Matching Items (5)
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- All Subjects: Art, Medieval
- All Subjects: Chinese diaspora
- Creators: Brown, Claudia
Description
The turmoil that China endured during the twentieth century triggered a series of social and political revolutions. As China struggled to resolve domestic questions of dynasticism or democracy and nationalism or communism, Western industrialization and imperialism dragged China rapidly into the globalizing world. Likewise, Chinese painting had to confront the West, as Chinese artists dealt with the twentieth-century version of the recurring question of modernizing Chinese painting for its times: how does one reconcile an ancient painting tradition with all the possibilities Western interactions introduced? This dissertation focuses on one artist's lifelong struggle, often overlooked, to answer this question. By examining C. C. Wang (1907-2003) and his life in art, this case study reveals broader truths about how twentieth century Chinese diaspora painters, such as Wang, modernized the tradition of Chinese ink painting.
Wang's reputation as a connoisseur of ancient Chinese painting has overshadowed his own artwork, creating a dearth of research on his artistic development. Using public and private sources, this dissertation applied stylistic analysis to track this development. The analysis reveals an artist's lifelong endeavor to establish a style that would lift the Chinese painting tradition into a modern era, an endeavor inspired by modern Western art ideas and a desire to play a role in the larger movement of elevating Chinese painting. The argument is made that these efforts establish Wang as an influential twentieth century Chinese ink painter.
To clarify Wang's role within the broader movement of Chinese diaspora painters, this dissertation employs a comparison study of Wang with such established twentieth century ink painting artists as Zhang Daqian, Liu Guosong, and Yu Chengyao. It is
asserted that the 1949 diaspora forced this cohort of artists to adjust their style and to transcend traditional Chinese painting by integrating newly-salient ideas from Western art, particularly the abstract movement. Meanwhile, the essential Chinese identity in their art collectively became more significant. The solidarity of purpose and identity is a distinctive part of the answer this group of twentieth century Chinese diaspora painters proposed to their generation's inherited challenge of enriching the tradition.
Wang's reputation as a connoisseur of ancient Chinese painting has overshadowed his own artwork, creating a dearth of research on his artistic development. Using public and private sources, this dissertation applied stylistic analysis to track this development. The analysis reveals an artist's lifelong endeavor to establish a style that would lift the Chinese painting tradition into a modern era, an endeavor inspired by modern Western art ideas and a desire to play a role in the larger movement of elevating Chinese painting. The argument is made that these efforts establish Wang as an influential twentieth century Chinese ink painter.
To clarify Wang's role within the broader movement of Chinese diaspora painters, this dissertation employs a comparison study of Wang with such established twentieth century ink painting artists as Zhang Daqian, Liu Guosong, and Yu Chengyao. It is
asserted that the 1949 diaspora forced this cohort of artists to adjust their style and to transcend traditional Chinese painting by integrating newly-salient ideas from Western art, particularly the abstract movement. Meanwhile, the essential Chinese identity in their art collectively became more significant. The solidarity of purpose and identity is a distinctive part of the answer this group of twentieth century Chinese diaspora painters proposed to their generation's inherited challenge of enriching the tradition.
ContributorsHua, Ming (Author) / Brown, Claudia (Thesis advisor) / Baker, Janet (Committee member) / Fahlman, Betsy (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
The medieval bestiary is often simply described as a moralized "encyclopedia of animals," however, these so-called "books of beasts" were made for humans, by humans, about humans. It is therefore surprising that one common pictorial subject of the bestiary has been left unexamined: humans. By viewing bestiary images through this lens, one may easily see man's underlying and unresolved struggle to maintain dominance over the beasts, and the Others projected onto them, thereby ensuring that "the (hu)man" remains a discrete definition. This study begins as the bestiary does, with the Naming of the Animals. Illustrations of Adam as a king, bestowing names of his choosing upon tame beasts express a kind of nostalgia for a now-lost time when humanity was secure in their identity as non-animal. This security no longer exists in the postlapsarian world, nor in the bestiary images following these scenes. In an attempt to maintain the illusion of dominion, many bestiary illuminations forego simple descriptive images in favor of gory hunting scenes. However, these conspicuous declarations of dominion only serve to highlight the fragility of the physical form, and even demonstrate the frailty of the human (male, Christian) identity. One such example is MS Bodley 764's boar illumination, in which the animal is killed at the hands of male hunters. This thesis unpacks this image of dominion in order to reveal the associated insecurities regarding race, gender, and species that lie beneath the surface. Subsequently, the study turns to the many bestiary images depicting human bodies brutally fragmented within the jaws of an animal. Anthropophagous bestiary animals often carry fears of the gender and ethnic Other; despite the bestiary's posturing of order and hierarchy, both the human body and identity are easily consumed and subsumed into the ever-present animal/Other. Just as in life, the human figures in the bestiary struggle to establish unquestioned dominion, only to be constantly undercut by the abject. By using a psychoanalytic approach to the human bodies of the bestiary, this study will explore how this imagery reflects the ambiguous position and definition of the human.
ContributorsAnderson, Susan (Author) / Schleif, Corine (Thesis advisor) / Brown, Claudia (Committee member) / Broglio, Ronald (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Peacocks are ubiquitous in art. Artists from societies across the globe, undoubtedly attracted to the male peafowl’s colorful plumage and unique characteristics, used images of the bird to form visual semantics intended to aid in the understanding of a work of art. This was particularly the case in Europe, where depictions of peacocks appeared in Christian art from the onset of the continent’s dominant religion. Beginning in Early Christianity, peacocks symbolized the opportunity for an eternal life in heaven enabled by Christ’s sacrificial death. Illustrations of peacocks were so frequent and widespread that they became the standard symbol for eternal life in Christian art consistently centered on recounting the stories of Christ’s birth and death.
Overtime, peacock iconography evolved to include thematic diversity, as artists used the peacock’s recognizable physical attributes for the representation of new themes based on traditional ideas. Numerous paintings contain angels wings covered in the iridescent eyespots located on the male peafowl’s tail feathers. Scientifically known as ocelli, eyespots painted on the wings of angels became a widespread motif during the Renaissance. Artists also recurrently depicted the peacock’s crest on figures of Satan or Lucifer in both paintings and prints. Indicative of excessive pride, a believed characteristic of peacocks, the crest is used as an identifying characteristic of the fallen angel, who was cast from heaven because of his pride.
Although the peacock is a known iconographic motif in medieval and Renaissance art history, no specific monographic study on peacock iconography exists. Likewise, representations of separate and distinctive peacock characteristics in Christian
art have been considerably ignored. Yet, the numerous artworks depicting the peacock and its attributes speak to the need to gain a better understanding of the different strategies for peacock allegory in Christian art. This thesis provides a comprehensive understanding of peacock iconography, minimizing the mystery behind the artistic intentions for depicting peacocks, and allowing for more thorough readings of medieval and Renaissance works that utilize peafowl imagery.
Overtime, peacock iconography evolved to include thematic diversity, as artists used the peacock’s recognizable physical attributes for the representation of new themes based on traditional ideas. Numerous paintings contain angels wings covered in the iridescent eyespots located on the male peafowl’s tail feathers. Scientifically known as ocelli, eyespots painted on the wings of angels became a widespread motif during the Renaissance. Artists also recurrently depicted the peacock’s crest on figures of Satan or Lucifer in both paintings and prints. Indicative of excessive pride, a believed characteristic of peacocks, the crest is used as an identifying characteristic of the fallen angel, who was cast from heaven because of his pride.
Although the peacock is a known iconographic motif in medieval and Renaissance art history, no specific monographic study on peacock iconography exists. Likewise, representations of separate and distinctive peacock characteristics in Christian
art have been considerably ignored. Yet, the numerous artworks depicting the peacock and its attributes speak to the need to gain a better understanding of the different strategies for peacock allegory in Christian art. This thesis provides a comprehensive understanding of peacock iconography, minimizing the mystery behind the artistic intentions for depicting peacocks, and allowing for more thorough readings of medieval and Renaissance works that utilize peafowl imagery.
ContributorsHarris, Kereese (Author) / Schleif, Corine (Thesis advisor) / Brown, Claudia (Committee member) / Baldasso, Renzo (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Many religious textual accounts describe provocative women: The Great Whore
from the Apocalypse, Saint Mary Magdalene from the New Testament, and the
Daughters of Mara from the Buddhist tradition are all accused of fornication or the
seduction of men. However, when artists have depicted these subjects, the women are
rarely shown transgressing in the ways the texts describe. The Great Whore is often
masculinized and shown as the equal of kings, Mary Magdalene assumes divergent
attitudes about prostitution in early Renaissance Europe, and the Daughters of Mara are
comparable to other Buddhist deities, recognizable only from the surrounding narrative.
Therefore, in this inquiry, I seek out the ways that artists have manipulated misogynistic
religious narratives and introduced their own fears, concerns, and interpretations.
Artistic deviations from the text indicate a sensitivity to cultural values beyond
the substance of their roles within the narrative. Both the Great Whore and her virtuous
counterpart, the Woman Clothed in the Sun, have agency, and the ways they are shown to
use their agency determines their moral status. Mary Magdalene, the patron saint of
prostitutes and a reformed sinner, is shown with iconographical markers beyond just
prostitution, and reveals the ways in which Renaissance artists conceptualized prostitution. In
the last case study, the comparison between the Daughters and the Buddhist savioresses,
the Taras, demonstrates that Himalayan artists did not completely subscribe to the textual
formulations of women as inherently iniquitous. Ultimately, these works of art divulge
not just interpretations of the religious traditions, but attitudes about women in general,
and the power they wielded in their respective contexts.
from the Apocalypse, Saint Mary Magdalene from the New Testament, and the
Daughters of Mara from the Buddhist tradition are all accused of fornication or the
seduction of men. However, when artists have depicted these subjects, the women are
rarely shown transgressing in the ways the texts describe. The Great Whore is often
masculinized and shown as the equal of kings, Mary Magdalene assumes divergent
attitudes about prostitution in early Renaissance Europe, and the Daughters of Mara are
comparable to other Buddhist deities, recognizable only from the surrounding narrative.
Therefore, in this inquiry, I seek out the ways that artists have manipulated misogynistic
religious narratives and introduced their own fears, concerns, and interpretations.
Artistic deviations from the text indicate a sensitivity to cultural values beyond
the substance of their roles within the narrative. Both the Great Whore and her virtuous
counterpart, the Woman Clothed in the Sun, have agency, and the ways they are shown to
use their agency determines their moral status. Mary Magdalene, the patron saint of
prostitutes and a reformed sinner, is shown with iconographical markers beyond just
prostitution, and reveals the ways in which Renaissance artists conceptualized prostitution. In
the last case study, the comparison between the Daughters and the Buddhist savioresses,
the Taras, demonstrates that Himalayan artists did not completely subscribe to the textual
formulations of women as inherently iniquitous. Ultimately, these works of art divulge
not just interpretations of the religious traditions, but attitudes about women in general,
and the power they wielded in their respective contexts.
ContributorsBerg, Cortney Anne (Author) / Schleif, Corine (Thesis advisor) / Mesch, Ulrike Claudia (Committee member) / Brown, Claudia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
“I want something that will show what is truth itself.”- Zheng Chongbin For artist Zheng Chongbin, truth is visualized through elegant, frenetic dances of blacks, whites, and grays on paper and sculptural transformations of divine spaces. Beginning with the vehicle of ink and its materiality, Zheng explores the potentialities of phenomenological realities in his artworks. His pieces are portraits and scenes of cosmic links and structures intended to question preconditioned biases and awaken human perception of elemental forms and the unnoticed beauty in our environment. This paper follows the evolution of Zheng’s visual philosophy by tracing the thread of influences, spanning disciplines, cultures, and time, behind Zheng’s artistic endeavors. While a body of literature on Zheng’s practice exists, mainly written by art historians with a specialty in contemporary Chinese art, much of it is largely concerned with establishing his position as a revolutionary artist revitalizing and transforming the Chinese ink painting tradition. Interpretative essays and critical writings about Zheng’s artwork most often attempt to fit them within the Chinese artistic canon or are surface aesthetic comparisons to Western post-war artists. However, little to no scholarly research has comprehensively addressed Zheng’s inclination towards transdisciplinary and transhistorical schools of thought and how those ideas are integrated into his methodology. By revealing the rich philosophical constructs behind Zheng’s practice, the paper opens up pathways for new approaches to his artworks. Ultimately, this challenges the narrow categorization of Zheng’s practice as definitively Chinese contemporary art, and instead facilitates the understanding that his artworks demonstrate a convergence of multiple artistic hereditary lines and global discourses.
ContributorsYang, Celia (Author) / Hoy, Meredith (Thesis advisor) / Little, Stephen (Committee member) / Brown, Claudia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021