Zurich Lectures in East Asian Art History: Prof. Dr. Shane McCausland
After Revisionism: The New Framing of the Arts of China’s Middle Period (10th–14th century)
Prof. Dr. Shane McCausland (SOAS University of London)
Wednesday, October 22, 2025, 18:15–19:30
University of Zurich, Rämistrasse 59, 8001 Zürich
Room RAA-G-15
Flyer (PDF, 171 KB)
Abstract: This lecture examines the current state-of-the-field for Chinese art history in the Middle Period (10th-14th c.). After a prolonged phase of revisionism, a change is now underway whereby new critical methods and regional perspectives are becoming more established. There is now a renewed interest in how such fundamental art-historical effects as cultural continuity happened, with a tacit recognition of the notion that ‘for things to stay the same, everything must change’. In the presentation, some case studies afford the opportunity to explore current issues, including the fate of the mid-twentieth-century ‘sinicization’ theory of art; the implications for the arts of new thinking about the geo-political status of the so-called conquest (non-Chinese) dynasties; the multiplicity of calligraphic scripts alongside Chinese; and trans-continental elite dialogue seen in the art of court painting.
The lecture will be held in English and is open to the public. No registration is necessary. For questions, please contact us via email at kgoa@khist.uzh.ch
