The pursuit of antiquity was important for scholarly artists in constructing their knowledge of history and cultural identity in late imperial China. By examining versatile trends within paintings in modern China, this book questions the extent to which historical relics have been used to represent the ethnic identity of modern Chinese art. In doing so, this book asks: did the antiquarian movements ultimately serve as a deliberate tool for re-writing Chinese art history in modern China? In searching for the public meaning of inventive private collecting activity, Appropriating Antiquity in Modern Chinese Painting draws on various modes of artistic creation to address how the use of antiquities in early 20th-century Chinese art both produced and reinforced the imaginative links between ancient civilization and modern lives in the late Qing dynasty. Further exploring how these social and cultural transformations were related to the artistic exchanges happening at the time between China, Japan and the West, the book successfully analyses how modernity was translated and appropriated at the turn of the 20th century, throughout Asia and further afield.

These fine-quality tear-out sheets feature 12 Asian-inspired prints, suitable for craft projects as well as for gift wrapping. The shimmering silver color is highlighted throughout, used in contrast with dramatic black and classic white, with pops of pink for an element of fun. The variety of papers means they are useful for any occasion--whether a holiday, birthday, anniversary or "just because." An introduction details the history and meaning behind the designs, giving you a better idea of their origin. Some wrapping ideas are also provided for inspiration to maximize your creativity. This book includes: 12 sheets of 18 x 24 inch (45 x 61 cm) tear-out paper 12 unique patterns Perforations so the papers are easy to tear out Wrapping tips & tricks 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.

En todas las areas, las personas con voluntad de cambio y desarrollo social utilizan las formas artisticas y la creatividad para conmover la esfera publica, atraer la atencion, tomar poder sobre los espacios urbanos y generar nuevos lenguajes y voces sociales. El activismo artistico involucra a personalidades creadoras de todas las culturas, se enraiza en ideas politicas esenciales, moviliza ideas de cambio e igualdad social e interesa a las generaciones mas jovenes, en un espiritu que rompe las barreras academicas y las distinciones profesionales. La creatividad activista con frecuencia ha sido percibida como proxima a la categoria del outsider art que engloba el arte producido por no artistas donde el contexto especifico seria la protesta politica y/o la experimentacion social. El artivismo tiene sus raices en las vanguardias artisticas (dada, futurismo, surrealismo, etc.) y el posterior desarrollo y auge en la decada de los anos sesenta y setenta del pasado siglo (performance, happening, body art, land art, video art o arte conceptual), que, muchas veces, nace de una especie de desmaterializacion del objeto artistico. Este libro se centra en practicas de creatividad activista de Espana, Chile, Peru, Reino Unido, Colombia, etc. que tienen que ver con los actuales fenomenos de crisis discursiva, ideologica, politica, economica, financiera. Entender el artivismo, un concepto que, nada mas pronunciarlo, despierta un amplio abanico de sensaciones.

-This volume offers an analysis of the work of the Gond artist Jangarh Singh Shyam -The author breaks down the too-simple narratives of 'tribal' and 'contemporary' and how they apply to this folk artist Before any sound critical framework could be evolved around the phenomenal artist Jangarh Singh Shyam as the originator of an extraordinary individualistic idiom of painting, ruthless market forces regrettably came to dominate his art and Jangarh himself became their first casualty. While trying to finish a large commission at a museum in Japan under adverse circumstances, Jangarh committed suicide in 2001. He was 40. A whole range of conditions, events and mediations associated with Jangarh's life and his art practice has since remained underexplored. This book is a first attempt to construct an equitable account of the formation of his prodigious artistic body of work that founded his legacy and grew into a movement. As a prime critical analysis of Jangarh Singh Shyam's oeuvre, this book also serves as a model framework for the study of a contemporary individual folk and tribal artist. The book probes the efficacy of extra-cultural interventions into an individual artist's operative and relatively well-grounded indigenous cultural tradition, and asks how the latter interacts with the new, while intentionally reinventing itself. This volume is published in association with the Museum of Art and Photography (MAP), Bangalore.

Ending centuries of isolation, the Meiji era opened Japan to the world in the late nineteenth century, revealing a rich and sophisticated culture. Largely unknown until then, it proved an object of fascination to the West, and the delicacy of its art inspired such figures as Van Gogh, Manet, Whistler and the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. French painter Felix Elie Regamey (1844 1907) was one of the few Europeans who had travelled to Japan, and his deep respect and understanding of the country's art and customs soon established him as an expert. Appearing first in French in 1891, his observations were published in this English translation in 1893. Offering an artist's perspective on Japan and its mores, it also contains 100 illustrations drawn by the author using Japanese techniques. Readers will find much of interest in this valuable contribution to the study of Japanese culture.

Originally published in 1938, this book provides a history of the variety of forms of Buddhist art that grew up in Thailand from the 1st century AD to the end of the 16th century. Le May draws on his experience as part of the British Consular Service in Thailand to focus primarily on sculpture, how the trade routes in South and South-East Asia brought Thailand into contact with a variety of artistic styles and how the different areas of the country adapted these styles for their own use. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the history of Thai art specifically or of Eastern art more generally.

This study of modern Japan engages the fields of art history, literature, and cultural studies, seeking to understand how the "beautiful woman" (bijin) emerged as a symbol of Japanese culture during the Meiji period (1868-1912). With origins in the formative period of modern Japanese art and aesthetics, the figure of the bijin appeared across a broad range of visual and textual media: photographs, illustrations, prints, and literary works, as well as fictional, critical, and journalistic writing. It eventually constituted a genre of painting called bijinga (paintings of beauties). Aesthetic Life examines the contributions of writers, artists, scholars, critics, journalists, and politicians to the discussion of the bijin and to the production of a national discourse on standards of Japanese beauty and art. As Japan worked to establish its place in the world, it actively presented itself as an artistic nation based on these ideals of feminine beauty. The book explores this exemplary figure for modern Japanese aesthetics and analyzes how the deceptively ordinary image of the beautiful Japanese woman-an iconic image that persists to this day-was cultivated as a "national treasure," synonymous with Japanese culture.

Shafik Gabr started his collection of Orientalist art in 1993 by acquiring a painting by Ludwig Deutsch entitled Egyptian Priest Entering a Temple. His collection is today amongst the very few in the world to count such a large number of works by the famed Austrian artist as well as some of the finest examples of the greatest masters of Orientalism such as Jean-Leon Gerome, Frederick Arthur Bridgman, Gustav Bauernfeind and many others. Important for both scholars and art lovers, the Shafik Gabr Collection impresses us with its richness and variety. It includes masterpieces by some of the major nineteenth and twentieth century Orientalists found in private hands today and demonstrates the owner's appreciation of differences as well as similarities in European visions of the versatile and diverse Orient. The selection of paintings in this collection illustrates the owner's evolving taste, his relationship with the world of Orientalism and his interest in its European expression. This Orientalist collection is a harmonious "kaleidoscope" of genres, presenting the Orient through a variety of forms, styles and techniques, and revealing to the European viewer the mysterious East with its bright colours, its exotic and leisurely lifestyle. Over the years, it has become one of the most complete and magnificent tributes dedicated to the world of Orientalism and as such some of the most renowned experts in this field have contributed to this book in order to mark its importance in the art world. Lavishly illustrated, Masterpieces of Orientalist Art: The Shafik Gabr Collection also includes essays by distinguished Orientalist scholars.

A free open access ebook is available upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org. From fashion sketches of smartly dressed Shanghai dandies in the 1920s, to multipanel drawings of refugee urbanites during the war against Japan, to panoramic pictures of anti-American propaganda rallies in the early 1950s, the polymorphic cartoon-style art known as manhua helped define China's modern experience. Manhua Modernity offers a richly illustrated, deeply contextualized analysis of these illustrations across the lively pages of popular pictorial magazines that entertained, informed, and mobilized a nation through a half century of political and cultural transformation. In this compelling media history, John Crespi argues that manhua must be understood in the context of the pictorial magazines that hosted them, and in turn these magazines must be seen as important mediators of the modern urban experience. Even as times changed-from interwar-era consumerism to war-time mobilization to Mao-style propaganda-the art form adapted to stay on the cutting edge of both politics and style.

"Chinese Art" examines the meanings behind the hundreds of common motifs and symbols found in all forms of Chinese art, exposing their linguistic, metaphoric or historic origins, common usage, and diverse applications. Plants, flowers, real and imaginary animals and birds, reptiles, fish and amphibians, colors, numbers, and a myriad of inanimate images and personages communicate auspicious and benevolent messages in the Chinese vocabulary of decorative art. Many of the symbols are easily recognizable, and thanks to China's love of the past, reappear almost continuously.
A perfect reference for collectors, museum-goers, docents, students of Chinese art, and anyone else with a serious interest in the culture and history of China, the book includes both Chinese and Pinyin text, over 630 illustrations (including references to on-line collections), an extensive index in both Chinese and English, a bibliography, and a list of recommended museums and other places to visit with interesting collections of Chinese art.

This practical and supremely useful manual is the first comprehensive, hands-on introduction to Japanese ceramics. The Japanese ceramics tradition is without compare in its technical and stylistic diversity, its expressive content, and the level of appreciation it enjoys, both in Japan and around the world. "Inside Japanese Ceramics "focuses on tools, materials, and procedures, and how all of these have influenced the way traditional Japanese ceramics look and feel. A true primer, it concentrates on the basics: setting up a workshop, pot-forming techniques, decoration, glazes, and kilns and firing. It introduces the major methods and styles that are taught in most Japanese workshops, including several representative and well-known wares: Bizen, Mino, Karatsu, Hagi, and Kyoto.
While presenting the time-tested techniques of the tradition, author Richard L. Wilson also accommodates modern technologies and materials as appropriate. Wilson has gathered a wealth of information on two fronts--as a researcher of Japanese pottery and art history, and as a potter who has studied and worked for years with master Japanese potters. In his introduction, he provides a short history of Japanese ceramics, and in closing he looks beyond traditional methods toward ways in which Western potters can make Japanese methods their own. Richly illustrated with 24 color plates, over 100 black-and-white photographs, and over 70 instructive line-drawings, "Inside Japanese Ceramics "is indispensable for potters as well as connoisseurs and collectors of Japanese ceramics. Above all, it is an invitation to participate--to study, make, touch, and use the exquisite products of the Japanese ceramic tradition.

Zhao Wenbing provides an accessible, illustrated introduction to the sculptural art of China, including the magnificent Terracotta Army, Buddhist sculpture, tomb carvings, architectural sculpture, exchange with foreign cultures and Chinese sculpture today. Chinese Sculpture takes the reader through the unique aesthetic features of sculpture in China, arguing that the evolution of this sculpture parallels the development of Chinese culture through history.

Han Jiantang provides an accessible, illustrated introduction to the fascinating history and development of the written Chinese language, from pictograms painted on rocks and pottery and ancient inscriptions to the refined art of calligraphy and the characters in use today. Chinese Characters will appeal to readers looking for an introduction to the rich but complex Chinese language and to all those interested in the relationship between language and culture.

Traditional Chinese painting was fundamentally an abstract art form. Artists did not seek to represent direct copies of the natural world; rather, traditional Chinese paintings sought to portray the harmony between the natural world and human emotion, evoking ancient Chinese philosophy. From ancient scroll paintings to Buddhist grottoes to modern art, Lin Ci explores the history, theory and development of distinctive styles of Chinese painting, illustrated throughout with full color examples of these unique, treasured works of art.

Ancient Chinese architecture is not only a source of reference for modern Chinese design, it has also had an international influence and attracted global attention. Moreover, architectural remains in China reveal much about the history of this ancient civilisation. The palaces, gardens, temples, tombs and dwellings of the Chinese people reflect, for example, the military achievements of the Qin emperor, the spirit of the Tang Dynasty, the palace intrigues of the Ming Dynasty, the diversity of Chinese culture through the ages and the skill of countless generations of craftsmen and labourers. Chinese Architecture provides an accessible, illustrated introduction to this essential part of China's cultural heritage.

Featuring 14 artists and one artist-collaborative duo, What About the Art?: Contemporary Art from China examines the contributions of Chinese artists to the international canon of contemporary art, focusing on their innovations. Hu Xiangqian, Hu Zhijun, Xu Bing, Jenova Chen, Li Liao, Jennifer Wen Ma, Zhou Chunya, Yang Fudong, Liang Shaoji, Xu Zhen, Liu Xiaodong, Liu Wei, Wang Jianwei, Huang Yong Ping and Sun Yuan and Peng Yu all have their works showcased in this book.

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) is one of the best known of all Japanese woodblock print designers. He is particularly renowned for his landscape prints, which are among the most frequently reproduced of all Japanese works of art. Hiroshige's landscape prints were hugely successful both in Japan and in the West. Their unusual compositions, humorous depictions of people involved in everyday activities and masterly expression of weather, light and seasons, proved enormously influential on many leading European artists. Aimed at a general audience, this book illustrates and discusses 53 Hiroshige landscape prints in the Ashmolean Museum's collection and explores their historical background. It gives a concise introduction to Hiroshige's life and career within the context of Japan's booming nineteenth-century woodblock print industry and explores the development of the landscape print as a new genre in this period. It also discusses and illustrates the process and techniques of traditional Japanese woodblock print-making.

HOKUSAI'S BRUSH is a companion to the Freer Gallery of Art's yearlong exhibition that celebrates the artist's fruitful career. The Freer, home to the world's largest collection of paintings by Japanese artist, Katsushika Hokusai, has put on view for the first time in a decade his incredible and rarely seen sketches, drawings and paintings. Together with essays that explore his life and career, HOKUSAI'S BRUSH offers an in-depth breakdown of each painting, providing amazing commentary that highlight Hokusai's mastery and detail. While best known for his woodblock print series "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji" and particularly the widely recognisable "The Great Wave off Kanagawa," Hokusai is said to have produced 30,000 pieces of art. He lived until he was ninety years old and his last words were reportedly to say that if heaven were to grant him another five or ten years, then he could become a true painter. Every stunning page of HOKUSAI'S BRUSH is a testament to the humility of that statement, emphasising his artistry and skill, the likes of which shaped the Impressionist movement by inspiring artists such as Monet, Degas and van Gogh.

There is a vast collection of Indian natural history drawings in the Library of the Natural History Museum, London. Spanning a period of more than two hundred years, from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries, they depict the rich variety of animals, birds and insects to be found in India and the magnificent flora of the different regions. The Art of India presents many of these beautiful images, from fine botanical and zoological illustrations through to depictions of colourful artefacts and trinkets purchased in local markets. The artworks originate from a variety of sources that include individual artists and collectors, as well as organised studies of Indian natural history in the pursuit of science, commerce and politics. They were produced by European and Indian artists who worked to advance the understanding of Indian natural history by recording, describing, classifying and naming the flora and fauna of the country.

Introducing the major works and currents of Joseon painting, Pathways to Korean Culture explores the various social, cultural and political perspectives of this dynamic, dynastic era (1392-1910), uncovering the fascinating history of more than 500 years of Korean art and visual culture. In this book Burglind Jungmann examines an array of themes and aspects of the art world of the Joseon dynasty, from the ink painting tradition of the literati elite to the role of women as both patrons and artists. She looks at the various roles of paintings in Joseon Korea, where they were as important for foreign exchange as they were as a means of escapism, and she explores the dynasty's overarching Confucian ideology, which was constantly at odds with the culture's Buddhist projects. The book investigates select clusters of objects to shed light on the multiple layers of personal, intellectual, aesthetic, religious, sociopolitical and economic contexts in which they are embedded.From palace decorations to established artworks, this book takes a sweeping, comprehensive look at Korean culture and history, exploring its engagement with the West, its political affiliations with China and its unique range of artists.