Li Anzhong shrike

Of all subjects in Chinese art, birds and flowers were amongst the earliest, appearing as décor on bronze vessels and ceramics over 2000 years before the rise of landscape painting. This talk explores the metaphorical relationship established between the natural world and human society in poetry and painting of flowers and birds from the Song through the Ming dynasties, and how, through personification and anthropomorphism, paintings convey the drama of life played out on the smallest of scales.

Ann Wetherell earned a Ph.D. in Chinese Art History from the University of Oregon, and has taught Asian and Western art history at Portland State University, Pacific University, and University of Oregon. She is currently an adjunct assistant professor of art history at Portland State.