Book on Asian Culture

Top Ten

1. Wang, Yao-t'ing.
Looking at Chinese painting, a comprehensive guide to the philosophy, technique, and history of Chinese painting.Tokyo, 1995, 208 p., 154 colour, 59 b/w ill., cloth. English text, US$ 55.00.
Richly illustrated by paintings from the National Palace Museum, including many restricted works, this volume is the very first English guidebook written by a Chinese scholar covering the history, philosophy and the techniques of traditional Chinese painting. Mr. Wang, curator of painting at the National Palace Museum in Taipei, discusses pigments and colours, ink inscriptions, seals and the mounting relationship betweem painting and calligraphy and copies and forgeries.

2. Chang Tsong-zung, Li Xianting, D. Ronte, et al.
China! Bonn, Kunstmuseum Bonn, 1996. ill., ISBN 3 7701 3813 9, German text, 79,50 DM.
This catalogue accompanies a major exhibition at the Kunst Museum Bonn (February 29 - June 16, 1996). Twenty-six artists from seven regions of P.R.China present 146 works which have hardly ever or never been shown in China or in Europe.

3. Sabapathy, T.K (ed.)
Modernity and beyond, themes in Southeast Asia art. Singapore, Singapore Art Museum, 1996. 192p., ill., English text, SG$ 82.40.
This catalogue has been published to mark the occasion of the inaugural exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum, January 21 - April 21, 1996. This two-component exhibition (Themes and A Century) explores the varied approaches to making art in Southeast Asia. Themes reveals the commitments, emotions and thoughts of Southeast Asian artists. A Century surveys the history of art in Singapore.

4. Lenz, Iris.
Balanceakte. Stuttgart, Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, 1995. 56p. German text. This catalogue accompanied a touring exhibition (November 1995- February 1996) presenting work by four young Chinese artists: Ni Haifeng, Leung Mee-Ping, Wang Gong-Xin and Wu Mali.

5. Moss, Hugh, Victor Graham, Ka Bo Tsang.
A treasure of Chinese snuff bottles, the Mary & George Bloch collection, volume 1: 'Jade'. Hong Kong, Paragon Publishers, 1996. 490p, 888 colour ill., English text, limited and numbered edition of 1000 copies, US$ 280.00.
The first of seven volumes covering the entire Bloch collection of over 1400 snuff-bottles. Volume 1, about jade bottles, covers every aspect of each of the 187 jade bottles in the collection. Each piece demonstrates the genius of its carver, bringing out the best of the material and concept.

6. Fong Wen and J.C.Y. Watt
Possessing the past, treasures from the National Palace Museum, Taipei. Taipei, National Palace Museum, 1996. 660p., over 357 ill., English text, US$85.00. Scholarly-oriented, this volume describes and illustrates all the objects in the major travelling exhibition from the National Palace Museum, Taipei. This exhibition shows 140 masterworks of painting and calligraphy and 335 objects of jade, bronze, porcelain and other media. Highlights are extremely important Song paintings and ceramics, archaic jades and bronzes, and the rarely seen miniature curio cabinets.

7. Addiss, Stephen.
How to look at Japanese Art. New York, Abrams, 1996. 144p., 69 ill., ISBN 0 8109 2640-7 (pb), English text, US$ 19.95. How to look at Japanese art introduces apprentice viewers to one of the oldest art traditions in the world. This book makes a sometimes difficult subject accessible and inviting by helping people deal more directly with the art. The book discusses in clear, straightforward terms, six major arts of Japan: painting; sculpture; prints; ceramics; calligraphy; and garden design. The author interweaves his discussion of the composition, colour, form, and subject matter of the more than 60 works featured with a perspective treatment of their broader cultural context.

8. Wu, Hung.
Monumentality in early Chinese art & architecture. Stanford, Paragon, 1996. 498p., 388 ill., 16 maps, cloth, English text, US$ 75.00.
Wu Hung investigates the notion of monumentality in Chinese art over the past 2,000 years. Looking at architecture, decorative forms and pictorial compositions as a whole he shows the incredible changes in Chinese art as it passes from monumental work associated with state and religion to the appearance of individual artists and works done for the private individual.

9. Lipton, Barbara, N.D. Ragnubs
Treasures of Tibetan art: the collection of the Jaques Marchais Museum of Tibetan art. New York, Paragon books, 1996. 352p., 75 colour/94 b/w ill., cloth, English text, US$ 59.95. This catalogue presents for the first time the collection of the Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan art. The selected objects are primarily examples of religious art from Tibet, China, Mongolia, and Nepal. They include decorative temple and secular pieces, as well as several contemporary works, and works from as early as the 15th and 16th centuries.

10. Kamstra, Sabrine, and Yoshihara, Mieko.
As far as Japan.... Den Bosch, KW 14, Breda, NBKS, 1996. 68p., ill., Dutch/English text. DFL. 20,-. The title of this exhibition, 'As far as Japan...', refers to both a physical and a cultural distance between the Netherlands and Japan. The exhibition brings together a number of Dutch and Japanese artists, of whom the latter have been working in the Netherlands for some time. Both groups are inspired by the Japanese culture or society.


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