by Julia K. Murray (1993)
Ma Hezhi and the Illustration of the Book of Odes is the first comprehensive study of one of the major monuments of twelfth-century Chinese painting. Illustrating the Book of Odes (Shijing), an important Chinese anthology of poetry, the series of handscrolls is the final and most ambitious artistic project by which the emperor Gaozong sought to validate the Southern Song dynastic revival and his own legitimacy. The scrolls paired the 305 poems of the ancient anthology (reputedly transcribed by the emperor himself) with compositions by Ma Hezhi, a leading figure in the resurgence of classical illustration at the Hangzhou court. The illustrative program of the Odes scrolls, reconstructed here for the first time, is shown to be closely linked with currents in Song intellectual history and literary studies, as well as with politics and art . In this study, Julia Murray accounts for all previous scholarship on the Odes scrolls, summarizes the exegetical tradition of the text, and documents its illustration in pre-Song times. She then analyzes the Song emperor Gaozong's patronage of traditional culture as an instrument of statecraft, as well as his development as a calligrapher in this context. After discussing the life and art of Ma Hezhi, she examines the Odes scrolls in detail and demonstrates that Ma Hezhi conceived the illustrations through his own creative engagement with the poems and commentaries. A systematic and critical connoisseurship is used to identify the "genuine" scrolls, which the author suggests come from a court workshop that executed designs created by Ma Hezhi. Murray also includes a catalogue raisonne' of all of the scrolls in an appendix and discusses the significance of Ma Hezhi and the Odes scrolls in the larger context of Chinese painting theory.
Andrew Ladis
"A discussion of the murals by Giotto in the Arena Chapel of Padua, Italy. The artist's work is considered in terms of its relationship to the structure of the poetry of Dante, biblical exegesis, geometry, and symmetry"--Provided by publisher.
essay by Nicholas Capasso
"Bones of the Earth, Spirit of the Land, spans the twenty-five year career of the internationally recognized sculptor John Van Alstine. Beginning with early stone carvings reminiscent of Modernists such as Hans Arp and Constantin Brancusi, this book traces the rapid development of a style and themes centered on combining roughly hewn stone and metal. Van Alstine has an abiding concern for the land resulting in sculptures that "elicit meaning through their juxtapositions with existing landscapes, and also transform places from the mundane to the magical," according to Nicholas Capasso in his introductory essay. Also featured in this book are many of Van Alstine's drawings and early "easel paintings.""--BOOK JACKET.
David R. Brown
A guide to reading and enjoying the writings of William Shakespeare, providing information about the playwright's life, family, religion, and work, and offering advice on how the plays should be read and produced.
Tzvetan Todorov
Le discours soviétique officiel décrit progressivement la réalité du pays en termes qui ne correspondent pas à l'expérience commune, comme si les mots pouvaient créer les choses. L'importance de cette doctrine dépasse de loin le domaine esthétique, elle représente à l'état pur l'un des traits dominants de la société soviétique sous Staline car elle consacre le règne universel du mensonge". A la fois connaisseur de l'Union soviétique et grand penseur des oeuvres d'art, Tzvetan Todorov a souhaité éclairer les rapports idéologiques entre ceux qu'il nomme les "artistes créateurs" et le pouvoir politique à partir de la révolution d'Octobre.0Comment les artistes ont-ils annoncé la révolution ? Comment ont-ils ensuite obéi ou échappé au réalisme socialiste désireux d'annihiler toute création ? Todorov explore le destin d'artistes phares, Maïakovski, Pasternak, Boulgakov ou Mandelstam, et s'attarde sur le parcours singulier du peintre Kasimir Malevitch, dont la pluralité des voies artistiques fait écho à l'intensité de son engagement. Le Triomphe de l'artiste, c'est finalement le pouvoir de l'art sur celui qui veut sa mort.