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Title: Art in China (Oxford History of Art Series) by Craig Clunas ISBN: 0-19-284207-2 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 May, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.75 (4 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Currently the best short introduction to art in China
Comment: While not the easiest to read, Clunas's book is currently the best short modest-sized introduction to art in China. The title "Art in China" (not "Chinese Art") is intentional, for Clunas is one of the rare Occidental authors on this subject who transcend the limitations of their background and succeed in communicating some of the subtlety and complexity of the subject, so remote from Western tastes, but no less beautiful and profound.
For example, he points out that while Western art has concentrated on painting, calligraphy is the most esteemed art form in China. Furthermore, from its earliest beginnings, Chinese aesthetics has placed little emphasis on illusionism and perspective, even regarding these as juvenile and distracting from artistic self-expression. (In this respect, the Chinese anticipated "modern art theory" by centuries.) The very term "Chinese Art", he maintains, is a Western invention, since the art work in China was, until recently, never divorced from its political, religious or decorative functions. (That is to say, it was not "museum art" isolated from its context and consciously regarded as art.) Because of these characteristics, art in China has been little appreciated in the West.
Clunas's probing book should be read slowly-- and re-read. The illuminating text gives a relatively sophisticated and sympathetic account of art in China, unlike many books, which are simply naive, provincial and as full of trivial dates and abstractions as they are lacking in insight. The representative works, drawn from all periods of Chinese history--including modern times--are superb and well chosen, and the pictures are excellent, considering the book's modest size. I especially enjoy the full-page color reproduction of Guo Xi's masterpiece "Early Spring" which equals, if not surpasses, the finest landscape paintings of the Dutch golden age (of course, not in illusionist technique, but in sheer expressive and evocative power as it unveils a mysterious fantastic landscape reflecting an interior, as much as an exterior, reality).
My only complaint is that there is only one book on "Art in China" in the Oxford History of Art series, while there are at least 30 on Western art in the same series. One book covers Western art for a 25-year span (1920-45), but 5,000 years of high art in China--in painting, jade, ceramics, lacquer, porcelain, calligraphy and sculpture--gets only a single volume! Talk about provincialism! Certainly, this is no fault of Dr. Clunas, whose work seems all the more commendable in the midst of the naive insularity and ethnocentrism with which it has unfortunately been grouped.
Rating: 5
Summary: BRILLIANT!!
Comment: In researching information regarding Sung Dynasty scrolls and artists, I found this book to be a most generous indeed. The author provides clear, precise information without the clutter of person guesses. He provides a wonderful assortment of pictures and resources. Clear, clean photographs of artifacts providing the reader with primary documentation .This is a MUST for anyone studying the Arts and Artists of early China. Thank you Craig Clunas!
Rating: 4
Summary: challenging book
Comment: This is a challenging work.
He realizes 5 standpoints. He writes "What is historically called art in China, by whom and when?". Really, I feel it rather reflect unconscious attitude of 20th century collectors and scholars.
Art in the Tomb /Art at Court/Art in the Temple/Art in the life of the Elite /Art in the Market-Place
Following recent searching environment of artifacts; lifetime of painters, art-market, patrons, etc., as "Painter's Practice" by J.cahill, Mr. Clunas searched relations of arts-makers and the society. This approach is interesting and very suggestive. It may be the first try among such cheap and popular books about "Arts in China". For such character, I feel it should not be an elementary textbook.
Calligraphy was more focused than M. Sullivan's book"The Arts of China" in the chapter "Art in the life of the Elite". Short columns explain words and technical terms vividly. It is worth to buy it only for them. Bibliographical essays(231-237 p.) are very useful. Plates and figures are all fine. There is few inadequate item. Fig 83 and 87 shows as we appreciate in museums, i.e. shows its handscroll format. I think the author make effort to show surrounding textile of paintings and the format in some figs.
As an avocat d'diable, I notice some. The gong of Fig. 49 is not 8th century. Dragons and a beast should be genuine 8th century items. The gong is regarded 12-13th century Japanese artifact. The item of Fig. 82 may not be a representative work by Tang-Yin.
Both C. Clunas and Michael Sullivan edited catalogues of Sir Alain Barlow Collection(now in Sussex College). (ref. The Barlow Collection of Chinese Ceramics, Bronzes and Jades: an Introduction, The University of Sussex, 1997/Nov.) Sullivan did in 1963 and 1974. Clunas did in 1997. They might have share common intellectual environment according Oriental Ceramic Society, England.
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Title: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting by Richard M. Barnhart, Yang Xin, Nie Chongzheng, James Chaill, Lang Shaojun, Wu Hung, James Cahill ISBN: 0300094477 Publisher: Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art Pub. Date: 01 October, 2002 List Price(USD): $39.95 |
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Title: The British Museum Book of Chinese Art by Jessica Rawson, Anne Farrer, Jane Portal, Shelagh Vainker, Carol Michaelson ISBN: 0500279039 Publisher: Thames & Hudson Pub. Date: 01 September, 1996 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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Title: The Arts of China (An Ahmanson Murphy Fine Arts Book) by Michael Sullivan ISBN: 0520218779 Publisher: University of California Press Pub. Date: 01 January, 2000 List Price(USD): $34.95 |
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Title: Japanese Art: Revised Edition (World of Art) by Joan Stanley-Baker ISBN: 0500203261 Publisher: Thames & Hudson Pub. Date: April, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Chinese Art by Mary Tregear ISBN: 0500202990 Publisher: Thames & Hudson Pub. Date: 01 May, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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