【Date】 May 22, 2014 (Thu) 5:00-6:00 p.m.

【Venue】 Ground Floor, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, The University of Tokyo

【Speaker】 Amy Hwang (Visiting Fellow, IASA)

【commentator】 Misato Ido(Assistant Professor, The University of Tokyo)

【Title】 A New History of Early Chinese Literati Painting

The seminar will be in English.

【Abstract】

What is early Chinese literati painting?
Sparse, abstract landscapes usually come to mind when we think about literati painting, but why?
What if the standard version of the history of early literati painting only offers an obscured view of a much bigger, complex picture? This study challenges the dominant narrative on early literati painting by giving equal weight to the testimonies of artifacts as well as that of texts.
Furthermore, it illustrates the instability of “painting embodying poetry”, a defining idea in literati painting, with an examination of the dominant, meaning-conferring texts as well as the overlooked,contradictory ones.