Chandler

Josh

Kora

China and

Korea

Background Pg 1

Paradise of Amitabha Pg.2

Vairocana Buddha Pg.2

Crown of Hwangnam Dong Pg.3

Lady Feng and the Bear Pg.3

Palace Ladies Pg.4

Stalks of Bamboo by a Rock Pg.4

Ink Stone Box Pg.5

Lofty Mountain Lu Pg.5

Bottle of Daoist Immortal Pg.6

Suzhou Gardens Pg.6

Celebrating the People’s Republic of China’s National Day

Pg.7

Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads Pg.7

Buddha at the St. Moritz Pg.8

Seongbuk Gate Hills Pg.8

Grazing Horse Pg.9

Grazing Horse, was published in 1932 by Xu Beihong on a hanging scroll with ink. It was later inscribed by Xu Beihong and Qi Baishi. Qi Baishi patron Grazing Horse for his son. The Horse has had a long tradition as being the em-blem of state; the painting us-es conventional Chinese medi-um of brush and ink, but drawing technique is Western; the horse is not de-fined with calli-

graphic outlines, but sketched impressionistically with light and dark washes, pieces of the paper are left uninked, to suggest the modeling effects of light and shadow; horse’s pose is complex (foreshortened body, twisting neck, and naturalistically placed legs), layered washes of animal’s tail give an impression of move-ment. Xu Beihong was a great artist of Western-style academic realism, and was inspired by political reformer Kang Youwei’s advocacy of the integration of Chinese traditional art and Western art.

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Buddha at the St. Moritz was made with Photoshop in a Buddha photograph series; 2011 by Li Wei. This man is dressed as a traditional Buddhist monk and is lifted in the air by a column of red smoke. It expresses the high stature and power of tradition-al Buddhist monks. Seongbuk Gate Hills was constructed by Haeahn Architecture (Korean) and Joel Sanders Architect (American) in Seoul, South Korea. It takes advantage of steep hills to provide every resi-dence with plenty of out-door space and beautiful views of the landscape; architecture is organic and integrates building with nature, using natural and synthetic materials. The design incorporates aspects of traditional Korean architecture, such as the two courtyards that the residences are built around, drawing inspiration from the traditional Korean courtyard house.

Background Landscape: sandy plains, mighty r ivers, tower ing mountains, fer tile farmlands, with varying land area/size throughout Dynasty’s. China has many languages and dialects, but one written language written with characters. Pagan: worshipping of ancestors in shr ines. Including narratives, expensive goods, weapons, pottery, and sculpture. Pleasing the ances-tors would bring good fortune. Taoism- is native to China was founded by Laozi (604-531 BC) and Zhuangzi (370-301 BC) attributed to Laozi’s book Daodejing (The Way and Its Power) a metaphysic. It promotes intuitive awareness based off of contact with nature for well mental and physical health This was popularly done by retreating from society into the mountains. Confucianism-is native to China was founded by Confucius (551- 479 BC) and was popularized by Mencius (371- 289 BC) in the Han Dynas-ty as a religion through Emperor Wu (140- 87 BC) It is meant to lead to order and stability in a government through a reciprocal status. Were the Junzi (superior person) who possess ren (Human-Heartedness) through empathy for suffering, pursuit of morality, respect for ancient traditions, and adherence to social relationships, would find his legiti-macy through other peoples respect for himself. Buddhism- is native to India and was popularized through the silk route from India and in north China through invaders. It was created by Prince Siddhartha in the kingdom of present day Nepal. It was also pop-ularized when China was in a state of disunity and its ideas of hope af-ter death gave many people interest in Buddhism. As it became a major influence to China in the Song Dynasty there became a North Chan Buddhism and South Chan Buddhism school. The North School thought that enlightenment came gradually though meditation, while South School thought that Enlightenment came through break through and were sudden and spontaneous which directly affected how artist made art. China would mix these philosophies, not choosing a specific religions.

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Paradise of Amitabha

This is a painting focusing on the Buddha of the West. It was made in the Teng Dynasty and depicts follow-ers in front of him in a ce-lestial dance. In the Pure Land teachings, people could not reach enlighten-ment on their own. Instead they could obtain rebirth into salvation promised by Amitabha, as long as they had faith in him. This work shows peace, prosperity, and joy. The mood is happy and celebrating. They are all worshipping Amitabha to secure their salvation after their rebirth. The focus is Amitabha. He is the larg-est figure (hierarchy of scale). And the artist used a pyramidal ef-fect; where he is placed on a platform above the lesser divine. This shows that the people worship him so they may have salva-tion under Amitabha. This shows Chinese traditions because it tells of one of there religious rituals and beliefs. Vairocana Buddha This statue was found in the Fengxian Temple during the Tang Dynasty. This piece was sponsored by Empress Wu Zetain. Vair-cana is the Buddha of Emptiness, Vaircana is the largest figure, making him the focal point of the temple. He is representing maj-esty and serenity, some of the Chinese religious values. Since

Buddhists think life is “dukkha” (nothing per-manent) it explains why the Buddhist value the god of emptiness.

2 7 Celebrating the People’s Republic of China’s National Day (QingzhuZhonghua renmin gongheguo guo-qingjie) The designer was Su Guojing in 1950. The parade celebrating the People’s Re-public of China’s National

Day has traditional drum dancers. Portraits are of Mao Zedong and Sun Yat-sen (Sun Zhongshan), first president of the Republic of China (until 1925).The people under the People’s Republic of China are happy, the president of the Republic of China is happily situated next to the leader of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). This was meant to express peaceful transition from the Re-public of China to the PRC. Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads was sculpted by Ai Weiwei. It is a reinterpretation of the twelve animal heads rep-resenting the traditional Chinese zodiac that had once adorned the famous fountain-clock of the Yuanming Yuan, a royal retreat in Beijing. They raise issues of cultural patrimony, national pride, and China’s ongoing relationship with its own history. They rein-terprets traditional themes, and question relationships with cultur-al objects today.

Crown of Hwangna Dong This piece was located in a Silla Tomb during the Three Kingdoms period. It is made from real gold and jade. Its show-ing wealth, power, and superiority. Some say it was to be worn by a king of great power, and others say that it was only meant as a symbol of the great ruler and their triumph, put in their tombs af-ter death. This crown has been interpret-ed as the mountains, trees, and some-times birds, perhaps to show enlighten-ment of the ruler.

Lady Feng and the Bear This is a painting of Lady Feng stepping in front of her emperor and blocking him from an attacking bear. She is trying to save his life, with no regard for her own. Her act of heroism became a model of perfect behavior expected from the empress and em-presses to come. The focus is Lady Feng because she is the hero. She is the most important person in the painting. She is placed in the center with contrasting colors which draws your eye immedi-ately to her.

Suzhou Gardens

Wangshi Yuan constructed Suzhou Gardens; (Garden of the Master of the Fishing Nets) cover-ing 54,000 square feet. It was made during the Ming dynasty in the 16th century. It was an upper class retreat that made an ideal uncultivated gar-den. Most houses had gardens as well because nature was thought to bring physical and spir-itual rejuvenation. Alt-hough it was also popu-lar to travel into the mountains which became more popular in government disunity. (the retreat from civ-ilization.)

Bottle with Taoist Immortal Zhongli Wuan This vase was made in the 15th century and was made to hold wine. It focuses on Zhongli Wuan a Taoist lord. He is surrounded by a cloud. It shows how the Chinese value

Longevity (long/old age) by depicting Zhongli. Also com-mon in Chinese art was the artist local perspective, as many lords over strong holds only had inspi-ration from what is around them, during times of disunity. Lords living in strongholds often created there own art.

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Palace Ladies This art work was in the Tomb of Princess Yongtai. Probably to help bring the ladies to the afterlife to help the princess, as that was their job. It was meant to show the daily lives of the ladies and how busy and hardworking they were. It is a little cluttered, like the ladies have a lot to do but they are deter-mined to get it done right. It is showing pleasant court life for the palace ladies. They are peaceful, happy, and just going about their daily duties.

Stalks of Bamboo by a Rock This painting was made in 1347 dur-ing the Yuan Dynasty, and was spon-sored by the Kublai Khan. This piece was made by Wu Zhen with ink and silk. Throughout Chinese culture Bamboo is always a popular painting as it resembles calligraphy curves. It also, symbolically, represents the Chinese Virtues of a gentle man. The perfect gentleman who will bend but not snap, like bamboo, with humility and firmness. Many people of the no-ble class owned pieces of art such as this and was meant to show the vir-tues of the owner. The red stamps on art pieces were used as a “brand name” as techniques were carefully transferred from master to appren-tice.

4 Lofty Montain Lu This painting was made by Shen Zhou as a gift to his teacher. It was made during the Ming dynasty on 1467. In scale you can see a man standing under a tree by the river to see the mountains great size. Mountains represented gran-deur and longevity. They brought rain clouds and were thought to keep magi-cal herbs. It was the manifestation of nature’s energy and retreat of the en-lightened into harmony and spiritual renewal. With that in mind landscape painting became popular because they represented intellectual escapes from disorder in China and were also later used to show the owners virtues. Or-ganized landscape represented empires and many used art to show rebellion of an empire, or reclusion from the em-

pire. The calligraphy written on the top right also is very tradi-tional, as calligraphy was more prized than paintings. Poems in-spired from paintings were very popular on landscape paining.

Ink Stone and Box This box was made in 1370 . The

patron was Zuo and the artist was Wang Shizen.

It was very traditional because it is made of bamboo and jade, both popular topics. Jade was prized because it was thought to have magical properties to protect the dead.

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