ARTH 001R. FYS:Art in Flux: Metamorphosis and the Arts of China

Metamorphosis (n.): the act or process of transformation from one form, state, or substance to another, through natural or supernatural means

This seminar is an introduction to the arts and visual-material culture of China through the lens of metamorphosis. Change is inherent to matter, as it is to our bodies, environments, and lives. Transformation is the key term through which artists and craftspeople approach their work. After they are made, works of art and objects are used, moved, replaced and modified; they are valued and revalued; they are damaged, stolen or misplaced. They are invested with animate qualities and seen as alive. Finally, they are conduits for physical, spiritual, and symbolic transformation.

We will learn methods for analyzing works of art across several states of creation, circulation, change and loss. Topics for discussion include creative processes of making, transformations of jade in the afterlife, the liquidity of bronzes and other metals, the animation of Buddhist sculptures, Daoist practices of alchemy and the body, self-cultivation and the brush, performance as a means of becoming other, and the politics of recycling, loss and destruction. Through seminar discussions, field trips and in-class workshops, critical analysis of sources, and writing assignments, we will learn interdisciplinary methods for art history, and consider the broader implications of metamorphosis for a world in flux.

Arts and Humanities.
1 credit.
Eligible for ASIA.
Fall 2024. Eberhard.
Catalog chapter: Art History
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/art-history

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