AH 371 Home Page | Course Outline and Reading Assignments

Art History 371
Chinese Painting
Spring 2012

Course Description

This lecture course examines the development of pictorial art in China from the 3rd century B.C.E. to the late 17th century. Besides introducing major artists in social and historical context, the lectures also present esthetic concepts and theories that underlie traditional connoisseurship, as well as interpretations and issues raised in modern scholarship. In order to get the most out of class lectures, you should do the reading assignment in each block of the course as early as possible.
Knowledge of Chinese is not required for this course, but I do expect students to become familiar with important artists, paintings, and artistic concepts in their transliterated spellings (also known as "romanization"). For many of you, this will be challenging. I urge you to try to learn the basics at the start of the course -- an investment of time now will pay off handsomely for the rest of the semester. A document explaining basic features of Chinese language is posted on the course website here. I will spend some class time in Week Two on spelling and pronunciation to help you build confidence for learning and using important names and terms. Our readings use two different spellings systems, pinyin and Wade-Giles; charts for converting from one system to the other appear on the course website here and here.
Course grades will be based on three equally weighted examinations (30% each), which will cover course lectures and assigned readings in the immediately preceding block of the semester. You must contact me in advance if you cannot take an exam; otherwise you will receive an F on it. Attendance at lectures is required and will count as 10% of the course grade. There is no cumulative final exam.
Art History graduate students who enroll in the course will also be required to work on a semester-long individual project that culminates in a short paper, whose topic should be discussed with me no later than the fourth week of classes.

Required course texts:

  • Richard Barnhart and others, Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting (New Haven, Yale University Press, 2002).
  • Jerome Silbergeld, Chinese Painting Style (Seattle, University of Washington Press, 1982).

Recommended course text:

  • Michael Sullivan, The Three Perfections revised edition (New York, Braziller, 1999).
Online textbook information
All three texts are on reserve in Kohler Art Library and the two required books are also in College Library. Other books containing assigned readings are on reserve in Kohler Library. Although some selections will also be posted electronically on the course's Learn@UW site, you should consult the books themselves for the illustrations, which often do not come out well in the scans.
Materials for the course will be posted throughout the semester on our Learn@UW site and sometimes also on this website, maintained by the Art History department.