Art in China 2/e (Oxford History of Art) - Softcover

Clunas, Craig

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199217343 ISBN 13: 9780199217342

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 2009

Synopsis

China boasts a history of art lasting over 5,000 years and embracing a huge diversity of forms - objects of jade, lacquer and porcelain, painted scrolls and fans, sculptures in stone, bronze and wood, and murals.

But this rich tradition has not, until now been fully appreciated in the West where scholars have focused attention on the European high arts of painting and sculpture, downplaying arts more highly prized by the Chinese themselves, such as calligraphy.

Art in China marks a breakthrough in the study of the subject. Drawing on recent innovative scholarship - and newly-accessible studies in China itself - Craig Clunas surveys the full spectrum of the visual arts in China. He ranges from the Neolithic period to the art scene of the early 21st century, examining Chinese art in a variety of contexts - as it has been designed for tombs, commissioned by rulers, displayed in temples, created by the men and women of the educated elite, and bought and sold in the marketplace. This updated edition contains expanded coverage of modern and contemporary art, from the fall of the empire in 1911 to the growing international interest in the art of an increasingly confident and booming China.

About this title

Review:

Review from previous edition A completely fresh account of Chinese art... lively and highly accessible. (Professor Dame Jessica Rawson, Merton College, Oxford)

Always lucid and sometimes provocative... incorporates not only the most recent archaeological discoveries, but also the insights of a prodigious amount of recent scholarship... invaluable. (Professor Julia K. Murray, University of Wisconsin)

A serious challenge to the conventional practice of art history... written with lucidity, grace, and wit. (Professor Cao Yiqiang, The National Academy of Art, China)

About the Author:

Craig Clunas has worked as a curator of Chinese art at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and taught at Sussex University and the School of Oriental and African Studies, London University. He was appointed Professor of the History of Art, University of Oxford in 2007, where he is the first holder of the chair to specialise in art from Asia.

About this edition

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0199217343
• ISBN 13: 9780199217342
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 288