RCCHC "China and the World: Historical Interactions" Talk Series 15 - China and the World: Art Historical Interactions

From a global point of view, how does art created in regions of present-day China interact with the artistic production in other areas of the world from the Neolithic period to contemporary times? What roles have artists sojourning to or from Chinese areas played? When artworks emerge from cultural encounters, shall the “Chinese” element—whether material, subject, form, patron, maker, or viewer—be prised apart, and how should interpretation proceed? Categories based on nation-states have long structured the field of art history, which has also been dominated by a mentality of “the West and the rest.” Drawing on the experience of co-authoring recently published survey texts, this lecture discusses strategies of placing Chinese art into a global framework of art history and Asian art history.