Awakenings : Zen figure painting in medieval Japan / Gregory Levine, Yukio Lippit, exhibition co-curators ; Yoshiaki Shimizu, senior exhibition advisor ; edited by Naomi Noble Richard and Melanie B. D. Klein.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Levine, Gregory P. A., 1963-

Lippit, Yukio, 1970-

Japan Society (New York, N.Y.). Gallery.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Zen painting--Japan--Exhibitions.

Zen painting.

Figure painting--Japan--Exhibitions.

Figure painting.

Ink painting, Japanese--Kamakura-Momoyama periods, 1185-1600--Exhibitions.

Ink painting, Japanese.

Ink painting, Japanese--Kamakura-Momoyama periods.

Japan.

Genre:

Exhibition catalogs.

Physical Description:

222 pages : color illustrations ; 33 cm

Other Title:

Zen figure painting in medieval Japan

Place of Publication:

New York : Japan Society ; New Haven : Yale University Press, [2007]

Summary:

Transmitted from China to Japan in the 13th century, Zen Buddhism not only introduced religious practices but also literature, calligraphy, philosophy, and ink painting to Japanese disciples. This elegant book discusses these fields as they combined to encompass the evocative practice of figure painting within Zen Buddhism in medieval Japan. Focusing on forty-seven exceptional Japanese and Chinese paintings from the 12th to the 16th centuries- - which together illustrate the story of the " awakening" of Zen art- - the book features essays by distinguished scholars that discuss the life and art within Zen monastic and lay communities. The authors explore the ideology underlying the development of Zen' s own pantheon of characters created to imagine the Buddha' s wisdom and offer fresh insights into the role of the visual arts within Zen practice as it developed in Japan in close dialogue with the Asian continent.

Contents:

Foreword / Richard J. Wood, President, Japan Society

Greetings / Kondo Shinji, commissioner, Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan

Greetings / Nozaki Hiroshi, chairperson of the board of directors, independent administrative institution National Museum of Japan

Acknowledgments / Kendall Hubert, executive vice president, Japan Society

Lenders to the exhibition

Chronology

Patriarchs heading west: an introduction / Gregory Levine, Yukio Lippit

"Zen art" in a monastic context: Zen and the arts in medieval Kenchōji / Martin Collcutt

Awakenings: the development of the Zen figural pantheon / Yukio Lippit

Two (or more) truths: reconsidering Zen art in the west / Gregory Levine

Catalogue / Yoshiaki Shimizu, Barbara Brennan Ford, Eva Havlicova, Sinéad Kehoe, Gregory Levine, Yukio Lippit, Xiaojin Wu, Ann Yonemura

Awakenings in the west: a bibliography on Chan/Seon/Zen Buddhism and art / Gregory Levine, Yukio Lippit.

Notes:

Accompanies the exhibition presented at Japan Society Gallery, New York, from March 28 through June 17, 2007.

"Organized by Japan Society, the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan, and the Independent Administrative Institution National Museum of Japan."

Includes bibliographical references (pages 202-207) and index.

ISBN:

9780300119640

030011964X

OCLC:

77256429

Online:

Contributor biographical information

Publisher description