COURSE DESCRIPTION. The arts of Asia span thousands of years and include many rich traditions. In this course we will explore the arts, architecture and underlying cultural ideas of the major regions we visit, as well as some of the great links between them, such as Buddhism, Chinese court culture, the scholar-amateur tradition, and the trade routes. We will examine the historical geography and current issues in the archeology of each region we visit. We will also consider urgent national and international attempts to preserve the cultural heritage of Asia from losses due to war, destruction, neglect, and the more destructive aspects of the international art market. Course work will include slide lectures, site visits, films, reading in primary sources, and researched writing. Students with interests in art, world religions, history, anthropology, or archeology are especially encouraged. No previous coursework is expected or required in Art History or Asian studies.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

• To introduce students to the great artistic traditions of Japan, China, Southeast Asia, India and Tibet.
• To enrich our understanding of the great monuments and art collections we will be visiting during the semester.
• To introduce some of the major cultural ideas underlying Asian art, including Buddhism, Confucianism, imperial court culture, literary culture, and the traditions of India.
• To consider the effects of world trade and the movement of ideas in the formation of regional traditions of art and architecture.
• To practice critical thinking, reading and writing about the visual arts.
• To introduce some of the current standards, practices and ethics in archeology and cultural heritage preservation, and consider their effects on the study of art history. 

METHODS OF EVALUATION: (Revised slightly)

• Class participation: 10%
• Two tests, 15% each 30%
• Fieldwork assignments: 30%
• Research paper 15 %
• Final exam 15 %

REQUIRED TEXTS:

• LaPlante, John, Asian Art. Brown & Benchmark, 3rd ed. 
• Robert Fisher, Buddhist Art and Architecture. Thames and Hudson, 1993.
• A photocopied course packet. 

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF LECTURES AND REQUIRED READINGS

A1: Introduction--Ancient China: Bronze Age
LaPlante, Asian Art, Chapters 10-11.

A2: The Confucian and Daoist traditions of China
LaPlante, Chapter 12.
Reader: Butler, “The Role of Art in Confucian Society”
Film: "The Emperor's Eye: Art and Power in Imperial China"

A3: The Spread of Buddhist art
LaPlante, Chapters 2-5, 13-15.
Fisher, Buddhist Art and Architecture, 2: “China.”

A4: Early Japanese art and Buddhism
LaPlante, Chapters 20-24
Fisher, 3: “Korea and Japan.” 

A5: Later Japanese art and the courts
LaPlante, Chapters 25-27.
Reader: Lady Murasaki, selections from The Tale of Genji.
Film: "Great Tales in Asian Art"

ARRIVAL IN KOBE, JAPAN

A6: Chinese scholarly arts
LaPlante, Chapters 16-18.
Reader: Liu , “The Great Tang Poets,” from An Introduction to Chinese Literature.

ARRIVAL IN HONG KONG

A7: Southeast Asian Art
Reader: Balaban, “The Poetry of Vietnam”
Mannika, “Introduction,” from Angkor Wat

ARRIVAL IN HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM

A8: Test on Japanese and Chinese art.
Review with Fisher, chapter 2: “China” (including Tang-era Japanese material)

A9: Indonesian and Malaysian arts
LaPlante, Chapter 5
Fisher, Buddhist Art and Architecture, 4: “South-East Asia.”

ARRIVAL IN PENANG, MALAYSIA 

A10: Medieval India: Buddhist and Hindu art
LaPlante, Chapters 1-4, 6
Look at Asian Art, on Indian Craft and Ritual (Summer 1992), on reserve.

A11: Arts of Mughal India
LaPlante, Chapters 7-9.

ARRIVAL IN CHENNAI, INDIA

A12: Discussion: Arts of India
Film: "Civilization: India, Empire of the Spirit"

A13: Tibet
Fisher, 1: “India and Neighboring Regions.”

A14: Review: Art of South Asia.

A15: Test

A16: Trade routes: Asian art in the Islamic world
Read Eleanor Sims’ chapter on markets and caravansarays, in Michell, Architecture of the IslamicWorld, on reserve for my Islamic art class.

ARRIVAL IN PORT SUEZ, EGYPT

ARRIVAL IN ISTANBUL, TURKEY

A17: Marco Polo and the Silk Route
On reserve: Hopkirk, Foreign Devils on the Silk Road
On reserve: Silk Roads, China Ships.

 ARRIVAL IN DUBROVNIK, CROATIA

A18: Preservation of cultural heritage
Course reader: Kaye and Main, “Law, Ethics and the Illicit Antiquities Market”

ARRIVAL IN CIVITAVECCHIA, ITALY

A19: The China trade with modern Europe
On reserve for my Silk Road class: Silk Roads, China Ships

A20: “Orientalism”
LaPlante, Chapter 27

ARRIVAL IN CASABLANCA, MOROCCO

A21: Contemporary Asian art
LaPlante, Chapters 9 and 19
On reserve: Clunas, Art in China.

A22: Review

Final exam

TENTATIVE FIELD REQUIREMENTS. At each Asian port, students will visit significant monuments of art and architecture, museum collections of Asian art, ethnographic museums, historic sites, and, wherever possible, neighborhoods of working artisans. Students will be given specific field assignments in port that will involve looking, recording, and analysis in comparison to material in the assigned readings. Students are required to participate in a minimum of four practica, from the list below or devised with the consent of the instructor. Since this is an art and architecture course, a major feature of the course will be your own observations of buildings and art in the places we visit. At least two of the practica must be visits to architectural monuments, either independently or with a group. At least one of the practica must be a visit to a museum collection of Asian art in one of the cities you visit. Individualized field projects may be requested and substituted for these upon my approval. Three of the practica will be written up for 10% of the course grade. The fourth will be part of your research project.

Suggestions for each country:

• Japan: Temple complexes of Kyoto, Heian or Nara; esp. the Horyu-ji or Todai-ji. Palace complexes of Kyoto. Museum collections, such as the National Museum in Kyoto or Nara; Himeji Castle; participation in a tea ceremony; historic gardens. 
• China: Walking Tour of Hong Kong (FDP); Man Ho or Tin Hau temples in Hong Kong; Fung Ping Shan Museum, University of Hong Kong; Hong Kong Museum of Art; old villages in the New Territories. Other cities in China: Major museums, palace complexes, historic neighborhoods.
• Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City: History Museum, the major Buddhist temple complexes. Other cities: Art and ethnographic museums, pre-modern palace complexes. In Cambodia: The monuments of Angkor; National Museum in Phnomh Penh.
• Malaysia: Penang walking tour of religious monuments, esp. Kek Lok Si, Wat Chayamangkalaram, Kuan Yin Temple. In Kuala Lumpur: National Museum, and Museum of Asian Arts. 
• India: In Chennai: the Government Museum’s collection of Pallava bronzes and other Indian sculpture. Mamallapuram temple complex. Elsewhere: Major Buddhist, Hindu or Muchal-period Islamic monuments; art and ethnographic museums.
• Egypt: Craft and textile manufacturing around the Khan al-Khalili. 
• Turkey: Porcelain collection in Topkapi Palace; Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art.
• Croatia: Asian art in local collections. Korcula: Marco Polo museum.
• Italy: Asian art in the Vatican Museums collection, Rome; Asian art in the Bargello, Florence.
• Morocco: Bazaars—the textile trade. 

RESERVE LIBRARY LIST. The following list is highly tentative. These or similar works will be put on reserve. The final list will be established early in the course.

• Collcutt, M. et alia, Cultural Atlas of Japan, Facts on File, 1988.
• Chan, Wingsit Source Book in Chinese Philosphy. Princeton 1963.
• Rawson, Jessica, ed., British Museum Book of Chinese Art. Thames & Hudson, 1992.
• Fong, W. & J.C. Watt, Possessing the Past. Metropolitan Museum,1996.
• Rowland, Benjamin, Art & Architecture of India. Viking Penguin, Rev. ed., 1971
• Michell, George, Architecture & Art of Southern India. Cambridge,1995.
• Soper, A.C. & R. Paine, Art and Architecture of Japan, Yale/Pelican 3rd ed., 1981
• Rawson, Philip S,. The Art of Southeast Asia, Thames & Hudson,1990.
• Michell, George, The Hindu Temple. Chicago, 1988.
• Jessup, Helen, Court Arts of Indonesia. Abrams 1990