Colors in China and Japan: Objects, Cultures, and Conservation

This seminar explores the materiality of colors in Chinese and Japanese objects. Focusing on the colors of blue, qing (blue-green), and red, this seminar surveys the production and application of colors in various mediums, including paintings, prints, ceramics, and textiles. The key issues are: how were colors produced, circulated and used in relation to the aesthetic, cultural and religious expressions in the objects? What were the social and cultural significance of particular colors in specific historical periods? What are the challenges and techniques to preserve colors in different mediums? This course aims to develop students’ sophisticated methodology to discuss the materiality of colors through interdisciplinary approaches to art history, technical art history, and conservation science. This course will be complemented with field trips to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to engage in dialogues with conservators on paintings, textiles, and ceramics, and with scientists on colors. All the case studies are from Chinese and Japanese contexts, but students are encouraged to develop final paper topics that involve transcultural interactions between East Asia and other regions. 3 credits. Satisfies the non-Western requirement.