ASIAN ARTS

 is diverse and rich, spanning thousands of years and dozens of countries. It is known for its ritual bronzes,
beautiful ceramics, jades, textiles, poetic painted landscapes, garden design, elaborate gold work, extraordinary
temples, shrines, pagodas and stupas, woodblock prints, shadow puppets and the highest art form in East Asian
art-calligraphy.

JAPANESE ART HISTORY

 Painting, calligraphy, architecture, pottery, sculpture, and other visual arts produced in Japan
 Art begins with the production of ceramics by early inhabitants sometime in the tenth millennium B.C.E. The
earliest complex art is associated with the spread of Buddhism in the seventh and eighth centuries B.C.E.
 The arts in Japan were patronized and sustained for centuries by a series of imperial courts and aristocratic
clans, until urbanization and industrialization created a popular market for art.

JOMON PERIOD
 The Jōmon period is Japan’s Neolithic period, were people obtained food by gathering, fishing, and hunting and
often migrated to cooler or warmer areas as a result of shifts in climate. It is known for decorating Jomon period
pottery and figurines.

YAYOI PERIOD
 Production of metal objects (dotaku bells) represents significant manifestation of the Yayoi period.
 Yayoi period's name comes from a neighborhood of Tokyo, Japan’s capital, where artifacts from the period were
first discovered.
 Most often defined artistically by its dramatic shift in pottery style.

ASUKA PERIOD
 Japan’s first historical Period.
 Rapid expansion and dissemination of Buddhist imagery across Japan.
 Full bodied sculptures like the Four Heavenly Kings and Kudara Kannon.
 Also considered as the first segment of the subsequent era, the Nara Period.

NARA PERIOD
 A golden age for Japanese sculpture with Nara-period sculpture is regarded as the finest examples of the art
form in Japan.
 The Great Buddha and the Four Heavenly Kings at Tōdai-ji, or the Eight Legions at Kōfuku-ji.

HEIAN PERIOD
 Heian or Heian-kyō, was the city known today as Kyoto. The style known as yamato-e is born. This encompasses
a wide range of technical and formal characteristics but refers to specific formats folding screens (byōbu) and
room partitions (shōji) and specific choices of subject matter landscapes with recognizably Japanese features
and illustrations of Japanese poetry, history, mythology, and folklore.

KAMAKURA PERIOD
 Artwork of this time was mostly religious. Many sculptures were created, and they were often realistic
representations made out of wood, painted in different colors and decorated with different inserts.

NANBOKUCHO & MUROMACHI PERIOD

 Painting and calligraphy. The most significant developments in Japanese painting during the Muromachi years
involved the assimilation of the Chinese ink monochrome tradition, known in Japanese as suiboku-ga or sumi-e.
 The uniquely Japanese arts of the tea ceremony, flower arranging, and nō drama were developed, while the
Sung style of ink painting (sumi) reached its height.
 A period that occurred during the formative years of the Muromachi (Ashikaga) shogunate of Japanese history.
 The Muromachi period, coinciding with the rule of Ashikaga shōguns, was one of the most turbulent and violent
in Japanese history.

AZUCHI MOMOYAMA PERIOD

 Oda Nobunaga’s Azuchi Castle and Toyotomi Hideyoshi' s Fushimi or Momoyama Castle.
 Architectural Styles derived from that of the pavilions built by Ashikaga shoguns during the previous historical
period.
 Remembered for intensified contact with other cultures.

EDO PERIOD
 A vibrant urban culture developed in the city of Edo (today’s Tokyo) as well as in Kyoto and elsewhere.
 Artisans and merchants became important producers and consumers of new forms of visual and material
culture.
 Often referred to as Japan’s “early modern” era.
 Edo period is divided in multiple sub-periods: Kan’ei and Genroku.
MEIJI PERIOD
 It was during the Meiji period that Japanese art students first went to Europe to study Western painting, and
developed a new style of painting based on these techniques, known as yoga (or ‘Western style ’).
 Yoga painting involved oil paints, canvas and water colours, all techniques which had been developed in the
West.

TAISHO PERIOD
 Continued the process of adoption and transformation of foreign models.
 Eclectic style that had emerged in architecture continued to flourish.
 Nihonga or modern Japanese painting continued to develop.

SHOWA PERIOD
 In the 1920s and 30s, Japanese poets, photographers, and painters who had studied abroad developed, in Japan,
styles aligned with contemporaneous global art movements, combining elements of surrealism, absurdist Dada,
and futurism.
 Modernism was adopted as the language of this reconstruction.

HEISEI PERIOD (1989-2019)

 The establishment of new art museums and the adoption of new means of expression among Japanese artists.
 Manga and anime exploded in popularity and influence during this period.
 Contemporary Japanese artists use a variety of mediums to express their vision or to focus on the perfection and
re-invention of a medium.

CHINESE ART HISTORY

 Chinese art traditions are the oldest continuous art traditions in the world. Early so-called "stone age art" in
China, consisting mostly of simple pottery and sculptures, dates back to 10,000 B.C.E. This early period was
followed by a series of dynasties, most of which lasted several hundred years. Through dynastic changes,
political collapses, Mongol and Manchurian invasions, wars, and famines, Chinese artistic traditions were
preserved by scholars and nobles and adapted by each successive dynasty.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT (221 B.C.E)

 Neolithic pottery - Early forms of art in China are found in the Neolithic Yangshao culture which dates back to
the sixth millennium B.C.E. Archeological findings such as those at the Banpo have revealed that the Yangshao
made pottery.
 Jade culture- The jade from this culture is characterized by finely worked, large ritual jades such as Cong
cylinders, Bi discs, Yue axes, pendants and decorations in the form of chiseled open-work plaques, plates and
representations of small birds, turtles and fish.

THE SUI AND TANG DYNASTIES

 "Golden age of Chinese literature and art". Buddhist sculpture of the Tang evolved towards markedly lifelike
expression. Buddhism continued to flourish during the Tang period and was adopted by the imperial family.
 Golden age of Chinese poetry.
 Li Po and Du Fu-Li Po and Du Fu (the greatest of the Chinese poets) both lived during the Tang Dynasty.
 Painting - during the Tang dynasty (618–907), landscape painting (shanshui) became highly developed.

SONG AND YUAN DYNASTIES

Song painting
 Landscapes of more subtle expression
 Immeasurable distances were conveyed thru the use of blurred outlines, mountain contours disappearing into
the mist, and impressionistic treatment of natural phenomena.
Yuan Drama
 Exists today as Cantonese opera
 Imported from the northern part of China, slowly migrated to the southern province of Guangdong in late 13th
century.

EARLY IMPERIAL CHINA

 Qin sculpture - Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the
first emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE with the purpose of
protecting the emperor in his afterlife.
 Pottery - Porcelain is made from a hard paste comprised of the clay kaolin and a feldspar called petuntse, which
cements the vessel and seals any pores.
 Han Dynasty - Han poetry during, the Han Dynasty, Chu lyrics evolved into the Fu, a poem usually in rhymed
verse except for introductory and concluding passages that are in prose, often in the form of questions and
answers.
 The invention of paper during the Han dynasty spawned two new Chinese arts.
PERIOD OF DIVISION
 Influence of Buddhism - Buddhism arrived in China around the first century C.E and for the next seven centuries
China became very active in the development of Buddhist art.
 Calligraphy and Painting - Painting and calligraphy were the most highly appreciated arts in court circles and
were produced almost exclusively by amateurs, aristocrats and scholar-officials.

LATE IMPERIAL CHINA
 Ming painting Chinese culture bloomed during the Ming dynasty. Narrative painting, with a wider color range
and a much busier composition than the Song paintings, became very popular. As techniques of color printing
were perfected, illustrated manuals on the art of painting began to be published.

NEW CHINA ART

Transformation
 20th cultural philosophers; Xiao Youmei, Cai Yuanpei, Feng Zikai and Wang Guangqi called for Chinese culture to
modernize and reflect the "New China”.
The Big Three
 Shanghai (entertainment center) and birthplace of three new art forms; Chinese cineme, Chinese animation,
Chinese popular music.
Comics
 Most popular form of comics circulated as palm sized books
 One of the most affordable forms of entertainment
 Famous sanmao character was born at this time
Guohua
 Painting in the traditional medium of in and color on paper came to be referred to as guohua to distinguish it
from Western-style oil painting, watercolor painting, and drawing.

COMMUNIST ART
 The loss of the Big Three • Communist regime quickly classified popular music as yellow music (pornography)
and began to promote revolutionary music (guoyue) instead.
 Painting-Artists were encouraged to employ socialist realism.

REDEVELOPMENT (Mid-1980s-1990s)
 Contemporary Art. Often referred to as Chinese avant-garde art, has continued to develop since the 1980s when
the restrictions of the cultural revolution were lifted.
 Visual Art. In the late 1980s younger Chinese visual artists received unprecedented exposure in the west through
Chinese museum curators based outside the country
 Museum curators within china; Gao Minglu, and critics; Li Xianting have reinforced the promotion of particular
newly-emerged brands of painting, spread the idea of art as a strong social force within Chinese Culture.

CONTEMPORARY CHINESE ART MARKET

 The new visual art market - the market for Chinese art, both contemporary and ancient, has exploded in recent
years. Globalization has increased Western awareness of and appreciation for Chinese art, and the growth of a
wealthy middle class in China has created a new market within China.

 Chinese landscape painting, “shanshui hua” means the painting of mountains and rivers which are the two major
components that represents the essence of the nature. Shanshui in Chinese tradition is given rich meaning, for
example mountain represents Yang and river indicates Yin.
 Chinese poetry is called Shih Ching.

INDIAN ART HISTORY

 History of Art in India can be interestingly understood by the 4 Art Movements explained here. From the
prehistoric settlements of Bhimbetka to the various forms of contemporary art today, it has spanned across
generations and entire civilizations, morphing into various forms, and adapting to cultures.

EARLY INDIAN ART

 Early Indian art, dating from 8000 B.C. to 500 A.D., includes paintings, carvings, engravings, and sculptures. It can
be divided into prehistoric, Indus Valley, Mauryan, Buddhist, and Gupta art. Prehistoric art includes rock relief
carvings of Bhimbetka, while Indus Valley civilization saw a boom in metal sculptures and terracotta figurines.
Buddhist art gained popularity with Chaityas and Viharas, while the Gupta period saw the golden age of art.

MUGHAL AND COLONIAL ERA ART

 The art of the period of Mughals depicted the vibrancy and traditions of the time with art forms and painting
styles such as Miniature art with Persian, Pahari, Rajput, and other styles from various regions of the
subcontinent. The painting was the preferred art form of the courts of Mughal and other rulers during this
period.
  Later during the Colonial rule, British influence and schools of thought had a major influence on styles of work
produced and sought after.

MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY ART

 After the Colonial rule ended in the subcontinent, there was a huge overhaul in art styles around the country.
Even at the start of the 20th century due to the Independence movement, the first notable art movement to
create an entirely different style was the ‘Bengal School’ art movement. It was initiated and triggered by a
nationalistic fervor in search of an Indian identity.
 Artists such as Nandalal Bose, Gaganendranath Tagore, and Mukul Dey exerted a huge influence over the artistic
scene with the movement’ s centers at Kolkata and ShantiNiketan.

TYPES OF INDIAN ART

PAINTING
 Each style of painting that emerged in India represented traditions, customs, and ideologies passed down from
previous generations. Though early paintings existed on walls or as murals, the art form was eventually
transferred to more modern materials such as paper, canvas, cloth, and other mediums.

SOME OF THE MOST POPULAR INDIAN FOLK ART PAINTING STYLES

 Madhubani Painting - Jagdamba Devi from Bhajparaul, Madhubani was given Padma Shri in 1975 and the
National Award to Sita Devi of Jitwarpur village near Madhubani
 Miniature Painting- Visiting a princess, India, Mughal style, Avadh (Oudh)
 Pattachitra Painting- Odisha Pattachitra depicting Radha
 Warli Painting - Warli paintings at Sanskriti Kendra Museum, Anandagram, New Delhi

NOTABLE INDIAN PAINTINGS

 “Shakuntala” - Raja Ravi Varma (1870) Father of modern Indian Art
 “Bharat Mata” (A Holy depiction of Mother India) - Abanindranath Tagore (1905). Bharat Mata is depicted as a
saffron-clad divine woman, holding a book, sheaves of paddy, a piece of white cloth and a rosary in her four
hands.
 “Self Portrait” - Amrita Sher-Gil (1931)

ARCHITECTURE
 Much like paintings, Indian architecture took on various styles and forms over the years. Many of these
structures have become globally renowned, such as the Taj Mahal and South Indian Temples. Architectural
styles have changed over time and modern structures reflect influences from a variety of countries as a result of
India’s global discourse.

NOTABLE INDIAN ARCHITECTURE

 The Iron Pillar, Delhi (5th Century)
 Konark Sun Temple Konark, Indian (13th Century).Dedicated to the Sun of God (Surya)
 Taj Mahal Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India (17th Century). For the wife of Mughal Emperor Shan Jahan, Mumtaz
Mahal.

The three gods in India: Brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver), Shiva (the destroyer)

SCULPTURE
 Sculpture continues to be a favored medium for artistic expression in India, primarily as a form of religious art.
Buildings were profusely adorned, and subject matter largely consisted of abstracted human forms used to
illustrate the principles of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Female deities such as Shakti, Kali, and Brahma
were often depicted in Indian sculpture.

NOTABLE INDIAN SCULPTURES

 Dancing Girl of Mohenjo-Daro
 The Ashoka Pillar
 Ajantes Cave