Song Dynasty Figures of Longing and Desire

Lara C. W. Blanchard, Ph.D. (2001), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, is Luce Professor of East Asian Art at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. She has published articles on gender and Chinese art from the Song to Ming dynasties.

"Described by the Association for Asian Studies as a “triumph of intertextual and intervisual methods in gender studies,” Professor of Art and Architecture Lara Blanchard is the winner of the 2020 Joseph Levenson Pre-1900 Book Prize (China)." Please read more here. "...this is a book with many great achievements – one that opens a window onto a fascinating slice of Song dynasty culture, as viewed from the perspective of shifting norms and practices of visual representation. The author successfully shows the complex gender dynamics behind the production, transfer and appreciation of these intriguing female portraits, and her discussion gives much food for thought, not only regarding the dynamics of gender relationships in middle period Chinese history, but also about the meaning and fluid boundaries of gender more generally, and how these might play out in surprising ways in artistic expressions."-Curie Virág, University of Edinburgh, in Nan Nü, 21 (2019) 309-313.

• ContentsAcknowledgmentsList of FiguresAbbreviationsIntroduction1 Gendered Subjectivity and Representing InterioritySubjectivity and AuthorshipPictorial Representations of Inner FeelingsCourtly and Literati Audiences: Evidence from Commentaries2 Political Interpretations of DesireHandscrolls of Goddess of the Luo RiverThe Beijing Handscroll Night Revels of Han Xizai3 Male Audience and Authorship: Projecting Desire and Longing onto the Female FigureHuizong’s Court Ladies Preparing Newly Woven SilkMou Yi’s Pounding Cloth4 The Female Audience: Modeling Idealized FemininityWomen and Fan PaintingsLadies Adorning Their Hair with Flowers: A Bed-Screen?Conclusion: Interiority and the Value of ConnectionWorks CitedIndex