ART 104/SARS 201: ARTS OF ASIA: INDIA AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
Professor Michael W. Meister Fall 1996
Teaching Assistant: Carrie LaPorte
T-Th 10:30-12, Jaffe Bldg. 113
WATU: This course is WATU-affiliated.
Sections: Sections will meet every second Thursday during class
hours. Participation in sections and visits to museums are essential.
Written Assignments: There will be short written assignments
throughout the course. Carrie LaPorte, the WATU TA, will be available
for writing guidance.
Thesis: The Indian sub-continent is the source for a multicultural
civilization that has lasted and evolved for several thousand years. Its
art is as rich and complex as that of Europe, and as diverse. This
course attempts to introduce the full range of artistic production in
India in relation to the multiple strands that have made the cultural
fabric of the sub-continent so rich.
Required Books: (Available from the Penn Book Center)
Craven, Roy. A Concise History of Indian Art. Thames and
Hudson. 1976, reprinted 1992.
Zimmer, Heinrich. Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and
Civilization. Princeton University Press. 1946.
Recommended:
Eck, Diana. Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image in India. Anima
Books. 2nd ed., 1985.
Harle, James C. The Art and Architecture of the Indian
Subcontinent. 1986.
McEvilley, Thomas. Art & Otherness, Crisis in Cultural
Identity. Documentext. 1992.
Thapar, Romila. A History of India, part 1. Penquin. 1966.
General Reference: Other significant texts that provide other or
earlier perspectives and additional plates include:
Coomaraswamy, Ananda K. History of Indian and Indonesian Art. 1927.
Huntington, Susan. The Art of Ancient India. 1985.
Rowland, Benjamin. The Art and Architecture of India: Buddhist,
Hindu, Jain. 1953.
Zimmer, Heinrich. The Art of Indian Asia. 1955.
Short additional readings will be assigned during the semester. Assigned
reading, as much as possible, will be placed on reserve in the Fine Arts
Library.
Course requirements: Participation in sections; several short written
exercises; one hour exam; one short research paper (6-8 pp.); and an
expanded final paper.
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ART 104/SARS 201: ARTS OF ASIA: INDIA AND SOUTHEAST ASIA
Outline of Possible Lecture Topics (subject to change from year to year)
Sept. Categories of India's Art History/Changing Views of Indian
Art as Art or Craft/Folk Art and Indian Traditions
Geography and Historic Outline/India's Ancient Horizon,
the Indus Valley
Buddhist Imperial Art Under the Mauryas
Buddhist Populism: Shunga Art
Architecture as Cosmogram from Sanchi to Borobudur
Oct. Cave architecture and Humanism under the Andhras
Buddhist Narrative Sculpture
Invaders: the Shakas and Kushanas
Icons and Symbols: Origin of the Image of Buddha
Gandhara's 'Alien' Art and India's Syncretism
'Classic' Gupta Art: the Evolution of Buddhist
Sculpture
Hindu Renaissance and the Beginnings of Temple
Architecture
Painting and the Sweet-Smelling Halls of the
Vakatakas: Ajanta
Nov. The Spread of Buddhism and Painting to Central Asia
Hindu Efflorescence: Elephanta and Ellora
Architecture as Symbol: the Hindu Temple, North
and South/India's 'Medieval' Sculpture
Eroticism and Tantra
India in Greater India: Lineage to Empire/the
Coming of Islam as a Cultural Interface
Painting and Architecture in the Sultanate Period
Dec. Indian Painting and the Patronage of the Early
Mughals/Mughal Buildings
Miniature Paintings in the Hindu Courts: 17th-18th
Centuries/Hill Painting and John Company