The Relation between Painting and Empire in Early Northern Song China, 960-1063

FAIN: FB-57302-13

Heping Liu
Wellesley College (Wellesley, MA 02481-8203)

The first century of the Song dynasty (960-1279) marked a turning point in Chinese history when the concept of empire underwent a fundamental change. The rise of the imperial cult brought about new modes of patronage, new expectation for painters, and high achievements in the art of painting. The Song Painting Academy, founded in 984 as the world’s first of its kind, was closely tied to the life of the early Song Empire from its conception. My book is the first in-depth study to investigate the complex relationship of empire and painting in the early Song. It consists of eight chapters: The emperor; The allure of the Academy; Outside the academy; The eunuchs; Yu the Great controlling the flood; The Temple of Jade Purity; Empress Liu’s Icon of Maitreya; and Four events of the Jingde Era. All explore the various dimensions of a central question: How did the practice of painting, in and outside the Academy, contribute to the formation, legitimacy, and propagation of the new empire?

Associated Products

Proceedings of the International Conference on Song Painting, Zhejiang University Journal of Art and Archaeology Supplementum I (Book)
Title: Proceedings of the International Conference on Song Painting, Zhejiang University Journal of Art and Archaeology Supplementum I
Author: Peter C. Sturman
Author: Heping Liu
Author: Richard Barnhart
Author: Yunru Chen
Author: Jonathan Hay
Author: Shih-shan Susan Huang
Author: Xiaofeng Huang
Author: Masaaki Itakura
Author: Hui-shu Lee
Author: Julia Murray
Author: Shou-chien Shih
Author: Yu Hui
Editor: Peter C. Sturman
Editor: Heping Liu
Abstract: This edited volume consists of 12 revised and expanded papers from the international conference on Chinese painting of the Song Dynasty (960-1279) held at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, October 31-November 1, 2014. Of the 12 authors, 7 from the United States (NYU, RiceU, UWisconsin, UCLA, UCSB, Wellesley, Yale) 2 China (Palace Museum, Central Academy of Fine Art), 2 Taiwan (Academia Sinica, National Palace Museum), and 1 Japan (Tokyo National University). Of the 12 papers, 4 in English and 8 in Chinese, all with English or Chinese abstracts.
Year: 2017
Primary URL: https://www.worldcat.org/title/zhejiang-da-xue-yi-shu-yu-kao-gu-yan-jiu-te-ji-1-song-hua-guo-ji-xue-shu-hui-yi-lun-wen-ji/oclc/1029611197&referer=brief_results
Publisher: Zhejiang University Press (Hangzhou, China)
Type: Multi-author monograph
Type: Edited Volume
ISBN: 9787308170338
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes

Towing Boats along the River: The Making of the Landscape of Exile as Seen in Two 10th-Century Chinese Scroll Paintings (in Chinese with English abstract) (Book Section)
Title: Towing Boats along the River: The Making of the Landscape of Exile as Seen in Two 10th-Century Chinese Scroll Paintings (in Chinese with English abstract)
Author: Heping Liu
Editor: Peter C. Sturman
Editor: Heping Liu
Abstract: Zhao Gan’s "Traveling along the River at First Snow" and Guo Zhongshu’s "Traveling on the River in Clearing Snow" are among the notable landmarks in the history of Chinese painting for three good reasons: First, both paintings carry a royal or imperial title inscription identifying the respective painter; second, the style of both paintings can be dated to the second half of the 10th century, seemingly in accord with the two painters’ names both in the title inscriptions and in Northern Song art historical texts; lastly, both paintings are the earliest and most important surviving scrolls depicting “the landscape of towing boats along the river” (Mi Fu). This case study investigates the connections between the various images of towing boats along the river and the Southern Tang-Northern Song culture of political exile through the eye of the four preeminent scholar-official-poets Xu Xuan, Guo Zhongshu, Wang Yucheng, and Su Shi; in doing so, it explores the intersections of the various geo-political, socio-economic, intellectual and artistic forces of the period for an understanding of the process of making such exile landscape painting.
Year: 2017
Primary URL: https://wellesley.academia.edu/HepingLiu
Publisher: Zhejiang University Press (Hangzhou, China)
Book Title: Proceedings of the International Conference on Song Painting, Zhejiang University Journal of Art and Archaeology Supplementum I, edited by Peter C. Sturman and Heping Liu
ISBN: 9787308170338

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