Getting Started: Chinese Art
This section provides information on English language resources for Chinese art, including print books and ebooks, article databases, images, streaming media, and digital resources.
Get started with the Quick Links section of this guide before exploring the topic-specific resources in this section.
Note:
English language print materials on Chinese art are located in the Music, Art & Architecture Library.
Print materials on related history, aesthetics, and humanities topics can be found at the Koerner Library and/or Rare Books & Special Collections.
Chinese language materials can be found at UBC's Asian Library.
Databases
Start your search by looking at the Databases section of the general Art History & Visual Art guide.
Then explore the topic-specific databases below.
- Asia-Studies Full-text Online This link opens in a new windowReports on business, government, economic, environmental and social issues in 55 countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
- Bibliography of Asian Studies This link opens in a new windowContains nearly 800,000 records on all subjects (especially in the humanities and the social sciences) pertaining to East, Southeast, and South Asia published worldwide from 1971 to the present.
- China: culture and society This link opens in a new window1200 English-language pamphlets from 1750-1929 relating to China.
- China: Trade, Politics and Culture 1793-1980 This link opens in a new windowIncludes a wide variety of original source material detailing China's interaction with the West from Macartney's first Embassy to China in 1793, through to the Nixon/Heath visits to China in 1972-74.
- Digital Dictionary of Buddhism This link opens in a new windowContains terms from Chinese, Japanese and Korean Buddhism. The dictionary is fully searchable, and the site also includes browsable indices, presentations about the dictionary, and details of contributors.
Articles / Journals
Print & Electronic Journals @ UBC Library
To find a specific journal, search by Title here:
For a selective list of print journals related to Japanese art, browse the UBC Library Catalogue with the following subject headings, while using the "Subject begins with" or "Subject contains" search options. Here are a few examples:
Select Art Publications
This is a selection of art journals in UBC Library holdings related to Chinese art:
- Orientations
Online coverage: 2020-Present.
Also available in print at the Music, Art & Architecture Library at: N1 .O74 H6 (1970-1980, 1985-Present).
Find information about specific articles or authors using the Orientations Search Index. - Artibus Asiae
Online coverage: 1925-2014.
Also available in print at the Music, Art & Architecture Library at: N1 .A75 (1925-Present). - Yishu: journal of contemporary Chinese art
Available in print at the Music, Art & Architecture Library at: N7345 .Y574 (2002-Present).
Back issues are freely available online. See: About Yishu | Back Issues. - Art and AsiaPacific
Available in print at the Music, Art & Architecture Library at: N7260 .A77 (2001-Present). - Arts of Asia
Available in print at the Music, Art & Architecture Library at: N8 .A78 A85 (1971-Present). - Arts Asiatiques
Online coverage: 1954-2018.
Also available in print at the Music, Art & Architecture Library at: N1 .A85 (1954-2019). - Positions: East Asia cultures critique
Online coverage: 1993-Present - Asian art & culture [Former title: Asian Art]
Available in print at the Music, Art & Architecture Library at: N1 .A842 A78 (1994-1996). - Journal of Asian Studies
Online coverage: 1942-Present.
Also available in print at the Music, Art & Architecture Library at: DS501 .F2 (1941-1964, 1965-2009). - Archives of Asian art
Online coverage: 2001-Present.
Also available in print at the Music, Art & Architecture Library at: N1 .C4 (1945-2001; 2004-2011). - Art and AsiaPacific almanac
Available in print at the Music, Art & Architecture Library at: N7260 .A774 (2005-Present). - Oriental Art
Available in print at the Music, Art & Architecture Library at: N1 .O7 (1948-1951, 1955-2013).
Select journals related to Chinese anthropology, archaeology, visual and material culture:
- Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review
Online coverage: 2011-Present. - Journal of Chinese Literature and Culture
Online coverage: 2014-Present. - Res: Anthropology and Aesthetics
Online coverage: 1981-Present. - Verge: Studies in Global Asias
Online coverage: 2015-Present. - Journal of Song-Yuan Studies
Online coverage: 2008-Present.
Also available in print at the Asian Library at: DS751 .F2 (1990-2008). - Asian Cinema
Online coverage: 1993-Present.
Select Chinese language art journals with English language aspects:
- Kao gu 考古
Online coverage: 1934-Present
Also available in print at the Asian Library at: DS715. K38 (1959-2019).
[Table of contents in English and Russian]. - Wen wu tian di 文物
Online coverage: 1994-Present.
Also available in print at the Asian Library and PARC at: DS701 .W398 (2017-Present; 1981-2016).
[Abstracts in English]. - Gu gong xue shu ji kan 故宮學術季刊
Available in print in the ASRS at: N3750 .T312 (1983-2007).
[Abstracts in English]. - Mei shu 美術
Online coverage: 1954-
See also: Mei shu.
[Table of contents in English].
Subject Headings & Keywords
Listed below is a selection of art subject headings that can be used for keyword searching in the UBC Library Catalogue.
Click on the links to browse books on specific subjects.
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By general Chinese art and artists:
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By historic period:
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By medium or format: |
By topic in visual and performing arts: |
Select Books on Chinese Art
Highlighted Resources
Visual and Material Cultures in Middle Period China by Call Number: Online / DS750.2ISBN: 9789004348981Publication Date: 2017
A History of Chinese Art by Call Number: N7340 .Z465213 2016ISBN: 9781107016613Publication Date: 2016
Visual Culture in Contemporary China: paradigms and shifts by Call Number: OnlineISBN: 9781316026724Publication Date: 2015
Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World by Call Number: N7345 .A77 2017ISBN: 9780892075287Publication Date: 2017
Zooming In: histories of photography in China by Call Number: TR101 .W8 2016ISBN: 9781780235998Publication Date: 2016
Chinese Painting: leading masters and principles (7 vols.) by Call Number: ND1040 .S49 (Reference)ISBN: 0878171304Publication Date: 1974Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting by
Call Number: ND1040 .T48 1997ISBN: 0300070136Publication Date: 1997
Empresses of China's Forbidden City, 1644-1912 by Call Number: DS754.14 .E47 2018ISBN: 9780300237085Publication Date: 2018
Out of Character: decoding Chinese calligraphy by Call Number: NK3634.A2 O85 2012ISBN: 9780939117635Publication Date: 2012
Dictionaries & Encyclopedias
Chinese Art: a guide to motifs and visual imagery by Call Number: N7340 .W375 2008 (Reference)ISBN: 9780804838641Publication Date: 2008
Sourcebooks & Documents
Contemporary Art in Asia: a critical reader by Call Number: N7260 .C627 2011ISBN: 9780262516235Publication Date: 2011
An Anthology of Chinese Literature by Call Number: PL2658.E1 A814 1996ISBN: 0393038238Publication Date: 1996
Early Medieval China: A Sourcebook by Call Number: DS747.42 .E37 2014ISBN: 9780231159869Publication Date: 2014
Indexes
An Index of Early Chinese Painters and Painting by Call Number: ND1043.3 .C3 1980 (Reference)ISBN: 9780520035768Publication Date: 1980
Images
- Artstor on JSTOR This link opens in a new windowA digital image library for the arts and sciences with an unparalleled range of images licensed for educational use at UBC.
- Grove Art Online This link opens in a new windowGrove Art Online is the foremost scholarly art encyclopedia covering both Western and non-Western art. First published as the Dictionary of Art, edited by Jane Turner, Grove Art encompasses all aspects of visual culture.
- Harvard University | The Hedda Morrison Photographs of China5,000 photographs and 10,000 negatives taken by Hedda Hammer Morrison (1908–1991) while resident in Beijing from 1933 to 1946. The photographs, mounted in thematic albums prepared by Mrs. Morrison, and the negatives, were bequeathed to the Harvard-Yenching Library.
- Harvard University Library | Chinese Rubbings CollectionThe Fine Arts Library and Harvard-Yenching Library holds rubbings of objects that date from the Qin Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty. Search the collection.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art | The MET CollectionExplore high resolution images -- many of which are accompanied by extensive documentation -- from the MET's collections. Includes more than 375,000 Open Access artworks. Note: MET holdings include a significant East Asian / Chinese Art collection.
- The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art | Search the CollectionExplore images of art works from the Nelson-Atkins, including more than 9,000 items in the East Asian Art collection.
- The Cleveland Museum of Art | Search the CollectionExplore images of art works from the Cleveland Museum. Accompanying descriptions provide information, including translations of painting inscriptions and identification of seals.
- Hong Kong Museum of History | Historical PhotographsA collection of over 14,000 historical pictures dating from the 1860s, which depict various facets of life in Hong Kong. The majority of the photographs show the streets and everyday life of Hong Kong prior to 1941.
- The Smithsonian | Freer and Sackler Galleries: Collections: Chinese ArtMore than thirteen thousand objects dating from Neolithic times (ca. 7000–ca. 2000 BCE) to the present. The collections reflect all major dynastic periods and materials of artistic production. Includes imperial and trade ceramics, lacquer, traditional paintings, portraits, jades, bronzes, and calligraphy.
- Duke University | Sidney D. Gamble Photographs CollectionConsists of contact sheets, hand-colored glass slides, 35mm duplicate slides, contact prints, negatives, and other photographic formats documenting Gamble's four visits to China from 1908 to 1932. Gamble was a sociologist, China scholar, and avid amateur photographer.
- University of Chicago | East Asian Scroll PaintingsInteractive site to simulate the experience of viewing handscrolls in ways that published photographs in books and slides cannot and to make them more widely accessible for teaching and research.
- UC San Diego | Chinese Cultural Revolution PostersPropaganda posters created by various Chinese agencies, 1968-1989.
Websites
- The MET: Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History: Chinese artEssays, works of art, chronologies, and keywords related to Chinese art in the collections at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
- Yishu InterviewsYouTube channel for Yishu Journal, featuring a series of interviews with contemporary artists with English language subtitles.
- NBN | New Books Network: East Asian StudiesNBN is a consortium of author-interview podcast channels dedicated to raising the level of public discourse by introducing scholars and other serious writers to a wide public via new media.
Related Guides
- Historical Photographs at RBSCSee: Chinese Canadian Stories; Wallace B. Chung and Madeline H. Chung Collection