Courses Autumn Semester 2026 (26HS)
Table of contents
Introduction to East Asian Art History
Isabelle Leemann, M.A. & Alva Speth, M.A.
Wednesdays, 14:00-15:45
Room: RAA-E-29
This course is designed for beginners with no prior knowledge of the subject. The module introduces the most important genres and techniques in the arts of East Asia (China, Japan and Korea) and focuses on building foundational knowledge in the iconography of East Asian art based on selected representative works. This fundamental knowledge will be discussed in the context of cultural traditions of East Asia and will be applied through oral and written exercises.
Students will learn to recognize, describe, and classify art objects discussed in class. They will know how to correctly identify the terms, techniques, and genres covered in the module and how to apply them in the visual analysis of works of art. They will be able to articulate acquired knowledge orally and in writing. In addition, they will be able to critically and independently engage with selected course readings.
Languages of instruction are English and German. All course assignments can be completed either in English or German. The ability to read academic texts in English is a prerequisite for the course.
Propaedeutics in East Asian Art History
(Seminar, BA, Compulsory course, 6 ECTS)
Dr. Stephanie Santschi & Candice Bressmer-Kang, M.A.
Fridays, 14:00–15:45
Room RAA-E-12
Propaedeutics of East Asian Art History is a mandatory course for students who have no prior knowledge of East Asian Art History. Its key objective is to familiarize students with the fundamental practices of art history, specifically within the study of art and visual culture originating from East Asia, including China, Japan, and Korea.
This module introduces students to the most important research approaches used in the analysis of visual objects from the perspective of the East Asian Art History discipline. Students learn about essential research practices and various forms of scientific expression and become acquainted with key research practices and different formats of research communication. The course also aims to develop students' analytical skills such as critical thinking and academic writing, essential for the study of art and the communication of findings. This practical knowledge is fundamental to the rest of the degree and relevant in all subsequent modules.
Languages of instruction are English and German. All course assignments can be completed either in English or German. The ability to read academic texts in English is a prerequisite for the course.
A mandatory tutorial is offered to deepen the course content: every Tuesday, 08:15–09:45 in the room KOL-H-322.
Theories and Methods
Lecture “Deploying Power: Politics and Patronage in Japanese Arts, 1600–1964”
(Lecture, BA & MA, 3 ECTS)
Guest Professor Prof. Dr. Julie Nelson Davis & (assistant) Candice Bressmer-Kang, M.A.
Tuesdays, 12:15–13:45
Weekly from 29.09.2026–01.12.2026
Room: KO2-F-150
How has art and architecture been critically employed in discourses of power in Japan from the early modern to the modern era? In each week we will focus on a case study where the arts writ large are used for the purpose of asserting-or resisting-power through paintings, prints, and architecture. Starting with the formation of the city of Edo, we'll consider how the built environment, paintings, and other arts were deployed to assert political authority for the shogun's capital. Yet shogunal power was not totalizing; rather, it was resisted in various ways. Patrons in the imperial capital (Kyoto) reclaimed tradition and the classical past to demonstrate cultural authority, while wealthy merchants supported art forms that challenged both shogunal and imperial visual regimes. Meanwhile, with the growth of print culture, publishers made texts and images that slipped around official restrictions and marketed Edo as a modern city. How art was deployed in support of Japan's modernization in the later nineteenth century, from soft power serving in nation building, to propaganda in the service of war, to avant-garde resistance in the postwar period will demonstrate the way that the visual world was imbricated within and beyond politics.
Prof. Dr. Julie Nelson Davis is the Paul F. Miller, Jr. and E. Warren Shafer Miller Professor of History of Art and Chair of the Department of the History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania. This lecture course is organized with special support from the Ishibashi Foundation.
Theories and Concepts in East Asian Art History – Elite and Popular Culture in Early Modern Chinese and Korean Visual Arts: Hierarchies, Canon, and the Vernacular
(Seminar, BA, 6 ECTS)
Isabelle Leemann, M.A. & Alva Speth, M.A.
Mondays, 12:15–13:45
Room: RAA-E-12
Focusing on the early modern periods of China and Korea, this course will shed light on different genres of visual arts typically associated with non-elite classes or popular culture by highlighting their creation, major centers of production, as well as dissemination and consumption, including their reception in other cultures. Students will critically examine the conceptual and material distinctions between elite and popular art and study their complex interrelationships. The course addresses not only culture-specific art forms, like nianhua in China or minhwa in Korea, but also looks at interregional connections and patterns. Furthermore, students will identify and critically reflect on how social hierarchies and identities have shaped contemporary and historiographical perceptions of certain types of artworks and how these biases were reinforced by canon-formation and art historical categories and terms introduced to East Asia in the twentieth century.
Critical Readings in East Asian Art History
(Self-study with Oral Exam, MA, 6 ECTS)
Prof. Dr. Ewa Machotka
2nd week of January, exam dates will be arranged individually with the students
The aim of this course is to expand and deepen the students’ knowledge about content, discourses, theories, and methodologies in the field of East Asian art history. The course is based on individual study of research literature selected by the instructor, and literature tailored to one's own research interests and research project (selected by a student and approved by the instructor). The students are expected to read and critically reflect on secondary sources in English and individually selected texts (optionally in one of the East Asian languages: Chinese, Japanese or Korean). They should be prepared to discuss these materials during the examination.
Upon booking this module through the regular module booking system, students are kindly requested to additionally register with the Assistants during the second week of the teaching period, using the provided registration form available on OLAT.
Culture-specific Contexts and Topics
History and Historiography of East Asian Art – "Artist in East Asia"
(Seminar, MA, 9 ECTS)
Wednesdays, 12:15–13:45
Room RAA-E-08
Beginning with premodern East Asia, the course investigates the diverse practitioners involved in visual culture production from court painters and literati amateurs to workshop artisans, print designers, and monk-artists. These figures operated within complex hierarchies of artistic labor and cultural value that differed significantly from the modern Western idea of the autonomous artistic genius. The course then considers the transformations brought by modernity and globalization, when the encounter with Western artistic models and the emergence of new institutions such as art academies, exhibitions, museums, and markets, reshaped artistic identities and professional practices. Finally, it examines contemporary developments, including the global art market and the emergence of the "art celebrity" examining how contemporary artists from East Asia negotiate visibility, and cultural identity within transnational artistic networks.
Through historical case studies and visual analysis, students will explore how artistic identities are formed, negotiated, and redefined within changing cultural, social, and institutional contexts across East Asia.
Practical Class with Regional Focus – "Introduction to Art and Visual Culture of Japan"
(Seminar, BA, 9 ECTS)
Tuesdays, 14:00–15:45
Room RAA-E-12
Museums and Archives
Exercise: Where Does the Artwork End?—Perception and Immersion in Contemporary Chinese Digital Art
(Exercise, BA/MA, 6 ECTS)
Dr. Golnaz Sakar-Farshi
Fridays, 10:15–12:00
Room: FRE-D-14
The course combines close analysis of Cao Fei's work with readings in phenomenology, media theory, and contemporary art criticism, and consists of two components: in-class teaching and an excursion. The excursion to Kunstmuseum Basel, led by Dr. Uli Sigg, includes an exchange with the exhibition curators and discussions on curatorial practices relevant to digital and immersive art, while the seminar sessions provide critical frameworks for understanding perception and immersion in contemporary digital art.
We begin the seminar sessions by exploring some of the available tools used for creating digital video art, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR), to better understand their contribution to and impact on art creation. Then we proceed with foundational questions of phenomenological aesthetics: how does the perceiving body relate to an artwork it stands before, walks through, or inhabits? We then turn to the specific perceptual challenges posed by digital media. How does video art differ from fully immersive VR? What happens to the boundary between artwork and environment when reality is augmented? And how "real" is virtual reality for the viewer and for art? Finally, we examine the cultural specificity of Cao Fei's work, asking what it means to construct virtual spaces saturated with the textures of Chinese urban life, labor, and technological transformation.
Final Modules
Colloquium for MA and PhD Candidates
(Colloquium, MA/PhD Candidates, 3 ECTS)
Every 2-3 weeks, Wednesdays, 16:15–18:00 (see OLAT for schedule and venue)
