Origins of the Picturesque
The term and the aesthetic sensibility of the picturesque have been used for some time in the fine arts and architecture. Supported by Tongji University, this research project seeks to determine their origins as a term as well as the earliest artistic manifestations embodying this sensibility across cultures and disciplines. Experts from across the globe will be asked to join this project to contribute to a more accurate understanding of both the idea and the sensibility's legacy. In Fall 2024, the project will organize two collquium and one conference centered around the origins of the picturesque in various cultures.
The term picturesque is in wide and often loose use in many fields of artistic production, most notably in architecture. Critics of irregular forms apply the term in a pejorative way, yet the general movement towards a less formal appearance of not only architectural designs but of all of life's expressions on an international scale gives the picturesque a hitherto unknown significance. The picturesque is not only an aesthetic sensibility, in the context of dominant global ordering systems, of technological rationalism and limited personal space, the picturesque expresses a longing for the unconstrained other, for the innate energy of the natural.
Time
13:00-18:00, Spetember 28th
Venue
C1 meeting room, Building C,
CAUP, Tongji University
Meeting Link
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83985308799?pwd=kH8pTUyXoCwL1qQPmRFLKlrwKTXps4.1
Meeting ID: 839 8530 8799
Passcode: 274770
13:00-13:20
Prof. Wilfried Wang
Tongji University
<Introduction: Varieties of the Picturesque>
13:20-14:00
Prof. Giacomo Bruni
Huaqiao University
<Shifting Paradigms: Zong Bing’s Essay in Dialogue with Early Western Thought and Artistic Traditions>
14:00-14:40
Prof. Mo Xiaobu
Hangzhou Normal University
<Fences and Boundaries: Gardens and Ancient Chinese Characters>
14:40-15:20
Associate Prof. Zhou Xiangpin
Tongji University
<Artistic Conception of Paintings in Chinese Landscape Gardens>
15:20-15:30
Break
15:30-16:10
Prof. Elias Constantopoulos
University of Patras
<Voyage to the Gardens of Antiquity>
16:10-16:50
Si Han
Östasiatiska museet
<Documenting Gardens: Osvald Sirén>
16:50-17:30
Roundtable Discussion
Principal Investigator:
Prof. Dr. h.c. Wilfried Wang
Research Team:
Prof. Dr. Mo Wanli
Research Assistant:
Zong Cong, PhD candidate
Scientific Committee:
Prof. Dr. Werner Oechslin, Prof. Elias Constantopoulos, Prof. Dr. David Leatherbarrow, Prof. Dr. Valerio Paolo Mosco, Prof. Dr. Gu Kai, Prof. Dr. Li Xiangning, Prof. Dr. Eugene Wang
Tongji CAUP Steering Group:
Dean Prof. Wang Lan, Prof. Wang Zhendong, Prof. Zhou Xiangpin, Prof. Zhu Yuhui