Chinese Art Analysis of the Song and Tang Dynasty

Make observations and educated guesses by looking at the following works and consider how the works relate to Daoist, Confucius

and Buddhist ideas.

Daoism:

Daoism: Based on the teachings of Laozi, a Chinese philosopher who some agree was legendary. Daoists emphasize living in harmony with nature and being content with life.

In art: Daoist themes tend to emphasize the grandness and simplicity of nature (land scapes)

Buddhism

Buddhism: Buddhism originated in India and spread to China around 530 BC. The Buddha, the founder of the religion, taught that life is a cycle of pleasure and sorrow and of death and rebirth. Suffering, he taught, was a basic part of life. Suffering, according to the Buddha, is caused by a desire to have material possessions. But, Buddha also believed that people could free themselves from the cycle of death and rebirth and suffering by meditating. Through meditation, one could achieve enlightenment– a state of complete freedom and peace; the highest form of living according to Buddhists.

Confucius

Although Confucianism tended to focus on the separate roles men and women, it taught a moral code. For example, in Confucianism, it is important to respect elders, complete family duties, and attain virtue by studying the classics or by serving the in the government.

List adjectives that

describe the following

images.

“Such paintings cannot be achieved by the physical movements of the fingers and the hand, but only by the spirit entertaining to them. This is the nature of painting.”

- Wei, c. 699- 759 CE

Title: “The Class of Familial Piety” (respect for elders and parents)

The Giant Buddha of Leshan(constructed during the Tang Dynasty)

Poetry of Li Bo

Beside my bed the bright moonbeams bound

Almost as if there were frost on the ground

Raising up, I gaze at the moon;

Lying back I think of my old home town.

How does this poem reflect Chinese philosophies? (Dao, Buddhist, Confucian)

Daoist Influences in Poetry

• Li Bo notes that the moon in the poem is the same moon that he saw shining in his hometown, therefore, nature unites two different times and two different places.

• Daoism emphasizes a balance and harmony in nature

Tang Dynasty

Tang Dynasty

During the Tang Dynasty, sculpture reached its height. Sculptors began using proportions (the head and body where the same relative size) also sculptors emphasized graceful lines and sharp clear forms.

Video of Tang Dancers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze4rYawL-lI&feature=player_embedded

Compare the sculpture and dance; what do they share in common?