Taoism and the Arts of China

Taoism and the Arts of China

Author: Stephen Little

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2000-01-01

Total Pages: 422

ISBN-13: 9780520227859

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A celebration of Taoist art traces the influence of philosophy on the visual arts in China.


The Myth of Wu Tao-tzu

The Myth of Wu Tao-tzu

Author: Sven Lindqvist

Publisher: Granta Books

Published: 2012-08-02

Total Pages: 98

ISBN-13: 1847085865

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'During the Tang dynasty, the Chinese artist Wu Tao-tzu was one day standing looking at a mural he had just completed. Suddenly, he clapped his hands and the temple gate opened. He went into his work and the gates closed behind him.' Thus begins Sven Lindqvist's profound meditation on art and its relationship with life, first published in 1967, and a classic in his home country - it has never been out of print. As a young man, Sven Lindqvist was fascinated by the myth of Wu Tao-tzu, and by the possibility of entering a work of art and making it a way of life. He was drawn to artists and writers who shared this vision, especially Hermann Hesse, in his novel Glass Bead Game. Partly inspired by Hesse's work, Lindqvist lived in China for two years, learning classical calligraphy from a master teacher. There he was drawn deeper into the idea of a life of artistic perfectionism and retreat from the world. But when he left China for India and then Afghanistan, and saw the grotesque effects of poverty and extreme inequality, Lindqvist suffered a crisis of confidence and started to question his ideas about complete immersion in art at the expense of a proper engagement with life. The Myth of Wu Tao-tzu takes us on a fascinating journey through a young man's moral awakening and his grappling with profound questions of aesthetics. It contains the bracing moral anger, and poetic, intensely atmospheric travel writing Lindqvist's readers have come to love.


The Zen Art Book

The Zen Art Book

Author: Stephen Addiss

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 111

ISBN-13: 159030747X

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"When a Zen master puts brush to paper, the resulting image is an expression of the quality of his or her mind. It is thus a teaching, intended to compassionately stop us in our tracks and to compel us to consider ultimate truth. Here, forty masterpieces of painting and calligraphy by renowned masters such as Hakuin Ekaku (1685–1768) and Gibon Sengai (1750–1837) are reproduced along with commentary that illuminates both the art and its teaching. The authors’ essays provide an excellent introduction to both the aesthetic and didactic aspects of this art that can be profound, perplexing, serious, humorous, and breathtakingly beautiful—often all within the same simple piece."--Publisher description.


The Cat and the Tao

The Cat and the Tao

Author: Kwong Kuen Shan

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2002-11-19

Total Pages: 106

ISBN-13: 0743453352

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Artist and author Kwong Kuen Shan's exquisite paintings portray intricately rendered cats in a wide variety of situations and settings, from the garden to the pond to the windowsill, each one of which brings to life the specific Taoist or Confucian text that accompanies it. Full color.


The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting

The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting

Author:

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2015-02-17

Total Pages: 645

ISBN-13: 1400866839

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Originally published as Volume 2 of The Tao of Painting, this is the first English translation of the famous Chinese handbook, the "Chieh Tzu Yüan Hua Chuan" (original, 1679-1701). Mai-mai Sze has translated and annotated the texts of instructions, discussions of the fundamentals of painting, notes on the preparation of colors, and chief editorial prefaces.


The Tao of Sketching

The Tao of Sketching

Author: Lei Lei Qu

Publisher:

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 9781904991298

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The author provides all the essential Chinese techniques you need to produce finished sketches of faces and figures, birds and animals, and the world of nature. He introduces the sketchers' art from the Chinese perspective and focuses on the sketch as personal fulfilment for the artist.


Issues of Authenticity in Chinese Painting

Issues of Authenticity in Chinese Painting

Author: Judith G. Smith

Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 319

ISBN-13: 0870999281

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Published in conjunction with a December 1999 symposium held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and an exhibition, "The Artist as Collector: Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from the C.C. Wang Family Collection." Twelve contributions give dissenting opinions regarding a book recently published by The Museum titled Along the Riverbank, which seeks to attribute the painting called "Riverbank" to the 10th-century landscape master Dong Yuan--an attribution that would call for the rewriting of early Chinese painting history. This volume contains 239 bandw illustrations to support the contributors' efforts to explain their opinions. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR


Existence

Existence

Author: David Hinton

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2016-08-09

Total Pages: 140

ISBN-13: 0834840251

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This is the story of existence, and it begins with a painting. Join David Hinton, the premier modern translator of the Chinese classics, as he stands before a single landscape painting, discovering in it the wondrous story of existence—and as part of that story, the magical nature of consciousness. What he coaxes from the image is nothing less than a revelation: the dynamic interweaving of mind and Cosmos, and the glorious dance of Absence and Presence that is the secret of that Cosmos.


Chinese Painting Style

Chinese Painting Style

Author: Jerome Silbergeld

Publisher:

Published: 1982

Total Pages: 68

ISBN-13: 9780295959214

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Westerners seeking to appreciate and understand Chinese art have long felt the need of a fundamental book that explains both the technical means used by Chinese artists and the traditional stylistic modes of artistic expression. In Chinese Painting Style Jerome Silbergeld addresses this need, beginning with a discussion of basic materials and methods and continuing with in-depth studies of the complex paintings created by these methods. No other work so thoroughly or systematically describes the Chinese artistic processes, ranging from the distinctively Chinese manner of handling the brush to the blending of brushlines, wash, color, and texture into a painted composition. The final chapters examine Chinese composition in terms of naturalistic representation and of abstract expression. Throughout the book, artistic problems are set against a background of Chinese history, ideas, and geography. The illustrations include drawings that reveal the principles of Chinese brushwork, together with a broad range of Chinese paintings and calligraphy. A unique feature is the precise coding of text and illustrations, by which the reader is invited to inspect the specific turn of the brush or adjustment of composition by which the artist achieves his effects. Chinese Painting Style provides a penetrating look into the formal basis of this age-old art, and one that will be useful and engaging both to the general reader and to the serious student.