Chinese Studies Symposium(Vol.40 No.4)

August 28 The Center for Chinese Studies visiting scholar Dr. Peter Sturman, an Associate Professor in the Department of the History of Art and Architecture, University of California, Santa Barbara, spoke on “Family Matters: Filiality and its Effects in Song Literati Painting”. Dr. Chen Paochen in the Graduate Institute of Art History at National Taiwan University chaired the seminar. The lecture introduced filiality as a factor in literati painting and calligraphy of the Song dynasty and focused on the period following the great achievements of Su Shi and his circle leading from the late Northern Song into the early years of the Southern Song. Two artists were of particular concern: Mi Youren, the son of the famous calligrapher and connoisseur Mi Fu, and Sima Huai, the grandson of the famous statesman Sima Guang. For the literati, however, jiaxue was less about livelihood and more about self-definition. These scholar-officials were concerned about who they were within the structure of their family lineage, and how they were perceived, adding an important and complex dimension to our study of Chinese art.