Monumentality in Early Chinese Art and Architecture - Softcover

Hung, Wu

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0804726264 ISBN 13: 9780804726269

Publisher: Stanford University Press, 1997

Synopsis

This pioneering work reinterprets the history of early Chinese art and architecture, focusing on the notion of monumentality and forms of monuments as they evolved from prehistory to the early sixth century. Chinese decorative, pictorial, and architectural forms, often approached as separate traditions, are here explained as a broad artistic movement and contextualised as part of a well-defined cultural and political tradition. The book begins with a comprehensive explanation of 'ritual art'. The author then traces the decline of this archaic tradition and the corresponding rise of palatial and funerary monuments against the background of China's transition from a network of principalities to a unified political state. He concludes by reexamining the appearance of individual artists during the post-Han period and their transformation of public monumental art into a private idiom. This work contributes substantially to our understanding of how art and architecture evolved and functioned in a changing society.

About this title

Review

'... a brilliant commentary on the rituals, structures and artefacts of Chinese 'public' ceremonial activity before the third century - Wu Hung's grasp of the literature of the period, from bronze inscriptions to historical texts, is unmatched by any Western scholar; his book is an essential adjunct to the more conventional histories of Chinese art.' Michael Sullivan, The Times Literary Supplement

About the Author

Wu Hung is Centennial Distinguished Service Professor in Chinese Art History at the University of Chicago.

Edition details

• Publisher: Stanford University Press
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0804726264
• ISBN 13: 9780804726269
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 396