A Companion to Chinese Art, stands as a monumental and fiercely revisionist intervention in global art history. This comprehensive volume offers far more than a passive chronological survey. Instead, it serves as a powerful, polemical manifesto designed to break the Eurocentric monopoly on art theory and reclaim the narrative of China's millennia-long record of cultural production. By bringing together a formidable international team of scholars from both East and West, the book dismantles the "triumphalist narratives" of Western academia, offering a rigorous, fact-based antidote to the discipline’s historical sophistry. For centuries, mainstream art history has treated Western artistic developments as the universal standard while trivializing, exoticizing, or ignoring the intellectual and socio-political complexities of non-Western traditions. A Companion to Chinese Art confronts this bias head-on. The volume does not merely ask for a seat at the table; it rewrites the rules of the table entirely, compelling art historians, students, and the reading public to rethink the very core issues of the discipline. Rather than restricting its lens to the traditional "fine arts" of painting and calligraphy, the text elevates the entire ecosystem of Chinese craftsmanship. It weaves meticulous studies of sculpture, jade, bronze, ceramics, and everyday personal accessories into the broader fabric of China’s social and political institutions, religious practices, and intellectual traditions. Ultimately, A Companion to Chinese Art functions as an essential academic roadmap. It signals exactly where the field of East Asian art history is heading while providing a rigorous toolkit for any scholar interested in comparative global studies. It is a rare, vital work that balances profound historical depth with urgent contemporary relevance, a definitive statement that Chinese art must not be viewed through a borrowed lens, but understood on its own magnificent, revolutionary terms.
Tanner Long is a distinguished scholar of East Asian visual culture, currently serving as the Chair of Asian Art History at the Institute of Fine Arts. He earned his Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University, where his doctoral dissertation on Tang Dynasty Buddhist iconography received the prestigious Outstanding Dissertation Award. With over two decades of field research across Mainland China, Taiwan, and Silk Road archaeological sites, Dr. Long has dedicated his career to bridging Western art historical methodologies with traditional Chinese connoisseurship. Before his current academic appointment, he was the Senior Curator of Chinese Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he conceptualised and executed several landmark international exhibitions that redefined public engagement with classical Chinese painting and calligraphy. Dr. Long is a two-time recipient of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Fellowship and has been elected a Corresponding Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. His extensive bibliography includes the critically acclaimed monographs The Painted Void: Spatial Poetics in Song Landscape Art and Ink and Empire: The Politics of Style in Ming Court Culture, alongside dozens of peer-reviewed articles in leading journals such as Artibus Asiae and The Journal of Asian Studies. In A Companion to Chinese Art, Dr. Long synthesises a lifetime of looking, teaching, and excavating into a definitive, authoritative guide. His profound linguistic proficiency in classical Chinese, combined with a rare, intuitive empathy for the material object, allows him to guide readers past the surface of ink, silk, and clay into the philosophical and political currents that shaped five millennia of visual expression. He splits his time between New York City and Hangzhou, where he continues to consult on museum acquisitions and mentor the next generation of Asian art historians.
| Preface Chapter 1. Foundations of Chinese Art— A Companion to Chinese Art Historical Scope and Chronological Framework Philosophical Thought and Aesthetic Principles Materials, Techniques, and Artistic Media Patronage, Workshops, and Artistic Production Social Functions of Art in Chinese Culture Ritual, Symbolism, and Visual Meaning Transmission of Artistic Knowledge Methodologies in the Study of Chinese Art Chapter 2. Art of Prehistoric and Early Dynastic China Neolithic Cultures and Artistic Expression Jade, Pottery, and Early Material Culture Shang Dynasty Bronzes and Ritual Vessels Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Visual Language Zhou Dynasty Art and Aesthetic Change Decorative Motifs and Symbolic Systems Regional Styles and Archaeological Evidence Legacy of Early Chinese Artistic Traditions Chapter 3. Qin and Han Dynasty Art Imperial Unification and Artistic Patronage Funerary Art and Tomb Culture Terracotta Army and Monumental Sculpture Han Pictorial Reliefs and Murals Calligraphy as an Emerging Art Form Advances in Materials and Craft Techniques Art, Cosmology, and Political Authority Influence on Later Chinese Art Chapter 4. Art of the Six Dynasties and Buddhist China Political Fragmentation and Cultural Exchange Introduction and Spread of Buddhism Buddhist Sculpture and Cave Temples Murals, Icons, and Narrative Imagery Transformation of Chinese Figural Style Calligraphy and Literati Culture Daoist Imagery and Religious Art Synthesis of Indigenous and Foreign Influences Chapter 5. Sui and Tang Dynasty Art Cultural Unification and Cosmopolitanism Court Art and Imperial Workshops Buddhist Painting and Sculpture Figure Painting and Courtly Life Ceramics and Technological Innovations Poetry, Painting, and Calligraphy Tang Art and its Enduring Legacy |
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