Courses

Song dynasty painters produced some of the most famous images of the Chinese tradition. Many of those paintings are preserved because they were carried to Japan where they were carefully preserved. Scholars, priests, and artists looked to mainland China for culture and inspiration. We will first establish key moments in the development of painting in the Northern Song, the phenomena of numbering scenes and the interest in poetry. We will study a selection of influential twelfth and thirteenth century masters that were reinterpreted in Japanese painting of the late Kamakura and Muromachi eras.