Chinese Art and Dynastic Time

Wu Hung's Chinese Art and Dynastic Time is the published form of the 2019 A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts. An invitation to present the Mellon lectures, which have run annually since 1952 with the goal of bringing the best of contemporary art historical scholarship to the public, is a singular honor that inspires deep reflection and effort. For Chinese art historians it also appears to kindle broad conceptual ambitions,¹ and in this regard, Chinese Art and Dynastic Time is no exception. With the stated goal of “uncovering a specific system of indigenous art historical discourse in relation to contemporaneous art creation” (4), Wu Hung settles on time itself—time not in its universal, ontological form but as a culturally specific manifestation. The operative word, of course, is dynastic. Mandated by a greater power (tian 天, “heaven”), dynastic time operates under the assumption of external constant...