In a standard narrative of Chinese painting, the fifty-three years of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (907–960CE) are often considered a transitional phase between the Tang (618–907 CE) and Northern Song (960–1126 CE) dynasties. Based on new archaeological evidence and research approaches, this lecture series suggests that the more than one hundred years from the late ninth to the early eleventh century, a “long tenth century,” witnessed some of the most important changes in Chinese painting. These include a multifaceted development of painting mediums, subject matter, and style; transregional interactions; and court sponsorship—all of which should be studied in an extended chronological and geographical framework.
Combining newly available archaeological materials with transmitted scrolls, this lecture explores some broad trends in figure painting across different regions: for example, a naturalistic tendency in portraiture, integration of different genres of figure painting, and close collaborations between court painters.
More information on the lecture series.
Organized by the Tang Center for East Asian Art and cosponsored by the Department of Art and Archaeology and the Princeton University Art Museum.
