How to Read Chinese Paintings"The Chinese way of appreciating a painting is often expressed by the words du hua, "to read a painting." How does one do that? Because art is a visual language, words alone cannot adequately convey its expressive dimension. How to Read Chinese Paintings seeks to visually analyze thirty-six paintings and calligraphies from the encyclopedic collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in order to elucidate what makes each a masterpiece." "Maxwell K. Hearn's text discusses each work in depth, considering multiple layers of meaning. Style, technique, symbolism, past traditions, historical events, and the artist's personal circumstances all come into play. Spanning more than a thousand years, from the eighth through the seventeenth century, the subjects represented are particularly wide-ranging: landscapes, flowers, birds, figures, religious subjects, and calligraphies. All illuminate the main goal of every Chinese artist: to capture not only the outer appearance of a subject but also its inner essence. Numerous large color details, accompanied by informative captions, allow the reader to delve further into the most significant aspects of each work." "Together the text and illustrations gradually reveal many of the major themes and characteristics of Chinese painting. To "read" these works is to enter a dialogue with the past. Slowly perusing a scroll or album, one shares an intimate experience that has been repeated over the centuries. And it is through such readings that meaning is gradually revealed."--BOOK JACKET. |
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active album leaf artist Barnhart brush brushstrokes brushwork C. C. Wang Family Calligraphy and Painting century character China Chinese Calligraphy Chinese Painting colophon color on silk composition Confucian convey Crawford Jr cursive Daoist depiction Dillon Fund Gift Douglas Dillon dragon Ex coll Family Collection Fong foreground forms geese Gonglin Guo Xi Guo Xi's Han Gan Handscroll detail Hanging scroll Hearn horse Huang ink and color ink on paper ink on silk ink wash inscription landscape Level Distance Li Gonglin Lin Xiangru luohan Ma Yuan Metropolitan Museum Ming Museum of Art National Palace Museum Ni Zan Night-Shining White painter Painting and Calligraphy poem Qian Qing Representation rocks scholar scholar-artists seals Shitao's Song Painting Academy Southern Song Painting style Su Shi Sutra Taipei Tang temple texture strokes translation Vimalakirti Wang Family Gift Wang Xizhi York Yuan Dynasty Zhao Mengfu Zhao's