Why has Asmat art, from a remote and small south-coast West Papuan society, had such a significant and prolonged impact on the world stage? This book explores the way major collections were made and examines the motivations of the collectors, their relationships with those from whom they purchased and the circumstances of the exchange. It also considers the involvement of artists and film-makers, anthropologists, representatives of the civil authorities and missionaries. Asmat artists have maintained their unique appeal through constant stylistic innovation and by engagement with new publics, both locally and internationally, as exemplified by the recent displays of women's weaving alongside the men's carved wooden shields, drums and figures. Despite accelerating social changes, Asmat art continues to thrive as a compelling and transformative Melanesian presence in the global art world. 'Awe-inspiring works of Asmat art loom large in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and in dozens of other great museums around the world. Nick Stanley's engagingly written study provides the best history to date of the making of Asmat art traditions and of their avid acquisition by successive European and north American collectors. Most importantly, the book foregrounds the creativity and imagination of Asmat artists themselves. This is a book that will be welcomed by everyone interested in the arts of the Pacific.' Nicholas Thomas, University of Cambridge

This book examines three overarching themes: Chinese modernity's (sometimes ambivalent) relationship to tradition at the start of the twentieth century, the processes of economic reform started in the 1980s and their importance to both the eradication and rescue of traditional practices, and the ideological issue of cosmopolitanism and how it frames the older academic generation's attitudes to globalisation. It is important to grasp the importance of these points as they have been an important part of the discourse surrounding contemporary Chinese visual culture. As readers progress through this book, it will become clear that the debates surrounding visual culture are not purely based on aesthetics--an understanding of the ideological issues surrounding the appearance of things as well as an understanding of the social circumstances that result in the making of traditional artifacts are as important as the way a traditional object may look. Contemporary Chinese Visual Culture is an important book for all collections dealing with Asian studies, art, popular culture, and interdisciplinary studies.

With hundreds of vivid and detailed color photographs and an easy narrative style enlivened by historical vignettes and images, the authors bring overdue appreciation to a centuries-old Native American basketmaking tradition in the Northeast. Explore the full range of vintage Indian woodsplint and sweetgrass basketry in the Northeastern U.S. and Canada, from practical "work" baskets made for domestic use to whimsical "fancy" wares that appealed to Victorian tourists. Basket collectors may compare four regional styles: Southern New England and Long Island, Northern New England and Canadian Maritimes, Upper New York State, and the Great Lakes. Learn of the craft's key role in supporting many Eastern Algonquian and Iroquoian peoples through generations of turmoil and change. Discover how today's creative young artisans are building upon their legacy. The book's "Resources" section guides readers to relevant websites and publications as well as northeastern Indian basketry collections in more than 30 public museums.

With the growth in interest in ethnographic materials, this is an essential publication for large public libraries serving patrons with interests in anthropology and art. Choice This indispensable directory of data on serials that contain information relevant to the study of ethnoart fills a gap long perceived by scholars of the indigenous arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, an area of academic focus in which reference materials have been generally lacking. Culled from a database developed by compiler Eugene C. Burt to track potentially useful periodicals in connection with his publication, Ethnoarts Index, the volume is designed to aid those with an interest in ethnoart in determining which serial publications best suit their research needs. In the main directory users can find information on former titles, publisher, editorial focus, content features, and a relevancy rating on each of almost 700 individual serial titles that have an editorial focus related to ethnoart. Nine separate appendices list recommended titles in various categories as well as serials that include indexing, bibliographic or abstracting services, ceased titles, and more. Titles include publications from the fields of art history, anthropology, history, area studies, librarianship, museum studies, and general interest magazines. Prefatory material explains the book's organization and the rationale for its recommendations and is followed by the major portion of the volume, the database of serials arranged alphabetically by title. In each entry more than 20 categories of information are provided including an assigned relevancy rating that rates the level of relevancy of a publication to ethnoart based on the frequency that ethnoart-oriented articles, reviews, etc. appear. Several indices make collection development recommendations based on the relevancy ratings, with approximate cost information. Additional appendices list titles by country of publication, relevant ceased titles, and more. Finally, a unique, rotated-keyword-in-title index that includes subtitles and former titles provides easy access to the main database. All of this information will be welcomed by librarians, scholars, collectors, dealers, curators, and students of ethnoart. Highly recommended for librarians building ethnoart collections; for university libraries where courses on any aspect of ethnoart are taught; and for libraries of museums and research institutions with an interest in ethnoart.

These fine-quality gift wrapping sheets feature 6 prints inspired by the fun and colorful technique of tie-dye! These papers are suitable for craft projects as well as for gift wrapping. The variety of designs means they are useful for any occasion--whether a holiday, birthday, anniversary or "just because." Tie-dye is making a big comeback--from clothing and home accessories to office and school supplies. Share this feel-good trend with loved ones and make them smile! Designed in a folder-style to prevent the sheets from tearing or bending, this gift wrapping set includes: 24 sheets of 18 x 24 inch (45 x 61 cm) paper 6 unique patterns Pair with the matching Tuttle note cards--Tie-Dye, 16 Note Cards--for a colorful and cohesive gift! The tradition of gift wrapping originated in Asia, with the first documented use in China in the 2nd century BC. Japanese furoshiki, reusable wrapping cloth, is still in use four centuries after it was first created. Gift wrapping is one custom that has prevailed through the ages and across the world--it should be special for both the gift giver and recipient.

This volume features new research on Russia’s historic relationship with Asia and the ways it was mediated and represented in the fine, decorative and performing arts and architecture from the mid-eighteenth century to the first two decades of Soviet rule. It interrogates how Russia’s perception of its position on the periphery of the west and its simultaneous self-consciousness as a colonial power shaped its artistic, cultural and national identity as a heterogenous, multi-ethnic empire. It also explores the extent to which cultural practitioners participated in the discursive matrices that advanced Russia’s colonial machinery on the one hand and critiqued and challenged it on the other, especially in territories that were themselves on the fault lines between the east and the west. -- .

Tiwi Textiles: Design, Making, Process tells the story of the innovative Tiwi Design centre on Bathurst Island in northern Australia, dedicated to the production of hand-printed fabrics featuring Indigenous designs, from the 1970s to today. Written by early art coordinator Diana Wood Conroy with oral testimony from senior Tiwi artist Bede Tungutalum, who established Tiwi Design in 1969 with fellow designer Giovanni Tipungwuti, the book traces the beginnings of the centre, and its subsequent place in the Tiwi community and Australian Indigenous culture more broadly. Bringing together many voices and images, especially those of little-known older artists of Paru and Wurrumiyanga (formerly Nguiu) on the Tiwi Islands and from the Indigenous literature, Tiwi Textiles features profiles of Tiwi artists, accounts of the development of new design processes, insights into Tiwi culture and language, and personal reflections on the significance of Tiwi Design, which is still proudly operating today.

Islamic Visual Culture, 1100-1800 is the second in a set of four volumes of studies on Islamic art by Oleg Grabar. Between them they bring together more than eighty articles, studies and essays, work spanning half a century by a master of the field. Each volume takes a particular section of the topic, the three other volumes being entitled: Early Islamic Art 650-1100; Islamic Art and Beyond; and Jerusalem. Reflecting the many incidents of a long academic life, they illustrate one scholar's attempt at making order and sense of 1400 years of artistic growth. They deal with architecture, painting, objects, iconography, theories of art, aesthetics and ornament, and they seek to integrate our knowledge of Islamic art with Islamic culture and history as well as with the global concerns of the History of Art. In addition to the articles selected, each volume contains an introduction which describes, often in highly personal ways, the context in which Grabar's scholarship developed and the people who directed and mentored his efforts. The focus of the present volume is on the key centuries - the eleventh through fourteenth - during which the main directions of traditional Islamic art were created and developed and for which classical approaches of the History of Art were adopted. Manuscript illustrations and the arts of objects dominate the selection of articles, but there are also forays into later times like Mughal India and into definitions of area and period styles, as with the Mamluks in Egypt and the Ottomans, or into parallels between Islamic and Christian medieval arts.

This lushly illustrated book examines the cross-cultural influences and unique artistic dialogue between Hispano and Native American arts in the Southwest over the past 400 years since Spanish colonization. Insightful essays by historians, artists, and scholars including Estevan Rael-Galvez, Lane Coulter, Enrique R. Lamadrid, Marc Simmons, and others, explore the impact of cultural interaction on various art forms including painting, sculpture, metalwork, textiles, architecture, furniture and performance and ceremonial arts. Over 150 art works and photographs gathered from museums across the country are testimony to the unique Southwestern aesthetic that developed from this dynamic cultural exchange. Published as companion to an exhibition at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico on display through September 30, 2010.

Superb Yokai images from the world's leading museums and private collections! Japan's vast pantheon of supernatural creatures includes demons (yokai), monsters, ogres (oni), ghosts (yurei) and magicians--mythical beings from folklore and popular culture which continue to thrill readers of traditional stories and manga today. This richly illustrated book by Andreas Marks, the leading authority on Japanese woodblock prints, presents authentic illustrations and descriptions of 100 different creatures, including: Bakeneko: Monster cats in human form who lick lamp oil and prey on humans born in the year of the Rat Han'nya: Female demons with sharp and pointed horns, metallic eyes and a smirking smile Hihi: Large ape-like monsters who live in the mountains and have superhuman strength, enabling them to kidnap and kill humans Mikoshi-nyudo: Yokai with an enormously extended necks who appear only at night And many more! The striking visual examples in this book are drawn from the rich canon of early Japanese prints, books, and paintings--sourced from leading museums, libraries and private collections worldwide. They show the "original" forms and appearances of the creatures which form the basis for all subsequent depictions. Also included are two long handscrolls from the Minneapolis Institute of Art (A Collection of Monsters and Night Parade of One Hundred Demons) which are reproduced here for the very first time. Prints and Paintings sourced from the following list of museums, libraries and private collections: Art Institute of Chicago Christie's, London & New York The Cleveland Museum of Art Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University Kyoto University, Main Library Library of Congress Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art Minneapolis Institute of Art National Museum of Japanese History Princeton University Library Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam Smithsonian Libraries

'A truly transformative read' Sunday Times STYLE 'More than ever, we need books like this' Jessica Seaton, Co-Founder of Toast and author of Gather, Cook, Feast A whole new way of looking at the world - and your life - inspired by centuries-old Japanese wisdom. Wabi sabi ("wah-bi sah-bi") is a captivating concept from Japanese aesthetics, which helps us to see beauty in imperfection, appreciate simplicity and accept the transient nature of all things. With roots in zen and the way of tea, the timeless wisdom of wabi sabi is more relevant than ever for modern life, as we search for new ways to approach life's challenges and seek meaning beyond materialism. Wabi sabi is a refreshing antidote to our fast-paced, consumption-driven world, which will encourage you to slow down, reconnect with nature, and be gentler on yourself. It will help you simplify everything, and concentrate on what really matters. From honouring the rhythm of the seasons to creating a welcoming home, from reframing failure to ageing with grace, wabi sabi will teach you to find more joy and inspiration throughout your perfectly imperfect life. This book is the definitive guide to applying the principles of wabi sabi to transform every area of your life, and finding happiness right where you are.

Using five case studies of contemporary art, this book uses ideas of systems and dispersion to understand identity and experience in late capitalism. This book considers five artists who exemplify contemporary art practice: Seth Price; Liam Gillick; Martin Creed; Hito Steyerl and Theaster Gates. Given the diversity of materials used in art today, once-traditional artistic mediums and practices have become obsolete in describing what artists do today. Francis Halsall argues that, in the face of this obsolescence, the ideas of system and dispersion become very useful in understanding contemporary art. That is, practitioners now can be seen to be using whatever systems of distribution and display are available to them as their creative mediums. The two central arguments are first that any understanding of what art is will always be underwritten by a related view of what a human being is; and second that these both have a particular character in late capitalism or, as is named here, the Age of Dispersion. The book will be of interest to scholars and students working in art history, contemporary art, studio art, and theories of systems and networks.

This study develops a theory of Indian art worlds that argues for the need to consider the different discursive formations and related strategic practices of an art world. In so doing, it develops the common notion of "art world" into a plurality of worlds. The author explores the art worlds of the Orisan patta paintings, an Indian art form that has seen a great revival since the early 1950s, due partly to increased national pride after independence and partly to the rise of mass tourism. Locally, the increasing popularity of these paintings has led to, and is reinforced by, a village in the district of Puri being designated a "crafts village" by the states government. Here the author examines the consequences of this increased popularity, paying particular attention to the encompassing local, regional and national discourses involved. In so doing, clashing Indian art worlds demonstrates that, while painters' local discourses are characterized by pragmatism, the discourses of regional and especially national elites are concerned with the exegesis of local paintings and their association with the great Sanskrit tradition. A central theme of the study focuses on the awards given for

The International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) in Leiden has compiled a bibliographic database documenting publications on South and Southeast Asian art and archaeology. Twenty editors and documentalists in Leiden, Colombo, Bangkok, Dharwad, and Jakarta have collected the material in this first volume, and over 1,000 records describe monographs, articles in monographs, and articles in periodicals including reviews and Ph.D. dissertations published in 1996 and 1997. The records are arranged geographically and according to subject: pre- and proto-history, historical archaeology, ancient and modern art history, material culture, epigraphy and paleography, numismatics and sigillography.

A sumptuous survey of over 300 women painters and their work spanning almost five centuries.

Great Women Painters is a groundbreaking book that reveals a richer and more varied telling of the story of painting. Featuring more than 300 artists from around the world, it includes both well-known women painters from history and today's most exciting rising stars.

Covering nearly 500 years of skill and innovation, this survey continues Phaidon's celebrated The Art Book series and reveals and champions a more diverse history of art, showcasing recently discovered and newly appreciated work and artists throughout its more than 300 pages and images.

Artists featured include: Hilma af Klint, Eileen Agar, Sofonisba Anguissola, Cecily Brown, Leonora Carrington, Mary Cassatt, Elaine de Kooning, Marlene Dumas, Nicole Eisenman, Jadé Fadojutimi, Helen Frankenthaler, Artemisia Gentileschi, Maggi Hambling, Carmen Herrera, Gwen John, Frida Kahlo, Tamara de Lempicka, Agnes Martin, Joan Mitchell, Alice Neel, Plautilla Nelli, Georgia O'Keeffe, Paula Rego, Bridget Riley, Jenny Saville, Dana Schutz, Lee Krasner, Yayoi Kusama

Along the Atlantic seaboard, from Scotland to Spain, are numerous rock carvings made four to five thousand years ago, whose interpretation poses a major challenge to the archaeologist.
Richard Bradley discusses the cultural settings of the rock carvings, the ways in which they can be interpreted in relation to ancient land use, the creation of ritual monuments and the burial of the dead. Integrating this fascinating yet little-known material into the mainstream of prehistoric studies, IRock Art and the Prehistory of Atlantic Europe demonstrates that these carvings played a fundamental role inthe organization of the prehistoric landscape.

Along the Atlantic seaboard, from Scotland to Spain, are numerous rock carvings made four to five thousand years ago, whose interpretation poses a major challenge to the archaeologist.
In the first full-length treatment of the subject, based largely on new fieldwork, Richard Bradley argues that these carvings should be interpreted as a series of symbolic messages that are shared between monuments, artefacts and natural places in the landscape. He discusses the cultural setting of the rock carvings and the ways in which they can be interpreted in relation to ancient land use, the creation of ritual monuments and the burial of the dead. Integrating this fascinating yet little-known material into the mainstream of prehistoric studies, Richard Bradley demonstrates that these carvings played a fundamental role in the organization of the prehistoric landscape.

The Davis Museum's groundbreaking curatorial project, Art__Latin__America: Against the Survey, reconsiders conventional frameworks for understanding, exhibiting, and discussing Latin American and Latinx art. This illustrated volume, published with the exhibition, features 70 essays by leading scholars and specialists from across the Americas on an exceptional selection of art works, many never before seen or published. The Davis collection includes more than 550 works connected to the region known as "Latin America"-as site of production, place of origin, or point of reference. The exhibition features 150 highlights, in all media, by over 100 artists from across the Americas, including the US. The works are organized into eight compelling themes that reveal particular strengths of the collection: Identity and Territory, City and Country, War and Loss, Protest and Resistance, Workers and Farmers, Models and Mothers, Saints and Rituals, and Geometry and Gesture. Contrary to familiar museological conventions of the chronological survey or geographic overview, Art__Latin__America includes works from radically different times and places, juxtaposing the familiar and the unknown, the expected and unexpected, generating new visual conversations and challenging viewers and readers to rethink preexisting canons and narratives. In fact, the project proposes an expansive definition of the very term "Latin American." The result is unlike any other book on the topic.

Cultural creativity in China between 1796 and 1912 demonstrated extraordinary resilience at a time of intense external and internal warfare and socioeconomic turmoil. Innovation can be seen in material culture (including print, painting, calligraphy, textiles, fashion, jewellery, ceramics, lacquer, glass, arms and armour, silver, and photography) during a century in which China’s art, literature, crafts and technology faced unprecedented exposure to global influences. 1796 – the official end of the reign of the Qianlong emperor – is viewed as the close of the ‘high Qing’ and the start of a period of protracted crisis. In 1912, the last emperor, Puyi, abdicated after the revolution of 1911, bringing to an end some 2,000 years of dynastic rule and making way for the republic. Until recently the 19th century in China has been often defined – and dismissed – as an era of cultural decline. Built on new research from a four-year project supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and with chapter contributions by international scholars from leading institutions, this beautifully illustrated, 336-page book edited by Jessica Harrison-Hall and Julia Lovell sets out a fresh understanding of this important era. It presents a stunning array of objects and artworks to create a detailed visual account of responses to war, technology, urbanisation, political transformations and external influences.