Synopses & Reviews
Chinese Art and Its Encounter with the World examines Chinese art from the mid-eighteenth century to the present, beginning with discussion of a Chinese portrait modeler from Canton who traveled to London in 1769, and ending with an analysis of art and visual culture in post-colonial Hong Kong. By means of a series of six closely-focused case studies, often deliberately introducing non-canonical or previously marginalized aspects of Chinese visual culture, it analyzes Chinese art's encounter with the broader world, and in particular with the West. Offering more than a simple charting of influences, it uncovers a pattern of richly mutual interchange between Chinese art and its others. Arguing that we cannot fully understand modern Chinese art without taking this expanded global context into account, it attempts to break down barriers between areas of art history which have hitherto largely been treated within separate and often nationally-conceived frames. Aware that issues of cultural difference need to be addressed by art historians as much as by artists, it represents a pioneering attempt to produce art historical writing which is truly global in approach.
David Clarke is Professor in the Department of Fine Arts, University of Hong Kong.
Synopsis
This book examines Chinese art from the mid-eighteenth century to the present. By means of a series of closely-focused case studies, often introducing previously marginalized aspects of Chinese visual culture, it analyzes Chinese art's encounter with the world, arguing that we cannot fully understand modern Chinese art without taking this larger global context into account.
Synopsis
The book offers a bridge into the critical understanding of modern Chinese art through its encounter with the world beyond China's borders. David Clarke demonstrates Chinese art's interconnections with Western cultures while exploring its inherited cultural traditions and internal historical change.
The first section deals with the cross-cultural trajectories of individual Chinese artists who traveled from China to the West and then returned. The focus then shifts from the movement of individual artists between cultures to the process by which specific genres of Western art have been interpreted by Chinese artists. The final section illuminates the encounter of cultures via visual representations of Macau and Hong Kong.