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The reopening of the National Museum of China on the east side of Tian'anmen Square in Beijing in October will be by far and away the most significant event in the museum world in 2011. The interior of the original building, one of 10 famous architectural landmarks built in 1959 to mark the 10th anniversary of the Revolution, has been completely redesigned. The famous facade has been retained. The new museum will combine the original national collection of the Museum of Chinese History with tha...

Beautifully illustrated with an array of Chinese art, this book offers a closer look at the rich variety of styles, decoration, motifs and patterns – and the sheer craftsmanship – of Chinese culture. The book is arranged thematically and opens by taking a look at the essential nature and meaning of Chinese art. Chapters that follow place the objects and designs into their cultural context. Each of the intriguing and beautiful artworks is then explored further with amazing close-up views, allowin...

This volume is a much-needed reference guide to the historical and cultural significance of Chinese toggles or zhuizi – carved pieces of jade, ivory, bone, wood, shell and semi-precious stones used by the Chinese in ancient times as counterweights to secure personal effects like tobacco pipes and money pouches to their belts. Over time, toggles became treasured objects of identity and expression, believed to bring the bearer good luck, happiness, fertility, longevity and health. The book explain...

The Dunhuang cave temples on China's Silk Road contain miles of wall paintings, more than 2000 statues, works on silk and paper and thousands of ancient manuscripts. Susan Whitfield tells the story of this remarkable sight and also describes the collaboration between the Western and Chinese authorities to preserve the Dunhuang shrines.

Modern Asian Art is a seminal publication focusing on the modern art of Japan, China, India, Thailand and Indonesia. Clark offers a unique viewpoint, debunking the idea of a single 'modern Asian art' and of a one-way flow of influence from West to East, presenting instead a complex ebb and flow of information and transformation, where many diverse modernisms interact. Through a series of empirical micro-histories the book proceeds to look closely at the conditions for art practice in each countr...

Cases of citation presents a history of artists who incorporated literary references into their work from the 1960s onwards.Through a series of object-focused chapters that each take up a singular ‘case of citation’, the collection considers how literary citation emerged as a viable and urgent strategy for artists during this period. It surveys nine artworks by a diverse group of artists – including David Wojnarowicz, Lis Rhodes, Romare Bearden and Silvia Kolbowski – whose citations draw on lite...

Wang Guangyi's art is significant not only in China but across the world: this book investigates his artistic path from a new perspective. For any reader interested in understanding contemporary Chinese culture and art, this book provides a unique viewpoint: it approaches the story of a Chinese contemporary artist from the perspective of the history of ideas and art rather than that of news and politics. It adopts methods and approaches easily understandable by Western readers in order to draw t...

'Chinese Landscapes Made Easy' shows you how to paint stunning landscapes in the classic Chinese style with a core material list of just six essential Chinese brushes. Starting with how to hold and control a Chinese brush, the author builds your confidence by demonstrating simple techniques on paper, before tackling more complex marks in conjunction with a series of painting ‘lessons’, each dedicated to a different key element of Chinese landscape painting. The projects section takes you through...

China’s ornamental tradition ranks among the foremost in the world. The motifs used vary from abstract and geometric forms to more realistic images of natural phenomena, or of typical objects such as gongs and lanterns. Flowers are a distinct inspiration to Chinese decorative art, both in stylised form and as exact representations. Other compositions may be inspired by plants or animals, including mythological creatures such as the dragon and the phoenix.

In this gorgeously illustrated book, Lucy Wang invites you into her artistic world and shows you how to create a variety of Chinese brush paintings in watercolor. She explains a number of traditional techniques as she demonstrates her own method of developing floral and bird paintings in the Chinese style, step by step. Inside, you ll discover how to paint an array of subjects using this unique and inspiring painting style. And you also will find essential information about painting on rice pape...

It was in the seventeenth century that myths of exotic "Cathay" began to be replaced by more definite knowledge of things Chinese, through the activities of English and Dutch traders. It was in the eighteenth century, however, that the taste for designs and architecture based on ideas of Chinese design - "Chinoiserie" - became highly fashionable in the French court, and in its many imitators throughout Europe. Ever since, Chinoiserie has been a factor in the decorative arts and interiors through...

Poetic paintings - works done in response to lyric poems, or else as pictorial equivalents to them - compose a major category of East Asian art. In this illustrated book James Cahill looks at three exemplary traditions in this genre, works from three very different times and places, ringing new understanding of the paintings and of the relationship between the art and the societies that produced it. Creating paintings with poetic resonances, somtimes with ties to specific lines of poetry, is a p...

Spanning forty years and bringing together works by artists such as Ai Weiwei, Cao Fei, and Fang Lijun, this volume follows the development of contemporary art in China in the new millennium. Focusing on recent acquisitions of the Sigg and M+ Sigg Collections, the book examines them through the prism of cultural globalization and cultural homogeneity. For the younger generation of artists presented in this book, a global art market and global network are part of the norm and their work reflects...

Accompanied a huge outdoor sculpture exhibition in The Hague that ran from June - September 2011 What do a red dinosaur, a post box and a kneeling laughing giant have in common? They were all part of a sculpture exhibition curated in association with The Hague Sculpture Gallery, Netherlands. Positioned in various locations throughout the city, the sculptures present a unique overview of contemporary Chinese art. The title The Hague Under Heaven refers to the Chinese phrase 'Everything under the...

China's art objects and traditionally manufactured products have long been sought by collectors-from porcelains and silk fabrics to furniture and even the lacquered chopsticks that are a distant relation to ones found in most Chinese restaurants. Things Chinese presents sixty distinctive items that are typical of Chinese culture and together open a special window onto the people, history, and society of the world's largest nation. Many of the objects are collectibles, and each has a story to tel...