This sumptuous presentation of the Philadelphia Museum of Art's wide-ranging collection of Chinese art features one hundred works in various media spanning antiquity to the present day-including Ming gold vessels, a 15th-century Buddhist temple ceiling, imperial court robes, and an 18th-century bookcase made in Canton for a Dutchman. With striking new photography and engaging and informative discussions of individual works of sculpture, painting, furniture, textiles, ceramics, metalwork, and architecture, this volume provides a fascinating look into the breadth and diversity of Chinese artistic experience and material culture. An introductory essay by Hiromi Kinoshita delves into the history of the Philadelphia Museum's Chinese collection-begun after the 1876 World's Fair and continuing today with acquisitions of contemporary works by Ai Weiwei and Zhang Huan-weaving together stories of intrepid and dedicated collectors, curators, and dealers. Both accessible to general readers and of interest to scholars, this book is a valuable resource for those captivated by the many manifestations of art from China.

Qu Leilei now stands as a technically accomplished master, capable of handling brush and ink with the utmost competency and photographic-like quality. His visual language is well established, and it represents a fusion of east and west. Some ink painters have chosen to push boundaries by making traditional styles more abstract or ornamented. By contrast, Leilei has sought to blend the descriptive, realistic styles of the European Renaissance with Chinese ink painting. Moreover, he has constantly worked to achieve profound concepts in his work, ideas that have universal application. This catalogue is a retrospective, an overview of the body of work Qu Leilei has produced up to the present day. Certain broad themes can be divined: a burning interest in the history of China, and what can be learned from it; a loving concern for human beings and their individual achievements; an absorption in the anatomy and depiction of the human body; an urge to warn against the perils of the world; and a heartfelt desire to integrate Chinese and western art practice and techniques. These themes have been pursued with ever-growing skill throughout the years.

'Oishii!' - 'Delicious!' is the most common word in Japan to describe food. Expressing culinary taste goes hand in hand with the social and cultural identity of those eating it. Hence food is much more than nutrition; rather it is tied to all areas of human life and illustrates the various aspects of a society and its culture. Against this backdrop renowned authors devote themselves to Japanese food and drink culture. How is rice cultivated? How do you catch bonitos? What is the secret to good sake and how did green tea become a lifestyle product? Hitherto partly undisclosed treasures from the Linden-Museum Stuttgart and valuable examples from home and abroad draw attention to the rich material culture of food and drink in Japan. Text in German.

The baskets, blankets, rugs, pottery, jewellery, sandpaintings, dolls, and beadwork created by the Native Americans of the Southwest are all so unique and fascinating. This book is a good introduction to the work that goes into the creations.

In recent years, the Dallas Museum of Art has expanded its collection of South Asian art from a small number of Indian temple sculptures to nearly 500 works, including Indian Hindu and Buddhist sculptures, Himalayan Buddhist bronze sculptures and ritual objects, artwork from Southeast Asia, and decorative arts from India's Mughal period. Artworks in the collection have origins from the former Ottoman empire to Java, and architectural pieces suggest the grandeur of buildings in the Indian tradition. This volume details the cultural and artistic significance of more than 140 featured works, which range from Tibetan thangkas and Indian miniature paintings to stone sculptures and bronzes. Relating these works to one another through interconnecting narratives and cross-references, scholars and curators provide a broad cultural history of the region. Distributed for the Dallas Museum of Art

This catalogue, accompanying the exhibition of the same title at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at SUNY New Paltz (August 29 through December 16, 2012), examines the fifty-year career of Ushio Shinohara, an indispensable player in the field of global contemporary history. Born in Japan in 1932, Shinohara was an enfant terrible of the Tokyo avant-garde art scene in the late 1950s with his action art. During the 1960s, he went on to invent such signature series as Boxing Painting, Imitation Art, and Oiran. After his move to New York in 1969, he continued with his versatile image-making endeavor, with Motorcycle Sculpture and drawings of street scenes, among other series. Taken together, this volume narrates a story of the inventive, imaginative, and skillful image-maker that is Ushio Shinohara."