The Chinese on the Art of Painting: Texts by the Painter-Critics, from the Han Through the Ch'ing Dynasties

by Osvald Sirén

Book Overview

Because so many Chinese artworks have been ravaged by time, the only way to really understand their history and significance is to turn to writings by the painters themselves or by contemporary critics. That is what Osvald Sir n has done in this classic book, with eye-opening results.
One of the first Western studies to systematically cover the more than two thousand years of Chinese art, this book by a modern expert considers a wide range of...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0486444287
• ISBN13: 9780486444284
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

a precious book

I read this book ten years ago and typed out dozens and dozens of quotes from it because I thought it was so wonderful. I do tai chi, chi gong and I teach art and I am very interested in art history. I found this book in our local library. I was AMAZED that it had this book. I recently reread those pages of quotes and wanted to take it out of the library again, but our library has gotten rid of it. This is a very specialized book. If you have no background in Chinese art, it will not make sense to you--but if you are someone who loves to spend time looking at the Chinese art in your local museum. If you have some appreciation for the Tao Te Ching, you will enjoy this book. If you know who Ni Tzan is, you will love this book. How can an average person, who is not a scholar find examples of these ancient texts? Here they are gathered together so you can peruse and enjoy them.