Paola Dematte

Professor
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LAUR, Università Degli Studi Di Venezia
MA, University Of California Los Angeles
PHD, University Of California Los Angeles

Paola Demattè is professor of Chinese art and archaeology. She holds a Laurea in Chinese Language and Literature from the Università degli Studi di Venezia (Italy) and an MA/PhD in Archaeology from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Paola has significant international experience, having studied and worked in several countries, and is fluent in many languages including Italian and Mandarin Chinese. In 2018–19, she served as chief critic at the European Honors Program in Rome, where she successfully guided two groups of students through their studio projects and organized exhibitions.

Paola specializes in the Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeology of China and has written on the origins of Chinese writing, early urbanism, archaic jades and on the rock art of China. Recently, she authored a book that explored the development of writing in China from the Neolithic to the early Bronze Age (The Origins of Chinese Writing, Oxford University Press, 2022). She also has a keen interest in religion, Buddhist art on the Silk Road and East-West contacts. In this context, she has co-curated an exhibition at the Getty Center and co-authored a volume on Sino-European exchanges from the 16th through the 19th centuries (China on Paper, Getty Publications, 2007).
 

Courses

Fall 2023 Courses

HPSS C333-01 / THAD C333-01 - CHINESE ARCHAEOLOGY
Level Undergraduate
Unit Theory + History of Art + Design
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Period Fall 2023
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

HPSS C333-01 / THAD C333-01

CHINESE ARCHAEOLOGY

Level Undergraduate
Unit Theory + History of Art + Design
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Period Fall 2023
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2023-09-06 to 2023-12-13
Times: M | 9:40 AM - 12:40 PM Instructor(s): Paola Dematte Location(s): College Building, Room 412 Enrolled / Capacity: 25 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

This course is designed to introduce students to the major historical and intellectual developments in the field of Chinese archaeology, from its inception in the 10th century as antiquarianism, to the latest scientific achievements. The course will provide a general overview of key discoveries relating to the period of time spanning from the Paleolithic to the Han period, concentrating on crucial research issues on such topics as (among others), the origin of man in Asia (an alternative to the Out of Africa theory), the earliest settled societies and the beginning of rice and millet agriculture, the origins and impact of Chinese writing, the Chinese urban revolution of the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, the political use of bronze and jade in the dynastic period, and the burial customs and religious beliefs of the early imperial period.

Offered as THAD-C333 and HPSS-C333.

Open to Sophomore, Junior or Senior Undergraduate Students.

Elective

HPSS C333-01 / THAD C333-01 - CHINESE ARCHAEOLOGY
Level Undergraduate
Unit Theory + History of Art + Design
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Period Fall 2023
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

HPSS C333-01 / THAD C333-01

CHINESE ARCHAEOLOGY

Level Undergraduate
Unit Theory + History of Art + Design
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design History, Philosophy and the Social Sciences
Period Fall 2023
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2023-09-06 to 2023-12-13
Times: M | 9:40 AM - 12:40 PM Instructor(s): Paola Dematte Location(s): College Building, Room 412 Enrolled / Capacity: 25 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

This course is designed to introduce students to the major historical and intellectual developments in the field of Chinese archaeology, from its inception in the 10th century as antiquarianism, to the latest scientific achievements. The course will provide a general overview of key discoveries relating to the period of time spanning from the Paleolithic to the Han period, concentrating on crucial research issues on such topics as (among others), the origin of man in Asia (an alternative to the Out of Africa theory), the earliest settled societies and the beginning of rice and millet agriculture, the origins and impact of Chinese writing, the Chinese urban revolution of the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age, the political use of bronze and jade in the dynastic period, and the burial customs and religious beliefs of the early imperial period.

Offered as THAD-C333 and HPSS-C333.

Open to Sophomore, Junior or Senior Undergraduate Students.

Elective

THAD H607-01 - PHOENIX AND THE DRAGON: CHINESE ART, MYTH AND RELIGION
Level Undergraduate
Unit Theory + History of Art + Design
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design
Period Fall 2023
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

THAD H607-01

PHOENIX AND THE DRAGON: CHINESE ART, MYTH AND RELIGION

Level Undergraduate
Unit Theory + History of Art + Design
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design
Period Fall 2023
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2023-09-06 to 2023-12-13
Times: T | 9:40 AM - 12:40 PM Instructor(s): Paola Dematte Location(s): College Building, Room 346 Enrolled / Capacity: 25 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

This course will introduce the arts of China through the lens of native and imported religious and philosophical traditions, exploring different approaches to representation and belief. After an introduction to the anthropological study of religion, we will cover four main periods: the pre-historic (Paleolithic - Neolithic), the early dynastic (ca. 2000 - 221 BCE), the imperial (221 BCE - 1911), and the modern-contemporary (post 1911). We will focus on elite and folk approaches to representation and belief with an emphasis on mythology and symbolism. Topics to be explored include: the dragon and the phoenix as symbols, the Han search for immortality, Buddhist cave temples, Taoist landscape painting, the Confucian scholar tradition, ritual garments, the influence of European culture and Christianity, and Communist personality cult.

Open to Sophomore, Junior, Senior or Graduate Students..

Elective

THAD H750-01 - SEM: OPEN SEMINAR IN THAD
Level Undergraduate
Unit Theory + History of Art + Design
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design
Period Fall 2023
Credits 3
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

THAD H750-01

SEM: OPEN SEMINAR IN THAD

Level Undergraduate
Unit Theory + History of Art + Design
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design
Period Fall 2023
Credits 3
Format Seminar
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2023-09-06 to 2023-12-13
Times: T | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM Instructor(s): Paola Dematte Location(s): College Building, Room 410 Enrolled / Capacity: 15 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

This experimental seminar is a space for students to explore issues in the history of art and visual culture. You may work, independent-study style, on any topic that specially interests you. Research will be done in dialogue with fellow students and a faculty facilitator. On the first day of class we will discuss topics of common interest, and develop a provisional semester plan and a list of readings. As the conversation develops over subsequent weeks, our plan may be adjusted or even completely revised. Coursework will be tailored to the needs of individual participants. This class is recommended for THAD Concentrators. Graduate students interested in the Theory & History of Art & Design are invited to join this seminar.

Open to Junior, Senior or Graduate Students.

Elective

Spring 2024 Courses

THAD H504-01 - ART AND RELIGION ON THE SILK ROAD - PART A
Level Undergraduate
Unit Theory + History of Art + Design
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

THAD H504-01

ART AND RELIGION ON THE SILK ROAD - PART A

Level Undergraduate
Unit Theory + History of Art + Design
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2024-02-15 to 2024-05-24
Times: W | 9:40 AM - 12:40 PM Instructor(s): Paola Dematte Location(s): College Building, Room 431 Enrolled / Capacity: 25 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

This course will focus on the cultural and artistic activities which came into being as a result of contacts between the civilizations of Europe and Asia (China in particular). Among the topics explored will be: the ancient world, the Silk Route and Buddhism, the nomads of Eurasia as agents of cultural exchange, early European travelers to China (Marco Polo), the Jesuits at the court of the Chinese emperors during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and finally the Western colonial experience.

Elective

THAD H604-01 - ART AND RELIGION ON THE SILK ROAD - PART B
Level Undergraduate
Unit Theory + History of Art + Design
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

THAD H604-01

ART AND RELIGION ON THE SILK ROAD - PART B

Level Undergraduate
Unit Theory + History of Art + Design
Subject Theory & History of Art & Design
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
Format Lecture
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2024-02-15 to 2024-05-24
Times: W | 1:10 PM - 4:10 PM Instructor(s): Paola Dematte Location(s): College Building, Room 431 Enrolled / Capacity: 25 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

This corequisite course (Art and Religion on the Silk Road - Part B) is a required supplement to Art and Religion on the Silk Road - Part A. The course is designed as an additional workshop consisting of museum and library visits and hands on work on materials in those collections which relate to the topics explored in Part A. Readings will assigned ahead of these visits to gain an understanding of the material seen. Written responses to the readings and the visits are due weekly. In addition, to the RISD Museum collections (Asian Art, Costume and Textiles, Decorative Arts, Classical Antiquities) and the Fleet Library special collections, we will tentatively visit the John Carter Brown Library, the Hay Library and the Haffereffer Museum at Brown University. Provided funds will be available, we may visit the Boston Museum of Fine arts, the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem MA, and the Harvard Art Museum.

Elective

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LAUR, Università Degli Studi Di Venezia
MA, University Of California Los Angeles
PHD, University Of California Los Angeles