No contemporary artist has succeeded so thoroughly in blending classical Chinese art and modern abstract art as Cao Jun, who has exhibited widely in China, as well as at the Louvre. Accompanying an exhibition at the McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, this volume presents the art of Cao Jun for the first time in the United States. Featuring the artist's early wild animal paintings, to his landscapes, to recent explorations of space depicted abstractly, the book also showcases Cao Jun's calligraphy and ceramics. Essays by Chinese and American scholars examine Cao Jun's art, showing how it is deeply rooted in the experience of nature and how it portrays our place within nature. The essays demonstrate also the way in which Cao Jun's art brings together classical Chinese painting with modern abstract forms akin to those of Western art. Yet Cao Jun's art foregoes simply fusing these traditions; it employs the techniques of Chinese ink and brush painting and uses ink- and color-splashing to produce abstract forms.

This two-volume work, a unique product of scholarship and photography, presents a view of Indian Art that is believed to be most comprehensive ever undertaken. Its text volume approaches the subject in close detail and in a rapidly moving and entertaining form of exposition. While the second volume contains the photographs.

The art of Hinduism constitutes one of the world's great traditions, as alive today as when the first images of Hindu gods were fashioned out of stone more than two thousand years ago. George Michell's invaluable survey looks at the entire period, covering shrines consecrated to Hindu cults as well as works of art that portray Hindu divinities, semidivine personalities, and mythological narratives.

Michell outlines the development of Hinduism and the principal iconic forms of its pantheon (the symbolic basis for Hindu religious architecture), and explains the system of royal patronage that led to the construction of so many temples and the commissioning of their attendant works of art. Then, in a broad chronological sweep, he demonstrates artistic continuities down to the present day in the different regions of the country, confirming the vibrancy of the visual world of Hinduism. The illustrations include Mamallapuram and other great temples, profound and beautiful works of sculpture such as Shiva dancing the eternal dance of creation and destruction, and exquisite paintings of the loves of Krishna.

Noted for its magnificent architecture and extraordinary history, the Yuanming Yuan is China's most famous imperial garden. The complex was begun in the early 18th century, and construction continued over the next 150 years. Chinese historians, and many Chinese in general, view the garden as the paramount achievement of Chinese architecture and landscape design. This text provides a comprehensive study of the palatial garden complex and a tour of its architecture and history. Wong begins by inspecting the garden's physical appearance and its architectural elements. He discusses the origin and evolution of these structures and the aesthetics of their design and arrangement. He refers throughout to maps and original models of individual buildings and other existing gardens of the Ming-Qing period, including the well-preserved Yihe Yuan and the Chengde Summer Mountain Retreat in Rehe. The book also explores the activities and daily life of the royal household.

This important and timely book offers the unique opportunity to look at contemporary art enriched by a multicultural experience and framed by a shared Arab identity. The work of 18 Arab women artists from around the world is collected together for the first time, challenging western stereotyping of the women's role in Arab society to brilliantly illustrate how women experience and question their lives as integral to the Arab diaspora. In Contemporary Arab Women's Art, curators and scholars focus our attention on women working in an international arena as yet little known to the average art observer. By engaging us in a cross-cultural dialogue we not only grasp the diversity of the Arab experi-ence today but also the fresh perspective that each artist brings to key issues in contemporary art.

This wide-ranging collection of essays examines the arts of Southeast Asia in context. Contributors study the creation, use, and local significance of works of art, illuminating the many complex links between an object's aesthetic qualities and its origins in a community.

Showcasing more than thirty ancient bronzes from the exceptional holdings of the Shanghai Museum, this generously illustrated book offers a compelling overview of the beauty of Chinese bronzes and the fascinating traditions surrounding them. These important objects, many of which have never before appeared in an English-language publication, date from the 18th to the 1st century B.C.E. and span numerous dynasties. Highlights of the exhibition include an early thin-wall cast three-legged food vessel (ding) from the Erlitou period, a set of nine bells (bianzhong) from the early Spring and Autumn period, and a beast-shaped wine vessel (he) from the early Warring States period. An accessible essay serves as an introduction to these masterpieces, and sumptuous, newly commissioned photography makes this publication a standout addition to the literature on Asian bronze sculpture. Distributed for the Clark Art Institute Exhibition Schedule: The Clark Art Institute (07/04/14-09/21/14)

A Bibliography of the treasures of the Golestan Imperial Library collection by it's last head librarian.

Xuanhe Catalogue of Paintings is the first complete translation of the well-known document produced at the court of Emperor Huizong (r. 1100-1125). Dated to 1120, the Catalogue is divided into ten categories of subject matter. Under Daoist and Buddhist Subjects, Figural Subjects, Architecture, Barbarian Tribes, Dragons and Fish, Landscape, Domestic and Wild Animals, Flowers and Birds, Ink Bamboo, and Vegetables and Fruit are biographies of 231 painters, ranging from famous early masters, such as Wu Daozi (ca. 685-758) and Li Cheng (919-967), to otherwise unknown artists of the Song-dynasty court, including fourteen eunuch officials and sixteen male and female members of the royal family. Titles of their pictures held in the palace collection are listed for each artist. These 6,396 paintings testify to the visual culture experienced by viewers of the twelfth century. The author's Introduction analyzes the Catalogue as a source of evidence about the formation of the Song-dynasty palace collection and argues that the majority of its pictures were already in the collection before Huizong's reign, as a result of conquest, confiscation, tribute, gift culture, collecting by earlier emperors, and the production of academy artists and regular officials at the Song court. Under Huizong's reign, around a thousand other pictures were added to the Catalogue through acquisition and reattribution. Open access edition funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This survey, spanning 4000 years, traces the rich visual expression of one of the world's most ancient cultures through the varied arts of India. From the beginnings in the Indus valley, through the masterpieces of Buddhist and Hindu art, to the coming of Islam and the eclectic culture of the Mughal court, the country's artistic history is explored. The author leads the reader through the pantheon of the Hindu gods, the insights of Buddhist mysticism and the complex symbolism of miniature paintings. This revised edition brings the narrative up-to-date, exploring the contribution of 20th-century artists and incorporates a glossary and timeline.

This sumptuous book celebrates Eastern elegance as a decorative style and illustrates how it can be achieved in both the East and the West, from the refined craftsmanship of Thai textiles and ceramics to traditional statuary from Burma and the minimalist perfection of a Japanese apartment. Much of "In the Oriental Style" is devoted to innovative Western interiors which draw their inspiration from Oriental design and objects. In this title, a wealth of individual pieces antiques, ornamental screens, lacquerware, basketry and furniture is illustrated and described, showing the enormous variety in decoration that even the simplest objects can bring to a Western home or garden.

At a time when interest in China has never been greater, this revised edition of Mary Tregear's authoritative survey of the Chinese visual arts will be welcomed by art lovers, students and travellers alike. Generously illustrated and eminently readable, it covers not only bronzes, jades, calligraphy and painting, but also Buddhist sculpture, ceramics, textiles, metalwork, lacquer, garden design and architecture. For the revised edition, all Chinese names, places and terms have been romanized to current international usage. Throughout, information has been updated in view of recent finds, and the book contains new illustrations, a revised introduction and a new final chapter on twentieth-century art. An invaluable chronology of Chinese historical periods is included, together with six maps.

Garland of Visions explores the generative relationships between artistic intelligence and tantric vision practices in the construction and circulation of visual knowledge in medieval South Asia. Shifting away from the traditional connoisseur approach, Jinah Kim instead focuses on the materiality of painting: its mediums, its visions, and especially its colors. She argues that the adoption of a special type of manuscript called pothi enabled the material translation of a private and internal experience of "seeing" into a portable device. These mobile and intimate objects then became important conveyors of many forms of knowledge-ritual, artistic, social, scientific, and religious-and spurred the spread of visual knowledge of Indic Buddhism to distant lands. By taking color as the material link between a vision and its artistic output, Garland of Visions presents a fresh approach to the history of Indian painting.

Buddhism is the single common thread uniting the Asian world, from India to South-East Asia an through Central Asia to China, Korea and Japan. To guide and inspire believers, innumerable symbols and images were made, beginning in India in the third century BC. This phenomenally diverse tradition includes not only frescoes, relief carvings, colossal statues, silk embroideries and bronze ritual objects but also rock-cut shrines with a thousand Buddhas, the glorious stupas of South-East Asia and the pagodas of the far East, the massive 'mandala in stone' of Borobudur in Java and entire thirteenth-century temple complexes at Angkor in Cambodia. Robert E. Fisher concisely describes all the Buddhist schools and cultures, and explains their imagery, from Tibetan cosmic diagrams and Korean folk art to early Sri Lankan sites and Japanese Zen gardens.

For hundreds of years the Bactrian camel ploughed a lonely furrow across the vast wilderness of Asia. This bizarre-looking, temperamental yet hardy creature here came into its own as the core goods vehicle, resolutely and reliably transporting to China - over huge and unforgiving distances - fine things from the West while taking treasures out of the Middle Kingdom in return. Where the chariot, wagon and other wheeled conveyances proved useless amidst the shifting desert dunes, the surefooted progress of the camel - archetypal 'ship of the Silk Road' - now reigned supreme. The Bactrian camel was a subject that appealed particularly to Chinese artists because of its association with the exotic trade to mysterious Western lands. In his lavishly illustrated volume, Angus Forsyth explores diverse jade pieces depicting this iconic beast of burden. Almost one hundred separate objects are included, many of which have not been seen in print before. At the same time the author offers the full historical background to his subject. The book will have a strong appeal to collectors and art historians alike.

This book provides a rare and authoritative glimpse at the splendid decorative military art of the Ottomans, and art that is both insufficiently known and insufficiently appreciated. Professor Zygulski describes in detail masterpieces from collections around the world, including the Topkapi Saray Museum in Istanbul, the National Museum In Cracow, the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., the Nationalbibliothek in Vienna, and elsewhere.

This classic work on the nature of early Islamic art has now been brought up to date in order to take into consideration material that has recently come to light. In a new chapter, Oleg Grabar develops alternate models for the formation of Islamic art, tightens its chronology, and discusses its implications for the contemporary art of the Muslim world. Reviews of the first edition: "Grabar examines the possible ramifications of sociological, economic, historical, psychological, ecological, and archaeological influences upon the art of Islam. . . [He] explains that Islamic art is woven from the threads of an Eastern, Oriental tradition and the hardy, surviving strands of Classical style, and [he] illustrates this web by means of a variety of convincing and well-chosen examples."-Art Bulletin "A book of absorbing interest and immense erudition. . . All Islamic archaeologists and scholars will thank Professor Grabar for a profound and original study of an immense and complex field, which may provoke controversy but must impress by its mastery and charm by its modesty."-Times Literary Supplement "Oleg Grabar, in this book of exceptional subtlety and taste, surveys and extends his own important contributions to the study of early Islamic art history and works out an original and imaginative approach to the elusive and complex problems of understanding Islamic art."-American Historical Review

In The Chinese Atlantic, Sean Metzger charts processes of global circulation across and beyond the Atlantic, exploring how seascapes generate new understandings of Chinese migration, financial networks and artistic production. Moving across film, painting, performance, and installation art, Metzger traces flows of money, culture, and aesthetics to reveal the ways in which routes of commerce stretching back to the Dutch Golden Age have molded and continue to influence the social reproduction of Chineseness. With a particular focus on the Caribbean, Metzger investigates the expressive culture of Chinese migrants and the communities that received these waves of people. He interrogates central issues in the study of similar case studies from South Africa and England to demonstrate how Chinese Atlantic seascapes frame globalization as we experience it today. Frequently focusing on art that interacts directly with the sites in which it is located, Metzger explores how Chinese migrant laborers and entrepreneurs did the same to shape-both physically and culturally-the new spaces in which they found themselves. In this manner, Metzger encourages us to see how artistic imagination and practice interact with migration to produce a new way of framing the global.

In this first systematic introduction to contemporary Chinese art, Wu Hung provides an accessible, focused and much-needed narrative of the development of Chinese art across all media from the 1970s to the 2000s. From its underground genesis during the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), contemporary Chinese art has become a dynamic and hugely influential force in a globalized art world where the distinctions between Eastern and Western culture are rapidly collapsing. The book is a richly illustrated and easy-to-navigate chronological survey that considers contemporary Chinese art both in the context of China's specific historical experiences and in a global arena. Wu Hung explores the emergence of avant-garde or contemporary art - as opposed to officially sanctioned art - in the public sphere after the Cultural Revolution; the mobilization by young artists and critics of a nationwide avant-garde movement in the mid-1980s; the re-emphasis on individual creativity in the late 1980s, the heightened spirit of experimentation of the 1990s; and the more recent identification of Chinese artists, such as Ai Weiwei, as global citizens who create works for an international audience.

A unique and visionary generation of young Chinese artists are coming to prominence in the art world - just as China cements its place as the second largest art market on the planet. Building on the new frontiers opened up by the Chinese artists of the late 1980s and 1990s, artists such as Ai Wei Wei who came to the West and became household names, this new generation are provocative, exciting and bold. But what does it mean to be a Chinese artist today? And how can we better understand their work? Here, renowned critic Barbara Pollack presents the first book to tell the story of how these Chinese millennials, fast becoming global art superstars, negotiate their cultural heritage, and what this means for China's impact on the future of global culture. Many young Chinese artists have declared they are "not Chinese, but global" - this book investigates just what that means for China, the art market, and the world. Brand new Art from China is the first collection to showcase the dynamic new art coming from Chinese artists, and features full-colour photos and video stills throughout - with many works being published in book-form for the first time. Featuring an in-depth interview with Zhang Xiaogang, probably the most well-known artist in China itself, whose sombre portraits of Chinese families during the Cultural Revolution sell for as much as $12 million at auction, alongside unparalleled access to the tastemakers of today's art scene, Brand New Art from China is the essential guide to Chinese contemporary art today - its vision, values and aesthetics.

The catalogue presents for the first time the rich Tibetan artistic heritage through the collection of Michael and Justyna Buddeberg: carpet manufacture, craftwork in metal and the manufacture of furniture. Previously neglected aspects of everyday Tibetan culture are explored and make the catalogue an essential starting point for further research. The Buddeberg collection includes masterpieces of Tibetan art in textile and metal work and presents us with hitherto disregarded asp ects of the Tibetan approach to art. Carpets for sitting on or as a riding accessory played a central role in their traditional culture but have hitherto been neglected in research, as has metal craftwork, which focused on the ornamentation of end knobs on the poles supporting the cultic paintings. The lavishly illustrated catalogue closes this gap and presents together with contributions by acknowledged specialists an in - depth overview of the fields of carpet and textile art, metalwork and furniture produc tion.