ARTHIST 310 : Art and Architecture of Asia

The course traces the development of architecture, painting, and sculpture of China, Japan, India, and Tibet for a selective understanding of its visual culture from the earliest times to 12th C CE. It is a comparative study of the cross-cultural influences and encounters via the silk and spices routes with a focus on ancient civilizations, philosophy, and religious institutions particularly the traditions of Confucianism, Taoism, Shintoism, Buddhism, and Hinduism. The goal is to understand the traditional Arts of Asia by examining the process of artistic and cultural assimilation that occurred along with movement of people, goods, and images between major cultural regions and substantiated in built environment, city planning, painting and sculpture.