Required Reading:
Kevin Reilly, The Human Journey, Chapter 5
Website: The Song Dynasty in China – http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/song/ (click on the links in the categories of Economic Revolution, Technology, Cities, Confucianism, and Outside World, at the top of the webpage)
Website: Song Dynasty Art (960-1279), History, Types and Characteristics – http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/east-asian-art/song-dynasty.htm
Discussion Prompts:
After reading Chapter 5 and the material at the websites, and viewing the video, please make a 250-word initial post that answers the following questions:
Considering artistic style and subject matter, what insights do the paintings give you into the concerns, hopes, and preoccupations of Song China during the Northern and Southern dynasties? What do you find most striking about each painting? Why? What might be limits to using art to understand the concerns, hopes, and preoccupations of a society? Analyze one pictorial image from the Northern Song and the Southern Song dynasties below to answer these questions about the primary sources.
Northern Song:
Palace Banquet – http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/2010.473/
Summer Mountains – http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1973.120.1/
The Classic of Filial Piety – http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1996.479/
Southern Song:
Emperor Xuanzong’s Flight to Shu – http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/41.138/
Viewing plum blossoms by moonlight – http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1986.493.2/
Poet strolling by a marshy bank – http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1989.363.14/
Cloudy Mountains – http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1973.121.1/
Scholar viewing a waterfall – http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1973.120.9/
Mountain Market, Clearing Mist – http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/13.100.102/
Be sure to go beyond the analysis given below the image by incorporating information from the other websites and the textbook reading.
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