Asian art

Asian art covers a wide variety of creative works from many cultures, regions, and religions across the continent. It is usually grouped into several broad categories: East Asian art (from China, Japan, Korea, and Tibet), Southeast Asian art (from Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam), South Asian art (mostly from the Indian subcontinent), Central Asian art, and West Asian art (which includes the Ancient Near East, Mesopotamia, Persia, and, more recently, Islamic art). The story of Eastern art often runs parallel to that of Western art, and the two have repeatedly influenced each other. This exchange happened through steppe-nomad migrations, the Silk Road, the cultural contact of the Age of Discovery and Western colonization, and now through the internet and modern globalization. If we set aside prehistoric art, the oldest surviving art in Asia comes from Mesopotamia.

In Northeast Asia, the first modern humans appeared in the harsh climate around 40,000 years ago. The early Yana culture in northern Siberia dates to about 31,000 BCE. By roughly 21,000 BCE, two main cultures had formed: the Mal’ta culture and, a bit later, the Afontova Gora-Oshurkovo culture. The Mal’ta culture, based near Lake Baikal in southern Siberia, produced some of the earliest Upper Paleolithic artworks. These include the Venus figurines of Mal’ta, mostly carved from mammoth ivory and dating back about 23,000 years, from the Gravettian period. Most of these small statues show stylized clothing, and many have faces. Since almost all other Upper Paleolithic portable figurines come from Europe, some scholars think Mal’ta may have had a cultural or religious link with Europe at that time, but this idea remains unproven.

Chinese art has changed a lot over its long history, often divided by ruling dynasties and shifts in technology. It has been shaped by great philosophers, teachers, religious figures, and political leaders. Chinese art includes fine arts, folk arts, and performance arts, whether ancient or modern, created in China or by Chinese artists. During the Song dynasty, poetry took the form of Ci, a lyric style that expressed desire, often through an adopted persona. Paintings from the same period showed more subtle landscapes, with blurred outlines and mountain contours that suggested distance through an impressionistic treatment of nature. Unlike earlier periods, the focus in painting shifted to spiritual rather than emotional elements. Also in the Song dynasty, Kunqu—the oldest surviving form of Chinese opera—developed in Kunshan, near modern Shanghai. In the Yuan dynasty, painter Zhao Mengfu had a major influence on later Chinese landscape painting, and Yuan opera evolved into a form that continues today as Cantonese opera.

Chinese painting has two main styles: Gongbi and Xieyi. Gongbi, meaning “meticulous,” uses rich colors and fine details, often for portraits or narrative scenes. Xieyi, meaning “freehand,” exaggerates forms and often makes them unrealistic, focusing on the artist’s emotional expression, especially in landscapes. Besides paper and silk, traditional paintings were also done on walls, like those in the Mogao Grottoes in Gansu Province. These caves were built starting in the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534 AD). There are over 700 caves, with 492 containing murals covering more than 45,000 square meters. The murals show a wide range of subjects: Buddha statues, paradise, angels, important historical events, and even donors. Early cave paintings were influenced by Indian and Western styles, but by the Tang dynasty (618–906 CE), the murals had developed a distinctly Chinese style.

Chinese calligraphy goes back to the Dazhuan (large seal script) from the Zhou dynasty. After Emperor Qin unified China, his prime minister Li Si collected and standardized the Xiaozhuan (small seal script) as the official writing style. Small seal script is elegant but slow to write. During the Eastern Han dynasty, a script called Lishu (official script) emerged, which had no circles and very few curved lines, making it faster to write. Later, the Kaishu style (regular script) appeared. Its simpler, neater structure means it is still widely used today.

Ancient Chinese crafts include jade work. Early jade was used for ornaments or sacrificial items. The earliest carved jade object from China comes from the Hemudu culture in the early Neolithic period (about 3500–2000 BCE). During the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BCE), jade objects like the Bi (a circular disc with a hole) and the Cong (a square tube) appeared. These were likely used in rituals, representing the sky and the earth. In the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BCE), harder engraving tools allowed for more delicate carving, and jade began to be used as pendants or clothing ornaments. Jade was thought to be immortal and could...