Burdick-Vary Lecture Series: New Constructions of the Past in the Art History of China
Maggie Bickford
Art History (Emerita), Brown University
'Repossessing the Past: Refurbishing the Cultural Patrimony at the Courts of Song-Dynasty China'
Chinese emperors of the 12th and 13th centuries created a new body of masterworks to stand in for lost famous paintings by the early Great Painters of China. The measure of their success is that we still use these Song-Dynasty creations as touchstones in our history of early Chinese art. How did this happen? Professor Bickford will consider these imperial initiatives and their consequences for the History of Art in China today.