Beautifully illustrated with an array of Japanese art, this book offers a closer look at the rich variety of styles, decoration, motifs and patterns - and the sheer craftsmanship - of Japanese culture. Opening with an introduction that asks 'What is Japanese art?', this book presents a selection of striking and fascinating art from Japan, organised into a series of thematic chapters in which the author provides cultural context while pointing out exceptional features. By showing the complete artwork alongside enlarged details - sometimes virtually invisible to the naked eye - intriguing comparisons can be drawn between seemingly unrelated pieces. The selection of illustrations evokes the hand and eye of the most accomplished Japanese craftsmen and women past and present. Offering a superb insight into a wide array of Japanese art, the book highlights - close up and in colour - outstanding examples of design and craft in prints, paintings and screens, metalwork, ceramics, wood, stone and lacquer and will provide endless creative inspiration.

The V&A has the UK's largest permanent display of Japanese art, housing objects from the 6th century to the present day. Collecting Japanese objects from its founding in 1852, the Museum has played a significant role in bringing the art of Japan to the attention of designers, manufacturers and the British public. This tradition continues to the present day, and in this new book some of the world's leading researchers in the field bring their attention to the V&A's unparalleled collection. Ten chapters focus on subjects including religion and ritual; samurai military and aristocratic culture; the highly aestheticized tea ceremony, which has been a notable feature of Japanese culture from the Medieval period to the present day; Edo-period urban fashions including lacquer and fashionable dress; Ukiyo-e and the graphic arts (prints, illustrated books, paintings, screens and contemporary photography); exchanges with the West and participation in world exhibitions, right up to modern and contemporary crafts and product design, including high-tech design.

Over thousands of years, the art of Chinese painting has evolved, while also staying loyal to its traditional roots. Despite various schools of thought, styles and techniques, three primary categories have emerged across the discipline: landscape, figure and bird-and-flower. Using fine ink and water brush strokes on paper or silk, Chinese artists have developed a unique style-one that's famous throughout the world. This book highlights 50 Chinese paintings, pulled from museum collections in China and around the world, including: British Museum, London Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas Osaka City Museum of Art, Osaka Palace Museum, Beijing Palace Museum, Taipei Shanghai Museum, Shanghai The paintings shown are representative of the categories, historical periods and styles of this artistic tradition. Detailed professional interpretations and notes allow readers to learn more about the pieces themselves, the artists and the context in which they were created. Plus, photo enlargements of key details get readers up close to these masterpieces. As one of the world's oldest continuous art forms, Chinese painting has a truly special history. This comprehensive guide allows modern readers to travel through time, experiencing important moments in Chinese history and society through beautiful pieces of artwork.

This book traces the intimate connections between Britain and China throughout the nineteenth century and argues for China's central impact on the British visual imagination. Chang brings together an unusual group of primary sources to investigate how nineteenth-century Britons looked at and represented Chinese people, places, and things, and how, in the process, ethnographic, geographic, and aesthetic representations of China shaped British writers' and artists' vision of their own lives and experiences. For many Britons, China was much more than a geographical location; it was also a way of seeing and being seen that could be either embraced as creative inspiration or rejected as contagious influence. In both cases, the idea of China's visual difference stood in negative contrast to Britain's evolving sense of the visual and literary real. To better grasp what Romantic and Victorian writers, artists, and architects were doing at home, we must also understand the foreign "objects" found in their midst and what they were looking at abroad.

History of Art in Japan is a fully illustrated overview of Japanese art, written by one of Japan's most distinguished art historians. This masterful account of the country's exceptional cultural heritage sheds light on how Japan has nurtured distinctive aesthetics, prominent artists, and movements that have achieved global influence and popularity. A leading authority on Japanese art history, Tsuji Nobuo discusses works ranging from the Jomon period to contemporary art, from earthenware figurines in 13,000 BCE to manga, anime, and modern subcultures. He explains crucial aspects of Japan's many artistic mediums and styles-including paintings, ukiyo-e, ceramics, sculpture, armor, gardens, and architecture-covering thousands of years. Drawing on newly discovered archaeological findings and the latest research, the book examines Japanese art in various contexts, including Buddhist and religious influences, aristocratic and popular aesthetics, and interactions with the world. Generously illustrated with hundreds of full-color images, maps, and figures, History of Art in Japan is an indispensable resource for all those interested in this multifaceted history, illuminating countless aspects of Japanese art for scholars and general readers alike.

Beautifully illustrated with an array of Chinese art, this book offers a closer look at the rich variety of styles, decoration, motifs and patterns - and the sheer craftsmanship - of Chinese culture. The book is arranged thematically and opens by taking a look at the essential nature and meaning of Chinese art. Chapters that follow place the objects and designs into their cultural context. Each of the intriguing and beautiful artworks is then explored further with amazing close-up views, allowing the reader to get even closer than a behind-the-scenes museum or gallery tour. By showing the complete artwork alongside a detail, the authors provide a fresh view of each object which often allows intriguing comparisons between seemingly unrelated objects and media. The selection of art and details evoke the hand and eye of the most talented Chinese craftsmen past and present. Ideal as a spur to creative inspiration or as souvenir or introduction to a museum visit, this stunning book offers an alternative view of the wide range of Chinese art. The book highlights in close-up and gorgeous colour the most breathtaking aspects of workmanship, materials and design found in stunning ceramics, lacquer, jade, metalwork, brush painting and woodblock printing.

Collected articles on Iranian art from the Qajar dynasty. The thirteen articles in this volume were originally given as presentations at the symposium of the same name organized in June 2018 by the Musee du Louvre and the Musee du Louvre-Lens in conjunction with the exhibition The Empire of Roses: Masterpieces of 19th Century Persian Art. The exhibition explored the art of Iran in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, while the nation was under the rule of the Qajar dynasty. The symposium set out to present research on previously unknown and unpublished objects from this rich period of art history. This volume, published with the Louvre Museum in France, is divided into four sections. The first, "Transitions and Transmissions," is dedicated to the arts of painting, illumination, and lithography. The focus of the second section, entitled "The Image Revealed," also considers works on paper, looking at new themes and techniques. "The Material World" examines the use of materials such as textiles, carpets, and armor. The articles in the final section discuss the history of two groups of artifacts acquired by their respective museums.

"Presented alongside Hiroshige's prints, with descriptions and context, Delord's work offers an absorbing contemplation of Japan's past and present via one legendary travel route, and shows how thoroughly upended our surroundings have been in what was, in wider perspective, only a short time." -- The New York Times Journey along the famed Tokaido Road--an ancient thoroughfare with a modern twist. The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido is the best-known work of the great 19th century Japanese woodblock artist Utagawa Hiroshige. The series of 53 masterful woodblock prints depicts stops along the ancient Tokaido Road--which, from the eleventh to the nineteenth century, was the main thoroughfare between Tokyo and Kyoto. Though the road itself is now submerged under Japan's twenty-first-century urban landscape, French artist Philippe Delord set out to see if he could find the original locations, with just a moped, sketchbook, watercolors and a book of Hiroshige's prints. Hiroshige's Japan allows readers to make the journey alongside Delord, venturing from Tokyo and Mount Fuji to mountain passes and rugged coastlines. Inside are all 53 original scenery prints made by Hiroshige, alongside their modern-day equivalent by Delord. A lively commentary about his experiences as he tries to locate each of the 53 scenes (without speaking Japanese!) offers readers an insightful, and often humorous, look into both modern and historical Japan. Part travelogue, part work of art, this book is sure to delight armchair travelers, history buffs, art enthusiasts and Japanophiles alike!

The Mongol period (1206-1368) marked a major turning point of exchange - culturally, politically, and artistically - across Eurasia. The wide-ranging international exchange that occurred during the Mongol period is most apparent visually through the inclusion of Mongol motifs in textile, paintings, ceramics, and metalwork, among other media. Eiren Shea investigates how a group of newly-confederated tribes from the steppe conquered the most sophisticated societies in existence in less than a century, creating a courtly idiom that permanently changed the aesthetics of China and whose echoes were felt across Central Asia, the Middle East, and even Europe. This book will be of interest to scholars in art history, fashion design, and Asian studies.

A History of Chinese Art is a lavishly illustrated work covering the history of Chinese art from the Pre-Qin period (pre-221 BCE) to the early twentieth century in two volumes. Compiled by leading art historians at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, the volumes offer a Chinese perspective on the rich artistic tradition that has flourished throughout China's long history, from ancient pottery and tomb painting to furniture, sculpture, ceramics, calligraphy and fine art. Discussion is supported by full-colour illustrations throughout, sourced from collections in China and around the world, including recent archaeological discoveries. A History of Chinese Art provides an introductory point of reference for those with an interest in Chinese history, culture and art.

This book attempts to expand the grounds and methodology of studying Japanese art history by focusing on the conditions, procedures, events, and social interplay that characterized the production of paintings in late-fifteenth-century Japan.
Though the book's ultimate concerns are art historical, its analysis also draws heavily from the insights of sociology and social history. At its core is a fresh examination of the major primary documents of the period in an attempt to liberate the study from assumptions long embedded in the historiography of late medieval Japanese painting history. Early chapters describe documents, methods, basic sites, and conditions of painting before turning to the main contribution of the book, painting considered as a body of social practices. The production of painting in the late fifteenth century was profoundly social, dynamically related to the circumstances of its agents. Painters, advisors, assistants, clients, and others did not exert themselves simply to bring paintings into existence. They sought advantages (such as wealth and prestige), met obligations, and satisfied the demands of custom.
Surviving documents from the period present rich evidence of the involvement of such persons in the imperial court, the Ashikaya-Gozan community, the great temples of Nara, and the halls of local lords. The author takes into account the patterns of expectation that existed at the various sites but does not construe them as static and mechanically determined. Rather, he shows that expectations evolved in response to changed conditions. Although this study specifically addresses the last quarter of the fifteenth century, it can aid future research in Japanese painting practice in other eras by serving as a model of how new interpretations can emerge from close documentary investigation.

The Oriental Obsession begins in the early sixteenth century with Cardinal Wolsey waiting two years for the delivery of sixty rare Turkey carpets from Venice, and ends in the age of the great exhibitions and emporia on both sides of the Atlantic, before and after 1900, when Islamic objects were seen, appreciated, and bought by millions of the public. The book is concerned with a subject which has not been treated before - the history over four centuries of Islamic artistic traditions and European ideas of Islam as they affected the visual arts of the west and particularly the English-speaking peoples. Studies of individual aspects have been made previously, but this is the first time that an attempt has been made to consider the subject as a whole. The geographical purview extends from Moorish Spain in the west to British India in the east and, besides architecture, the activities that are involved include painting, ceramics, textiles, metalwork, furniture and bookcrafts.

- The first volume to explore the staggering collection of Jane and Kito de Boer- Functions as an introduction to Indian modernism, with strong representations of several individual artists as well as major movementsModern Indian Painting presents a survey of Indian painting from the late 19th century to the present day, drawn from the private collection of Jane and Kito de Boer remarkable for its broad historical scope and wide range of artists. The book clearly delineates major developments over a long period of time, while contextualizing them with previously unpublished examples by major artists. The first part of the book features the de Boers talking about their passion for India and Indian art. The second part presents a history of modern Indian painting, with essays on the Bengal School, the so-called 'Dutch Bengal' artists, the Calcutta naturalists, the portrait painters of the Bombay School in the early 20th century, the Progressive Artists Group and the post-Independence artists of Bengal. The de Boer collection also contains strong representations of a few individual artists, such as Chittaprosad, Ganesh Pyne, Ramachandran and Broota, whose works are explored through essays and interviews. The fact that many of these chapters draw almost exclusively on the de Boer collection is a testament to its incredible size and breadth. In this volume, we hope to show how the collection takes a dispassionate view of the global status of Indian art, while at the same time revealing a commitment and long-term engagement with the country and its creativity. With contributions from Partha Mitter, Giles Tillotson, Yashodhara Dalmia, Sona Datta, Sanjay Kumar Mallik and Rob Dean.

Since its small screen debut in 1982, Macross has remained one of most influential mecha anime of all time. Longtime franchise illustrator Hidetaka Tenjin captures the high-flying action of the series' iconic "variable fighters" like no other artist through his hyper-realistic illustrations for model kits, magazines, promotional materials, and more. This volume gathers Tenjin's illustrations from the eras of Super Dimension Fortress Macross: Flash Back 2012, Super Dimension Fortress Macross II, Macross Plus, Macross 7, Macross Zero, and the Macross Frontier TV series.

My Generation is a striking and appealing new volume that presents 75 artworks by 27 young Chinese artists, all born after 1976 after the end of the Cultural Revolution. Covering all media and types of production, their work opens a window onto a new China, a society that has undergone rapid industrialisation and globalisation in the past two decades. Artists and collectives featured include Birdhead, Chi Peng, Chen Ke, Chen Wei, Cui Jie, Double Fly, Guo Hongwei, Hu Xiaoyun, Huang Ran, Irrelevant Commission, Jin Shan, Li Qing, Liang Yuanwei, Liang Yue, Liu Di, Lu Fang, Lu Yang, Ma Qiusha, Made In, Qiu Xiaofei, Song Kun, Shi Zhiying, Sun Xun, Wang Yuyang, Yan Xing, Zhang Ding, Zhou Yilun. Contents of the book: Foreward by Todd Smith, Director, Tampa Museum of Art, Florida; Curator's Preface & Acknowledgements by Barbara Pollack; Young, Gifted and Chinese by Barbara Pollack; Essay 2 by Li Zhenhua; Main Catalogue/Plates section: 75 artworks; Brief captions for comparative images 1-para; Artist biographies; Selected Exhibitions and Publications; Notes on curator; Index; Photo credits.

A look at the painting traditions of northwestern India in the eighteenth century, and what they reveal about the political and artistic changes of the era In the long eighteenth century, artists from Udaipur, a city of lakes in northwestern India, specialized in depicting the vivid sensory ambience of its historic palaces, reservoirs, temples, bazaars, and durbars. As Mughal imperial authority weakened by the late 1600s and the British colonial economy became paramount by the 1830s, new patrons and mobile professionals reshaped urban cultures and artistic genres across early modern India. The Place of Many Moods explores how Udaipur's artworks-monumental court paintings, royal portraits, Jain letter scrolls, devotional manuscripts, cartographic artifacts, and architectural drawings-represent the period's major aesthetic, intellectual, and political shifts. Dipti Khera shows that these immersive objects powerfully convey the bhava-the feel, emotion, and mood-of specific places, revealing visions of pleasure, plenitude, and praise. These memorialized moods confront the ways colonial histories have recounted Oriental decadence, shaping how a culture and time are perceived. Illuminating the close relationship between painting and poetry, and the ties among art, architecture, literature, politics, ecology, trade, and religion, Khera examines how Udaipur's painters aesthetically enticed audiences of courtly connoisseurs, itinerant monks, and mercantile collectives to forge bonds of belonging to real locales in the present and to long for idealized futures. Their pioneering pictures sought to stir such emotions as love, awe, abundance, and wonder, emphasizing the senses, spaces, and sociability essential to the efficacy of objects and expressions of territoriality. The Place of Many Moods uncovers an influential creative legacy of evocative beauty that raises broader questions about how emotions and artifacts operate in constituting history and subjectivity, politics and place.

The art of Japanese woodblock printing, known as ukiyo-e ("pictures of the floating world"), reflects the rich history and way of life in Japan hundreds of years ago. Ukiyo-e: The Art of the Japanese Print takes a thematic approach to this iconic Japanese art form, considering prints by subject matter: geisha and courtesans, kabuki actors, sumo wrestlers, erotica, nature, historical subjects and even images of foreigners in Japan. An artist himself, author Frederick Harris--a well-known American collector who lived in Japan for 50 years--pays special attention to the methods and materials employed in Japanese printmaking. The book traces the evolution of ukiyo-e from its origins in metropolitan Edo (Tokyo) art culture as black and white illustrations, to delicate two-color prints and multicolored designs. Advice to admirers on how to collect, care for, view and buy Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock prints rounds out this book of charming, carefully selected prints.

Hokusai created sublime works during the last thirty years of his life, right up to his death at the age of ninety. Publications have hitherto presented his long career as a chronological sequence. This book takes a fresh approach based on innovative scholarship: thematic groupings of works are related to the major spiritual and artistic quests of Hokusai's life. Hokusai's personal beliefs are studied here through major brush paintings, drawings, woodblock prints and illustrated books. The book gives due attention to the contribution of Hokusai's daughter Eijo (Oi), an accomplished artist in her own right. Hokusai continually explored the mutability and minutiae of natural phenomena in his art. His late subjects and styles were based on a mastery of eclectic Japanese, Chinese and European techniques and an encyclopaedic knowledge of nature, myth, and history. Mount Fuji was the most significant model for Hokusai in his quest for immortality. This collection of Hokusai's works draws on the finest to be found in Japan and around the world, making this the most important publication for years on Hokusai, and a uniquely valuable overview of the artist's late career.

Illuminates the rich history of Asian Art from ancient times to the present Asian Art provides students with an accessible introduction to the history of Asian Art. Students will gain an understanding of the emergence and evolution of Asian art in all its diversity. Using a range of analytical skills, readers will learn to recognize patterns of continuity and change between the arts and cultures of various regions comprising Asia. Images set within their broader cultural and religious backgrounds provides students with important contextual information to understand and decode artworks. MySearchLab is a part of the Neave / Blanchard / Sardar program. Research and writing tools, including access to academic journals, help students explore Asian Art in even greater depth. To provide students with flexibility, students can download the eText to a tablet using the free Pearson eText app. Note: This is the standalone book if you want the book/access card order the ISBN below: 020599685X / 9780205996858 History of Asian Art Plus MySearchLab with Pearson eText -- Access Card Package Package consists of: 0205239927 / 9780205239924 MySearchLab with Pearson eText -- Valuepack Access Card 0205837638 / 9780205837632 History of Asian Art

For at least 150 years, Thomas Chippendale has been synonymous with beautifully made eighteenth-century furniture in a variety of styles - Rococo, Chinese, Gothic and Neoclassical. Born in Otley, Yorkshire, in 1718, Chippendale rose to fame because of his revolutionary design book, The Gentleman and Cabinet Maker's Director, published in 1754. That same year he set up his famous workshops in St Martin's Lane, creating some of the most magnificent furniture ever made in Britain. This beautifully illustrated history focuses on Britain's most famous furniture maker and designer, including the worldwide phenomenon 'Chippendale style' that became popular in Europe, North America and Asia after his death in 1779. Today, his influence lives on with the ongoing production of 'Chippendale' furniture, while the eighteenth-century originals are selling for millions at auction.