Week Eight: Video Review

Islamic Art: India and the Middle East

In this program, art critic Waldemar Januszczak travels through the heart of the Middle East and beyond to study a wide range of Islamic architecture, decoration, and art objects. Providing helpful historical background on the faith—with an eye on the explosive spread of early Islamic culture—the program examines the pristine beauty of India’s Taj Mahal as well as one of the world’s oldest surviving mosques, and what may be its most spectacular: the Great Mosque in the Syrian capital of Damascus. Dispelling the myth that Islam forbids all pictorial images, Januszczak analyzes mosaics commissioned by Umayyad caliphs Al-Walid I and II—including one uninhabited cityscape that seems to depict heavenly paradise. (60 minutes)

Buddhism

Using architecture and art, this program studies the birth of Buddhism in India and its spread to other lands, where it has flourished. The Mahabodhi Temple, in Bodh Gaya; the Great Stupa at Sanchi, India; the Borobudur Temple—the largest Buddhist shrine in the world—in Indonesia; and the Chuang Yen Monastery in New York State, with its 37-foot-tall marble statue of The Enlightened One surrounded by 10,000 smaller statues, are featured.

Chinese Art: Treasures of the National Palace Museum

This program spotlights 33 works of Chinese art seldom ever seen outside of the National Palace Museum. Spanning approximately 5,000 years of history, this diverse collection of pieces includes a Neolithic pottery jar; bronze fangzun and fangyi vessels from the late Shang–early Zhou period; a bronze ding vessel from the Late Western Zhou period; a Tang figurine in sancai glaze; a Ming cup in doucai enamels; and a Qing cylindrical curio cabinet. Displayed in chronological order and shown from numerous angles, these cultural artifacts comprise an indispensable educational resource for art history and Asian studies curriculums. Access points, provided in index form, make locating each artifact easy.

The Great Wave

Hokusai’s The Great Wave is arguably the best-known image of Japanese art in the Western world today, and yet prints of it were sold in the 19th century for only the price of a large bowl of noodles. This program tells the story of an iconic image, its visionary maker, and the times in which he lived. It also decodes the multiple meanings of The Great Wave, explains the mechanics of woodblock printing, considers the influence of Shiba Kokan’s art on Hokusai’s, and illustrates The Great Wave’s impact on Impressionism and 1960s pop art. 36 Views of Mt. Fuji, of which The Great Wave is a part, is also discussed. A BBCW Production.

2. How do the videos relate to the readings in the text?
They go deeper into Chinese art than the book does because they have more time and more visuals to go with in order to keep the learners mind stimulated.