Asian Art and Architecture Commons^™

Greek Bronze: Holding A Mirror To Life, Expanded Reprint From The Irish Philosophical Yearbook 2006: In Memoriam John J. Cleary 1949-2009, Babette Babich

Babette Babich

To explore the ethical and political role of life-sized bronzes in ancient Greece, as Pliny and others report between 3,000 and 73,000 such statues in a city like Rhodes, this article asks what these bronzes looked like. Using the resources of hermeneutic phenomenological reflection, as well as a review of the nature of bronze and casting techniques, it is argued that the ancient Greeks encountered such statues as images of themselves in agonistic tension in dynamic and political fashion. The Greek saw, and at the same time felt himself regarded by, the statue not as he believed the statue divine …

White Snake, Black Snake Folk Narrative Meets Master Narrative In Qing Dynasty Sichuanese Cross-Stitch Medallions, Cory Willmott

Cory A. Willmott

The cross-stitch medallion in figure 1 was collected by my grandmother, Katherine Willmott, in the early 1920s when she was a missionary in Renshow, Sichuan Province, West China. Many years after I inherited it, I learned that it depicts a folk narrative called “White Snake; Black Snake” that was traditionally performed both on stage in the legitimate theaters and in Chinese shadow puppet dramas (Highbaugh n/d:6).

The story may be summarized as follows: There were two female snakes, White Snake and Black Snake, who were inseparable friends. They both changed into beautiful young women. White Snake got married and bore …

Ganesha: A Study Of Personal Worship To A Personal God, Madeline Taylor, Katherine Garner, Naomi Purnell

Featured Research

Hindu devotees worship Ganesha when they are beginning a new phase or faces obstacles in their lives. In investigating the personal devotion of Hindu gods in India, we have found that there is a difference between the ways a Hindu worships the god Ganesha at a public shrine than in their own home. The main difference in worship style is that in the home, the worshiper acts as his or her own priest. There is room for greater interpretation in worship style and offerings made to the deity. Since our topic is personal devotion, we were drawn to the private …

The Gods Come For Play: Visualizing The Divine In Balinese Theatre, Chandler Payne, John Park

Featured Research

Playwrights, practitioners, and art historians have been shocked and inspired by Balinese theatre time and time again because it reveals the extent of devotion the Balinese have for their religion. Although many researchers have investigated the functionality through the performance aspect of the play, there is a lack of published research devoted how the functionality of the ritual and play are influenced by the physical aesthetic properties of the Barong and Rangda mask. The theatrical aspects are to be considered through investigating these masks in relation to the temple space of the Taman Aran. By investigating the aesthetic properties of …

Haniwa: Constructing A Sacred Place For The Afterlife, Ashlyn Rawls, Clarissa Aliberti, Rylee Baisden

Featured Research

Haniwa are small, hollow terracotta statues that were placed on aristocratic graves during the Kofun period of Japan, which translates as “old tomb.” These unique figures were rather simple at the beginning of their creation, but over time they became increasingly complex taking the forms of people, animals, and other objects. These fascinating funerary objects serve a greater purpose than just ordinary tomb decorations. The haniwa tie into the Confucianist tradition of being made to be used and to protect the spirits of the dead. Influenced by Confucian tradition, in which “filial piety” is recognized as a high level of …

Jayavarmin Vii: Achieving Kingship, Ross Seeman, Mckay Whitacre, David Oppenheim

Featured Research

Jayavarmin VII (r. 1181-1218) exemplifies the nature of achieving divine kingship through his life achievements modeled after the life of Buddha. He was viewed by many as a divine-like figure, through his acts of philanthropy and good deeds for the city. Through this philosophy, Jayavarmin VII facilitated the construction of hospitals, several roads and rest houses. The height of Jayavarmin’s reign was during the construction of the Bayon Temple. By this time, Jayavarmin VII believed he had completed his journey to kingship. This is shown through the massive faces carved in the temple representing either Jayavarmin or Buddha himself. From …

Torii And Water: A Gateway To Shinto, Hannah Imson, Amy Kahng, Victoria Lekson

Featured Research

Water symbolizes purity in the Shinto religion and thus holds utmost importance as a method of religious purification. Additionally, scholars and worshippers recognize the role of torii as gateways to the kami, or deities of nature. However, there has not been a documented survey of the relationship between torii and their placement in water, a relationship we feel is significant in understanding Shintoism. We intend to bridge this gap in scholarship by displaying the prevalence of torii placed in or right next to water. We will explore torii from various parts of the world as well as different time periods …

Mapping Shikoku: Picturing Buddhist Pilgrimage In Contemporary Japan, Anna Maria Ortiz, Chloe Walton, Cody Mcmanus

Featured Research

In this research, we will address this question: Do the modern methods of practicing the Shikoku Pilgrimage stay true to the ancient intent of the pilgrimage? People who embark on the journey to each of the 88 Shikoku temple sites do so to escape to another world of peace and tranquility that they cannot obtain in their regular daily lives. Unfortunately, there is a large gap in scholarship on the topic of the Shikoku Buddhist Pilgrimage: little is written about how the shift from ancient to modern practices of the pilgrimage has changed pilgrims’ experiences. Little is known by Westerners …

Teaching With Twitter: A Collaborative Experiment Using Twitter In The Classroom, Brian Vetruba, Makiba Foster, Kristina Kleutghen

University Libraries Presentations

In a world where social media are becoming part of our daily existence in a variety of ways, Twitter is making inroads as a method for engaging students. In fact, a recent study published in the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning found a higher rate of student engagement with faculty and course material--as well as better grades—among students who were Twitter users. Kristina, Makiba, and Brian will describe a collaborative experiment in integrating Twitter into two Art History courses in the fall of 2011. They will share lessons learned and engage participants in a discussion of best practices for using …

"Biography: Details Lacking": Reimaging Torii Kiyotsune As A Kibyōshi Artist, Jason L. Heuer

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

In the late 18^th century an artist named Torii Kiyotsune 鳥居清経inherited and mastered a style of ukiyo-e that was soon to go out of fashion. Few of his prints survived and he left little impression on Japanese art history, despite his association with such a prominent school as the Torii. Yet the very association may have contributed to his obscurity. The assumption that Kiyotsune was primarily an ukiyo-e artist led to the overshadowing of his work in another arena, popular books known as kusazōshi. In fact he was quite prolific in that medium, illustrating over 130 kibyōshi …

Confucius Institute Fall 2012 Publication (Report), Dr. Wei-Ping Pan Director

The Confucius Institute Publications

No abstract provided.

The Paradox Of Gender Among West China Missionary Collectors, 1920-1950, Cory A. Willmott

Cory A. Willmott

During the turbulent years between the Chinese nationalist revolution of 1911 and the communist victory of 1949, a group of missionaries lived and worked in West China whose social gospel theologies led to unusual identification with Chinese. Among the regular social actors in their lives were itinerant “curio men” who, amidst the chaos of feuding warlords, gathered up the heirlooms of the deposed Manchurian aristocracy and offered these wares for sale on the quiet and orderly verandahs of the mansions inside the missionary compounds of West China Union University. Although missionary men and women often collected the same types of …