Art History

Photographs and text profile the art traditions of Africa, India, Southeast Asia, China, Japan, Korea, the Pacific, and the Americas.

This non-Western version explores the history of art in Asia, Africa, the Americas, Oceania, and the Islamic world in a compact, 12-chapter format. GARDNER'S ART THROUGH THE AGES: NON-WESTERN PERSPECTIVES features color photographs, a stunning design, and the most current research and scholarship.

This publication centers indigenous perspectives on traditional artworks from Africa by focusing on the judgments and vocabularies of members of the communities who created and used them. The volume features nearly 300 works from collections around the world and from the important holdings of the Art Institute of Chicago. Although it emphasizes the sculptural legacy of sub-Saharan cultures from West and Central Africa, it also includes examples of artistic traditions associated with eastern and southern Africa as well as textiles and objects designed for domestic, ritual, and decorative functions.

"Informed by the latest scholarship yet written for the general reader, this has been the first comprehensive study to present the arts of Africa in art historical terms. A History of Art in Africa covers all parts of the continent, including Egypt, from prehistory to the present day and includes the art of the African Diaspora"

CONTENTS:
Introducing Africa -- The development of the study of African art -- Towards a history of African art -- African architecture -- Looking at African sculpture -- Understanding African sculpture -- Contemporary African art.

"Published in conjunction with an inaugural exhibition, African Art in the Cycle of Life, organized by the National Museum of African Art, September 28, 1987-March 20, 1988"

This pioneering history examines the major themes and accomplishments in African art from the past fifty years, achieving an impressive balance between the critical reexamination of frequently discussed artists, groups and workshops and the introduction of less publicized or more recent material.

This volume accompanies a major international loan exhibition featuring more than three hundred works of art. It traces the development of gold working and other luxury arts in the Americas from antiquity until the arrival of Europeans in the early sixteenth century. Presenting spectacular works from recent excavations in Peru, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Mexico, this exhibition focuses on specific places and times--crucibles of innovation--where artistic exchange, rivalry, and creativity led to the production of some of the greatest works of art known from the ancient Americas.

"Published to accompany the exhibition Mexico: journey to the land of the gods: art treasures of ancient Mexico held in the Nieuwe Kerk, Amsterdam, from 3 March until 30 June 2002"

This text offers an accessible presentation of the latest archaeological and historical research on all aspects of Maya society, from its earliest beginnings to the Spanish Conquest in the 16th century.

From a symposium at Dumbarton Oaks 6 and 7 October 2001.

A vivid and comprehensive account of the Aztecs, the best-known people of pre-Columbian America. It examines their origins, civilization, and the distinctive realms of Aztec religion, science, and thought.

"Deals with all aspects of Islamic art and architecture ranging from the Middle East to Africa to Central, South, and East Asia and includes entries on artists, rulers, writers, ceramics, sculpture, metalwork, painting, calligraphy, textiles, and more"

"This extensively illustrated book allows readers to identify those elements and themes that define art forms as Islamic, and to examine them in works of painting and metalwork, in calligraphy and manuscripts, ceramics, glass, wood, and ivory comprising one of the most imposing collections of arts from across the Muslim world."

"This illustrated book provides an overview of Islamic art and architecture from the seventh to the thirteenth centuries, a time of the formation of a new artistic culture and its first, medieval, flowering in the vast area from the Atlantic to India."

"The evolution of book art and painting in the Islamic world is the product of diverse regions and periods. Islamic art flourished in the great cities and centers of learning of the ottoman Turks, the Iranian Qajars, and the later Indian Mughals, spreading across a region that extended from the Atlantic Ocean to China."

Contents: China -- Calligraphy -- Jade -- Indonesia -- The Kingdom of the Khmer -- Textiles in southeast Asia -- Japan -- Korea.

Contents: The subject-matter of Buddhist art -- India and neighbouring regions -- China -- Korea and Japan -- South-East Asia.

With a wealth of information about the history, traditions, and religious beliefs of Southeast Asia, Philip Rawson surveys a vast array of works of art and crafts from the region. Since prehistoric times, the countries of Southeast Asia have created a unique melange of indigenous art and the art of neighboring India and China. From the bronze tombs of the Dong-son people in 500 BC, to the mystical, dramatic form of Indonesia puppetry in current day Java and Bali, from architectural wonders such as Borobudur, to a host of pagodas, shrines, and temples, Rawson explores a medley of Southeast Asian art.

Traces the history of Chinese painting and sculpture, and describes important movements and themes.

Oxford history of art.

CONTENTS:
Introduction: what is Chinese art? -- Art for the tomb -- Art for the temple -- Art for the court -- Art for the elite -- Art for the masses.

Tracing the 3000-year history of the Chinese imperial collections, from the Bronze Age to the 21st century, this title follows the gradual formation of the Peking Palace Museum in 1925, its hasty fragmentation as large parts of the collection were moved, and finally its formal division into what are two Palace Museums.

Heavily illustrated, this collection brings together carefully selected primary texts on contemporary Chinese art, arranged in chronological order

This concise yet lively new survey guides the reader through 5,000 years of Indian art and architecture. A rich artistic tradition is fully explored through the Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic, Colonial, and contemporary periods, incorporating discussion of modern Bangladesh and Pakistan, tribal artists, and the decorative arts.

CONTENTS:
Early Indian art -- The Gupta period -- The Post-Gupta period -- The later Hindu period -- South India -- Painting -- Indo-Islamic architecture -- Sri Lanka -- Nepal

This richly illustrated volume explores the contested history of art and nationalism in colonial India during the period 1922-47. The author shows that modernist Western art, which was rebelling against the Western academic tradition, had a strong influence on Indian art made during this period.

The art of Hinduism constitutes one of the world's greatest traditions. This volume examines the entire period, covering shrines consecrated to Hindu cults and works of art portraying Hindu divinities and semi-divine personalities.

Featuring dozens of Korean paintings, sculptures, figurines, porcelain and textiles, this art book is explores the rich visual history of Korean peninsula. San Francisco's Asian Art Museum was a pioneering advocate for bringing Korean art into the U.S,. One of the first museums in the United States to have a gallery solely dedicated to Korean art, it has built up a remarkable collection of more than 750 art objects spanning millennia of Korean culture in a variety of mediums.

Treasures from Korea is the first major publication outside of Korea to survey the artistic production of the world's longest-ruling Confucian dynasty, which reigned on the Korean peninsula from 1392 to 1910.

This unique survey examines the contemporary art scene in Korea, which is one of the most dynamic and least known areas of the contemporary art world. This book features Korea's most talented and prolific artists and their works, from the powerful and grand-scale installations of Do Ho Suh and the eye-popping sculptures of Choi Jeong-Hwa to the minimalist performance of Kimsooja, and the intellectually challenging videos and sculptures of Michael Joo.

Traces the history of Japanese painting, calligraphy, architecture, sculpture, and other arts from the prehistoric period to modern times.

"Beginning by asking, "What is Japanese art?" this book supplies an answer so broad in its reach, so rich in detail, and so extensively illustrated as to give a reader not just a true picture, but also a fine understanding, of Japanese art. Arranged thematically, the book includes chapters on nature and pleasure, landscape and beauty, all framed by the themes of serenity and turmoil, the two poles of Japanese culture ancient and modern.

Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Arthur M Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., Dec. 14, 1997-Mar. 8, 1998.

This catalogue presents over fifty works in different media--most notably sculpture, painting, and ceramics--assembled together for the first time to convey the impressive variety of Japanese art from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.