ART 104/SARS 201:  ARTS OF ASIA:  INDIA AND SOUTHEAST ASIA    Fall 1998
Professor Michael W. Meister, 308 Jaffe History of Art Building
Course meets: T-Th 3-4:40, Jaffe 113;  this course is WATU-affiliated
WATU Assistant: Ms Chandreyi Basu

Course Description: A survey of sculpture, painting and architecture in the Indian sub-continent from 2300 B.C. to the nineteenth century. An attempt to explore the role of tradition in the broader history of art in India.  The Indian sub-continent is the source for a multicultural civilization that haslasted and evolved for several thousand years. Its art is as rich and complexas that of Europe, and as diverse. This course attempts to introduce the fullrange of artistic production in India in relation to the multiple strands that have made the cultural fabric of the sub-continent so rich and long lasting.
 
Sections: Sections will meet every second Tuesday during class  hours.  Participation in sections and visits to museums are essential.

Written Assignments:  There will be short written assignments throughout the course.  The WATU assistant will be available for writing guidance and review of drafts.
 
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, reprint 1998.
 Zimmer, Heinrich.  Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization. Princeton University Press.  1946, reprint.
 Eck, Diana.  Darsan:  Seeing the Divine Image in India.  Anima Books.  2nd ed., 1985 (new printing due at Penn Book Center on Sept. 15)
Also Recommended:
Ghosh, Pika and Michael W. Meister.  Cooking for the Gods. 1995.
Harle, James C.  The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent.  1986, reprint.
Thapar, Romila.  A History of India, part 1.  Penquin.  1966, reprint.

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.

You are invited to use the link from my Homepage (http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/arth/meister/ mmeister.html) to review the sequence of lectures and images used when this course was last taught (http://www.arthistory.upenn.edu/104/images/104lec00.htm).
 
Image review pages on the Web provide a wide range of images for course study  (http://dept.arth.upenn.edu/104/review.html).

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

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