Type of Document	Master's Thesis
Author	Henderson, Sara Madeleine
Author's Email Address	shende5@lsu.edu
URN	etd-07062007-194455
Title	Natural History Connects Medical Concepts and Painting Theories in China
Degree	Master of Arts (M.A.)
Department	Art
Advisory Committee	Advisor Name Title Fredrikke Scollard Committee Chair H. Parrott Bacot Committee Member John B. Henderson Committee Member Kelli Scott Kelley Committee Member
Keywords	mythology landscape painting worldview interdisciplinary cosmology calligraphy scholarship diagrams oral history
Date of Defense	2007-06-04
Availability	unrestricted
Abstract The earliest decipherable Chinese history traces back to the Shang Dynasty (B.C. 1766 – 1154). This period was considered prehistory until the discovery of artifacts describing divination rites in this era, practices that forge a culture. Divination rites included patterns in nature (natural law, li) such as the Five Elements and the Eight Trigrams. The Eight Trigrams were the first attempt at writing ancient philosophies. Eight symbols represent categories that are not static, but the changing patterns in nature are captured by organizing events and forms in nature relative to seven other influences. Later this idea expanded eight-fold, embracing the patterns of nature as well as human nature, thus creating Sixty-four Hexagrams. Such categories illuminating ‘likeness’ and ‘kind’ in nature originated in ritualistic practices and were the theoretical foundations of Chinese traditional art and medicine still in practice today. This thesis finds that ancient philosophies and rituals are the roots of Chinese culture, medicine and art. One ancient concept that is still prevalent in medical theories today is that of the body as a microcosm reflecting the macrocosmic universe. Medical concepts about the body illuminate a view of nature based on the concept of largeness in smallness. The technique of ‘depicting things as they are’ asks artists to capture the likeness of forms in nature. This is a time-honored aim of Chinese artists. Artists should strive to capture ‘likeness’ representing nature’s complexity, such that there is largeness in the smallest forms (such as humans) and space in nothingness (such as mist).
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