Why Look at Clouds? Visualizing the Weather and Ecology in Ming Dynasty Painting
Session will present: On locationClouds in Ming dynasty paintings functioned both as meteorological indicators and ecological mediators, navigating the space between empirical observation of weather patterns and the cosmological imagination of qi (气) dynamics. This panel challenges conventional stylistic approaches to cloud imagery by proposing an “ecological turn” in Chinese art history, repositioning clouds as crucial sites where aesthetics, environmental knowledge, and cosmological thought intersect. Focusing on a range of Ming dynasty paintings—spanning landscapes, narrative scenes, Buddhist imagery, and Daoist art—this panel examines how the visual representation of clouds reflects contemporary understandings of weather and environmental conditions. It investigates how natural realistic depictions of clouds provide insights into specific regional ecologies and historical moments, and how variations in cloud imagery across different pictorial genres convey differentiated forms of ecological knowledge. Beyond questions of style and iconography, the panel explores the epistemological dimensions of cloud representations, considering how weather and atmospheric phenomena were perceived, conceptualized, and visually mediated during the Ming dynasty.
Keywords:
Geographic Area: China, Imperial (up to 1911)
Topics: Ecocriticism
Medium: Painting
Topics: Multidisciplinary
Topics: Ecology
Chair:
Qian Zhan, Free University of Berlin
Discussant:
Lihong Liu
Abstract Submissions Closed