Join art historian Melanie King for a series of introductory workshops to East Asian visual culture. Each one-hour online session will focus on a different aspect of art history and is intended for educators new to East Asian culture and art history and people looking for a refresher course.
Participants can choose to attend one or more of the following sessions:
Thursday, October 19 – Introduction to Buddhist art
This session will trace the emergence of the representation of the Buddha by examining the changing form across space and time. In addition to sculptural representation, we will consider the development of temple complexes and other Buddhist pictorial representations across East Asia.
Thursday, October 26 – Introduction to the visual culture of Daoism and Confucianism
In this session we will consider the role Daoism and Confucianism play in visual culture by discussing the basic tenets of each tradition. This will be applied to a close examination of related objects that aid in the understanding of Daoism and Confucianism.
Thursday, November 2 – Introduction to woodblock prints
This session will trace the role woodblock prints have played in the transmission of culture, religion, and knowledge across East Asia, beginning with the earliest Buddhist texts to the widely influential Japanese woodblock prints.
Thursday, November 9 – East meets West
In this session we will examine the influence of western artistic conventions and subject matter on East Asian artistic traditions and representations from the earliest points of contact.