Traditions Reinterpreted: Text and Image in Wu Zhen’s Eight Views of Jiahe (1344)

Yifan Zou

Department of Art History, University of Chicago

Wu Zhen 吳鎮 (1280-1354), Eight Views of Jiahe 嘉禾八景 , 1344,  ink on paper handscroll, 37.5 x 566 cm.

This paper explores the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368) painter Wu Zhen’s 吳鎮 (1280-1354) depiction of his hometown in Eight Views of Jiahe 嘉禾八景 (1344), a 37.5 x 566 cm paper handscroll with ink renderings of eight scenes and accompanying text. Despite several previous excursions into this scroll, I propose still another trip back to the Jiahe. Not only does the “hypnotic effect” of the “eight views” topic encourage a periodic retelling, but due to their different focuses, most previous studies have not examined the work’s text and images as a coherent whole. This paper will explore how different traditions—the tradition of the Eight Views, and the traditional relationship between map and text in Chinese gazetteers, especially Song dynasty tujing 圖經 (cartographic classics)—were reinterpreted in Wu Zhen’s Eight Views of Jiahe. The questions that can be raised from an exploration of this work are broader than might be expected. Could it help us discover how Wu Zhen—a painter who lived most of his life in obscurity—made his way around the territory? In what way did he translate knowledge from tujing to the Jiahe handscroll to make it an appealing fundraising tool for local site? Where can we pin this work on the spectrum from maps to landscape paintings? Finally, how might this work lead us to approach the question of professionalism in the realm of cartography before European cartographic techniques were introduced to China? While it is impossible to resolve these questions, this paper will attempt to contribute to them.

 

Friday, December 1,  4:30 – 6:30 pm, CWAC 156

Persons with concerns regarding accessibility please contact Nancy P. Lin (nancyplin@uchicago.edu)

WEDS. Nov. 16, Zhenru Zhou

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Wednesday, November 15,  5:00 – 7:00 pm, CWAC 156

A Visual Study of the Front Panel of a Tang Dynasty Buddhist Shrine

Zhenru Zhou

Department of Art History, University of Chicago

Front panel of a Tang dynasty Buddhist shrine. Photo courtesy of ​Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City.

This paper is a contextual and visual study of the front panel of a Tang dynasty (618-907 CE) Buddhist shrine housed in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City (fig.1). I will first discuss the possible provenance and dating of this panel by comparing it with a group of “little dragon-and-tiger pagodas” (xiao longhu ta 小龙虎塔). Demonstrating that the architecture to which this panel was originally attached would have belonged to a type of small-sized sculpted pagodas in Henan and Shandong provinces dated back to the first half of the 8th century, I will further argue against the common idea that this type is an abbreviated and inferior version of the “dragon-and-tiger pagoda” type or the brick multi-eave pagoda type. Based on their unique formal characteristics, e.g. the twin-pagoda format, the multi-eave and slender profile, the single niche, the Pure Land imagery, the inscribed sutras and votive texts, I will argue that these pagodas were meant to be the miniaturized representation of the grandiose architecture of “seven-leveled stūpa” (qiji futu 七级浮屠), and that their media specificity may reflect a shifting conception of Buddhist monument during the High-Tang period in central China.

 

Wednesday, November 15,  5:00 – 7:00 pm, CWAC 156

Persons with concerns regarding accessibility please contact Nancy P. Lin (nancyplin@uchicago.edu)

Nov. 10, Boqun Zhou

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Friday, November 10,  4:30 – 6:30 pm, CWAC 156

The Mechanical Heart: Analogies of the Lever and Leverage in Early China

Boqun Zhou

Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago

This paper explores the use of mechanical metaphors to formulate ethical, political, and military arguments in the Warring States period (475-221 B.C.E.). As the social and intellectual atmosphere became increasingly utilitarian, philosophers took eager interest in the mechanical advantage brought by the lever and used it to explain political and military leverage (controlling/defeating the many with the few). As a result, a group of lever-related metaphors were gradually introduced into the standard terminology of power dynamics. Two ways of using the lever came to have considerable metaphorical significance: as a weighing machine (the scale), it was associated with balanced moral judgment in ethical philosophy; as a weight-lifting machine (the well sweep), it was associated with manipulative strategies of obtaining leverage in political and military thought. The origin and meaning of these metaphors will be examined to demonstrate how ancient machine technology gave rise to new paradigms of social thought.

 

Friday, November 10,  4:30 – 6:30 pm, CWAC 156

Persons with concerns regarding accessibility please contact Nancy P. Lin (nancyplin@uchicago.edu)

 

MON. Nov. 6, YI Song-Mi

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Monday, November 6,  5:00 – 6:30 pm, CWAC 156

Symbolism and Functions of Korean Palace Screen Paintings

Yi Song-mi 李成美

Professor Emerita of Art History,

The Academy of Korean Studies 韓國學中央硏究院

Screen of Ten Symbols of Longevity, 1880, 10 panels, ink and colors on silk each panel: 201.9 x 52.1cm. Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon

Unlike the majority of landscape paintings of the Joseon dynasty that were done in ink or in ink and light colors, screen paintings produced and used in Korean palaces were mostly in brilliant colors. Due to the trends in Korean art history research during the twentieth-century that have been heavily concentrated on ink paintings of literati orientations, these colorful paintings had been relegated to the “lesser” category of art. However, recent studies on uigwe (儀軌) royal documents as well as other literary and historical sources shed much light in identifying the themes of the palace screen paintings and their specific functions within the state rites of various categories. This also led to the investigation into the symbolic meanings of the palace screens. This lecture will demonstrate how the securely dated documentary evidence such as uigwe can “re-position” the colorful screen paintings of the Joseon period which, at times, were labeled as “folk paintings.”

 

Monday, November 6,  5:00 – 6:30 pm, CWAC 156

Persons with concerns regarding accessibility please contact Nancy P. Lin (nancyplin@uchicago.edu)

 

THURS. Nov. 2, ITO Miro

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Thursday, November 2,  5:00 – 7:00 pm, CWAC 156

Art as Media is a Message for Universality: Road of Light and Hope: The Eurasian Trail of Wisdom (Σοφια) —between East and West

ITO Miro

Artist, author, and initiator of Media Art League

Internationally recognized artist and author ITO Miro, who has been working to promote awareness of ancient Asian/Eurasian cultural heritage and traditions preserved in Japan, will present three short films: “Great Buddha Lives!”, “Gigaku + Road of Masks”, “Life of Masks: Bugaku at Kasuga-taisha Shrine + Bugaku at Wakamiya Onmatsuri Festival” and speak about her exhibition, “Road of Light and Hope: National Treasures of Todai-ji Temple, Nara,” which features photo art hanging scrolls of ancient National Treasures of Japan and Important Cultural Properties of Japan. The exhibition runs from November 1st to 28th, 2017 at the Consulate General of Japan in Chicago.

 

Thursday, November 2,  5:00 – 7:00 pm, CWAC 156

Persons with concerns regarding accessibility please contact Nancy P. Lin (nancyplin@uchicago.edu)

Oct 27, LI Jian’an

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Friday, October 27,  4:30 to 6:30pm, CWAC 156

从山林到海洋——福建古代陶瓷与海上丝绸之路

From the Mountain Forests to the Sea: Fujian Ancient Ceramics and the Maritime Silk Road

栗建安 LI Jian’an　

福建博物院文物考古研究所, 所长  Director, Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology, Fujian Museum

*Note: This talk will be delivered in Chinese

中国东南沿海的福建在半个多世纪以来的考古工作中，发现了自商代以降尤其是历史时期的众多古窑址，出土的唐宋元明清各个朝代的各类陶瓷器，与海上丝绸之路沿线上的沉船、港市遗址所遗存的大量福建陶瓷可相互映证，因此成为海上丝绸之路的重要历史见证、研究的珍贵实物资料，也证实了福建陶瓷在早期贸易全球化进程中的重要历史地位。

Friday, October 27,  4:30 to 6:30pm, CWAC 156

Persons with concerns regarding accessibility please contact Nancy P. Lin (nancyplin@uchicago.edu)

Oct 13, GU Zheng

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Friday, October 13,  4:30 to 6:30pm, CWAC 156

Between Journalism and Propaganda: The Assassination of Song Jiaoren in Minglibao

GU Zheng  顾铮

Professor and Vice-Director of the Research Center for Visual Culture, School of Journalism, Fudan University
Visiting Scholar, Harvard-Yenching Institute

*Note: This talk will be delivered in Chinese

本文尝试检视作为民国初年革命党人主要喉舌的《民立报》对于武昌起义以及之后的重大新闻事件暗杀宋教仁案的视觉处理，探讨他们如何认识照片、尤其是肖像照片在新闻报导与政治宣传中的作用与使用方式。报人与革命党人的身份的重合，使得他们对于照片的使用达到了某种空前的水准，也令新闻与宣传的边界受到挑战，这在“刺宋案”中体现得尤为明显。

This event is sponsored by the Committee on Chinese Studies at the Center for East Asian Studies with generous support from a United States Department of Education National Resource Center Title VI Grant.

Friday, October 13,  4:30 to 6:30pm, CWAC 156

Persons with concerns regarding accessibility please contact Nancy P. Lin (nancyplin@uchicago.edu)

THURS. October 5, Adrian Favell

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Thursday, October 5,  5-7pm, CWAC 156

After the Tsunami: Japanese Contemporary Art since 2011

Adrian Favell

Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, University of Leeds

 

Art collective Shibuhouse led by Saito Keita

 

What effect have the Triple Earthquake disasters of March 2011 had on Japanese contemporary art? Japanese contemporary art since the 1990s has mainly been associated with the popular culture inspired work of artists such as Murakami Takashi, Nara Yoshitomo, Mori Mariko and Aida Makoto. The rupture of 2011 however made clear a major shift in Japanese art towards more community based, socially engaged, and politically critical work, including among this older generation. While explaining the longstanding roots of socially engaged “art projects” as a distinctive feature of the Japanese art world, the talk will focus on the changing output of a younger generation of artists: particularly the rise of the art unit Chim↑Pom, and the story of three even younger Tokyo art collectives, whose work has also shifted the line between art, politics and everyday survival—Chaos★Lounge, Shibuhouse and Parplume. The talk is based on a new chapter for a forthcoming revised and updated edition (in Japanese and English) of my book, Before and After Superflat: A Short History of Japanese Contemporary Art 1990-2011 (Blue Kingfisher/DAP 2012).

 

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.

Thursday, October 5,  5-7pm, CWAC 156

Persons with concerns regarding accessibility please contact Nancy P. Lin (nancyplin@uchicago.edu)

Fall Schedule 2017

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Visual and Material Perspectives on East Asia is proud to present our schedule for Fall 2017.

All sessions unless otherwise noted will take place on Fridays from 4:30-6:30pm in the Cochrane-Woods Art Center (CWAC) Room 156


Wang Jin, A Chinese Dream, performance by Wang Jin in 1998 at the Ming Tombs outside Beijing, photo by Shi Xiaobing

 

*Thursday, October 5, Professor Adrian Favell
Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, University of Leeds
“After the Tsunami: Japanese Contemporary Art since 2011”
*Note: This talk will take place on Thursday from 5-7pm

*October 13, Professor GU Zheng
Vice-Director of the Research Center for Visual Culture, School of Journalism,
Fudan University | Visiting Scholar, Harvard-Yenching Institute
“Between Journalism and Propaganda: The Assassination of Song Jiaoren in Minglibao”
*Note: This talk will be delivered in Chinese

*Thursday, November 2, ITO Miro
Independent artist, author, and producer
“Art as Media is a Message for Universality: Road of Light and Hope: The Eurasian Trail of Wisdom (Σοφια) — between East and West”
*Note: This talk will take place on Thursday from 5-7pm

November 10, Boqun Zhou, Ph.D. Candidate
Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago
“The Mechanical Heart: Analogies of the Lever and Leverage in Early China”

November 17, Zhenru Zhou, Ph.D. Student
Department of Art History, University of Chicago
“A Visual Study of the Front Panel of a Tang Dynasty Buddhist Shrine”

December 1, Yifan Zou, Ph.D. Student
Department of Art History, University of Chicago
“Traditions Reinterpreted: Text and Image in Wu Zhen’s Eight Views of Jiahe (1344)”

 

We look forward to your attendance and hope you will share this with all who might also be interested in joining our community. Please direct questions and inquiries to Nancy P. Lin at nancyplin@uchicago.edu.

May 26, Yu-chih Lai

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Friday, May 26,  4:30 to 6:30pm, CWAC156

Manchu Roots: Imperial Politics, Image Discourse, and European Botanical Studies at the Qianlong Court

Yu-chih Lai 賴毓芝

Associate Research Fellow, Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica

余省王幼学合作瑞树图册

In 1750, Emperor Qianlong sent the second-rank imperial bodyguard of the Qianqing Palace to organize an expedition group of up to 37 people, including a court painter, to investigate a legendary tree grown in the Changbai Mountain, the sacred cradle of the Manchu origin. This tree was said to have eight branches belonging to eight different kinds of species. After more than one hundred days of climbing and wading, this group finally reached the tree, took the precise measurements, collected its leaves, branches, and cones as the specimens and came back. Sadly, the guard died at the end of the journey.

What is special about this story is that not only Emperor Qianlong composed an imperial rhyme to commemorate the expedition and renamed the tree as “Auspicious Tree” that meant to symbolize the longevity of the empire and the Heaven’s recognition of the Manchu’s ruling, but most importantly, he emphasized the empirical approach to document the existence of this tree and proclaimed that “what I state is all documentary truth, not empty words.” At least four sets of images were produced based on the accompanying painter’s sketches from the trip. Two of them clearly have much to do with the European tradition. One is the album depicting eight kinds of leaves in a style that reminds us of the botanical illustrations using watercolors in the European tradition that flourished since the Renaissance period. The other album contains eight kinds of actual leaves, just like the album of specimens in European fashion.

Why would Emperor Qianlong be so interested in this tree and take all the effort to investigate it first-handedly? Why would the European botanical tradition be adopted in representing it? This paper intends to focus on the reconstruction of the expedition, the making of the sacred tree, and how and what role the European botanical practice played in validating the traditional auspicious politics at the Qianlong court.

Friday, May 26,  4:30 to 6:30pm, CWAC156

Persons with concerns regarding accessibility please contact Zhiyan Yang (zhiyan@uchicago.edu)