Overview
In this assignment, you have an opportunity to employ art history knowledge and comparative essay writing skills covered in this Module. You will choose a landscape artwork from Eastern culture—either Japanese or Chinese—and one Western landscape by a European or American artist. Both artworks should have been made around the same time, between the 11th and 17th centuries. You will then compare and contrast these two paintings created during the same time period but from different cultures, drawing on course vocabulary, contextual analysis, and formal analysis.
Instructions
Mountain with River and Trees
School of/style of Wang Yuanqi. Mountain with River and Trees.
ca. 1642-1715. Ink on Paper.
Used with permission of the British Museum.
The Eastern (Asian) landscape tradition is markedly different from that of the Western (European). Traditional Asian artists intended to evoke meditative contemplation through visual imagery using atmospheric perspective, placement, and asymmetry. Eastern works also stress a reverence for nature and often include calligraphy or poetry as part of the primary subject. What ideas do European landscapes of the same time period convey?
For this assignment, you will choose one example each of paintings that represent the Eastern and Western landscape tradition from the same time period. In your essay, compare and contrast each work’s individual similarities and differences and identify major contrasts in these two cultural approaches. For basic information on how to approach this comparative essay, visit the Module 5 Writing Skills page.
Step 1: Research
First, conduct basic research on Eastern and Western landscape paintings and create a list that includes the major ways in which they are similar and different.
Then, using the Art Research Guide sources or comparable sites, browse examples of both Eastern and Western landscape art and choose two examples that allow you to write a fully-developed essay based on three or more major points of comparison.
Consider the following questions as you brainstorm your comparisons:
What did each artist hope to accomplish with his or her work?
What aspect of the landscape did each artist most value?
Did the artists demonstrate personal connections with their landscapes, or were they conveying broader cultural messages?
Do the artworks represent attitudes towards nature that continue on today?
Explain each consideration in detail and refer directly to how they are demonstrated in the art itself.
Next, summarize the primary points you will address in one “thesis statement,” which will appear as a sentence in your essay’s introduction. Note that not all Eastern and Western landscapes will make strong enough statements to support a fully-developed essay. For example, if Eastern landscapes stress a reverence for nature, look for Western examples that either clearly do or do not represent the same idea. Your choices should provide you with at least three clear, strong points of comparison.
Recommended Research Sources:
Recommended Research Sources:
- The Freer/Sackler Smithsonian Museums of Asian Art
- Met Museum: Landscape Painting in the Netherlands
- Met Museum: Claude Lorrain
- Met Museum: Korean Landscape Painting
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, Heilbrunn Timeline Thematic Essays, Keyword: “Landscape”