Art in China (Oxford History of Art)

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.


An enjoyable introduction to "art" in China   August 13, 1997
Tzu-Hsien Sang tzuhsien@engin.umich.edu (Ann Arbor)
26 out of 27 found this review helpful

Reading Clunas' book is a refreshing experience forme. It surveys an amazingly broad spectrum of visual representations of Chinese culture, ranging from archaeological findings in ancient tombs to the works of comtemporary artists. And yet Clunas managed to keep the size of the book under control so that you can enjoy finishing it in a couple of days. Thus it serves well as a starting point for anyone who is interested in Chinese art to explore this vast territory. In doing so Clunas represents a common trend in the scholarly field of Chinese study for the last several decades. A big difference from other classical introductory books on Chinese art is that Clunas is more self-conscious and tries harder to avoid measuring Chinese culture completely by a Western ruler. Despite sometimes he offers opinions, which can only be regarded as conjectures because of the lack of solid evidences, about certain cultrual phenomena, he keeps an open-minded attitude and thus encourages reader to form their own theories. Two minor flaws prevent me giving it a 10. One is that it deosn't have a glossray for translation between English and Chinese, which I think is very useful, considering this book may well be very intresting to the students who are learning Chinese. And it fails to provide immediate references where several intriguing open questions are mentioned in the text. This may hamper interested readers to start their own research right away


BRILLIANT!!   January 14, 2002
Susan Tyree (Orlando, Fl USA)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

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!


Good introduction to the arts of China   March 7, 2005
Alfredo Pizzirani (Seattle, WA, USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

I like the author's approach to writing an introduction to the arts of China. Instead of trying to touch at least all of the major artists/works from all of the major periods (which in the case of China would mean touching very many things in a very cursory way), the author focuses on the context for which works were produced. Some of them were meant to be "art" from the start, some were not. This offers ample opportunities to examine how some works influenced other later in history. Overall, I think the ideas presented are some of the most gripping I have found in Chinese art history books. The book includes recent discoveries and scholarship and uses Pinyin romanization (two great features - not all recently-published books do).


Art in China (Oxford History of Art Series)   September 24, 2005
Jane Newman (Placerville, CA)
Beautifully illustrated, delightful and extremely informative. This book is a marvelous supplement to the typical art history text books.