A Companion to Chinese Art

A Companion to Chinese Art provides a contemporary survey of one of the world s greatest and richest artistic traditions. Including over two dozen newly–commissioned essays, it examines this region s art and theory in all of its multi–faceted complexity spanning the theories, genres, and media central to Chinese art throughout its history.

The volume offers a rich insight into China s social and political institutions, religious practices, and intellectual traditions, alongside Chinese art history, theory, and criticism. It brings together an international team of scholars from East and West, whose contributions range from an overview of pre–modern theory, to those exploring calligraphy, fine painting, sculpture, personal accessories, and more. In addition, the Companion reflects on social and cultural issues, such as the challenges of comparative history; the role of the artist in society; the contested role of gender in art production; different theories of nature that have evolved over time; and articulates the direction in which the field of Chinese art history is moving. In promoting a comparative understanding of China s long record of cultural production, this volume provides students and scholars of both Asian and non–Asian art history with an exceptional guide to the history of art in China, from its earliest incarnations to the present day.

Martin J. Powers is Sally Michelson Davidson Professor of Chinese Arts and Cultures at the University of Michigan, and former Director of the Center for Chinese Studies. His publications Art and Political Expression in Early China (1991) and Pattern and Person: Ornament, Society, and Self in Classical China (2006) have both received the Levenson Prize for the best book in pre–twentieth century Chinese Studies.

Katherine R. Tsiang is Associate Director of the Center for the Art of East Asia in the Department of Art History, University of Chicago, where she coordinates research materials and programs. Her research is concentrated in the fields of Chinese Buddhist art and Chinese medieval art and visual culture. Her work includes using new technology for digital imaging and reconstruction of Chinese Buddhist caves and she is curator and author of the catalog of the exhibition Echoes of the Past: The Buddhist Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan.