Prospectus

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General Introduction to Art in China

Course
2011-2012

Admission requirements

None

Description

This course provides a general survey of artistic production in China from the Bronze Age to the twentieth century. Minimally seven sessions deal with diverse contexts of art and interpretative issues.
Classes will introduce a range of artefacts and approaches, mostly with the aid of slides/Blackboard. Students are expected to play an active role during classes in offering their own views and questions.

Reading will be set for preparation between classes. Students are expected to read these set texts in out-of-class hours and to discuss what they have read when the class assembles. Each week’s assignment will demand a minimum input of three to four hours, including preparatory reading and familiarization with visual material.

A number of sessions (to be decided during progress of the course) will be devoted to students’ single and/or joint presentations of this essay plan and research/reading associated with it.

Course objectives

The primary aim of the course is to gain experience of using material remains and art productions in a variety of critical discourses that claim when, why, for whom and in what ways particular objects were significant for the history of art in China. Supposing that art was important for the last four thousand years or longer in a huge region now called China, this course aims to question what “art” meant in several different times and places.
This is an introductory course, so the content is broadly selected and designed for students who have had no experience of studying art history. Students will be expected to take responsibility in focussing their specific interests on particular media or practices of art, certain historical periods, or methodological approaches to the study of art history in China. This will affect students’ ability to carry out work required for the writing assignment set during or at the end of the semester.

Course load

5 EC * 28 hours = 140 hours

Timetable

Check timetable

Teaching method

Seminar; English will be used for classwork. Dutch or English (not both) may be used for written work.

Test method

Requirements to pass the course

  • one long essay (max. 3000 words), deadline: mid December

  • one essay plan (max. 500 words), deadline: October

  • presentation to class

Assessment

  • Essay plan 20%

  • Classwork (including presentation): 20%

  • Essay 60%

Students must complete all requirements (classwork; essay) to pass the course. High scores for one requirement will not compensate failure to complete any other one. Guidelines for preparation of written work and the criteria for grading will be duly provided.

Blackboard

For enrollment, visit the website Blackboard. Then click on: courses > Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen > China, Talen en Culturen van > 2011-2012 > Registreer/enroll

Required reading

Extra texts will be stipulated for reading in preparation for class. A reader will be available in September.
Students should purchase the following volume:

  • Craig Clunas, Art in China, Oxford, 2nd edition, 2009

Convenient sources of historical and social background, especially for students who have not followed courses in Chinese art/history/society, are:

  • Patricia B Ebrey, Cambridge Illustrated History of China, London, 1996 (.S.I. shelf no: L 6 B5)

  • Robert Thorp and Richard Vinograd, Chinese Art and Culture, New York, 2001

Registration

Meld je voor dit college op tijd aan via uSis. Not registered, means no permission to attend this course. For registrationprocedure, deadlines etc., see also Aanmeldprocedures voor colleges en tentamens

Note: A maximum of 30 students may enroll for this course. Students Chinese will be given priority

Contact

For further information about the contents of this course, please contact Dr. O.J. Moore.