This course introduces arts of China from the Paleolithic period to the present. It provides a general understanding of the various roles of art in shaping human society and the environment. We will look at a selection of objects, monuments, and artworks that constitute an overall view of the history of Chinese art through critical lenses. We will discuss their visual and formal attributes, ritual and everyday uses, social and environmental significances, intellectual and political implications, cultural and religious encounters, and processes of geo-political transformations. We will also critically think about the politics of preservation and display relative to heritage sites and museum practices worldwide. Throughout the course, students are expected to master skills of visual and material analyses and to articulate art objects in verbal and written forms. Students will learn how to look at, and think with, artifacts in various media and forms of representation. Students will also master critical methods concerning how to examine culture, society, and religion through art-historical lenses and how histories inform us about the present world.

HISTART Distribution Requirements: 1. Ancient, C. Asia (includes China, Japan, India, South and Southeast Asia, and the Pacific)