What can philosophy reveal about painting and how might it deepen our understanding of this enduring art form? Philosophy of Painting investigates the complex relationship between the painted surface and the depicted subject, opening up current debates to address questions concerning the historicality of art. Embracing contemporary painting, it examines topics such as the post-medium condition and the digital divide, and the work of artists such as Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Amy Sillman and Katharina Grosse. Illustrated with 24 colour plates and highly readable throughout, Philosophy of Painting provides a philosophically rigorous defence of the relevance of painting in the 21st century, making an original contribution to the major ideas informing painting as an art. Here is a clear and coherent account of the contemporary significance of painting and the pressures and possibilities that distinguish it from other art forms.

Jao Tsung-i was China's last great traditional man of letters, polymath, and pioneer of comparative humanistic inquiry during Hong Kong's global heyday. Dunhuang is China's traditional northwest frontier and overland conduit of exchange with the Old World. In this volume, Jao proposes an entirely new school of Chinese landscape painting, reconsiders Dunhuang's oldest manuscripts as its newest research field, and explores topics ranging from comparative religion to medieval multimedia.