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A story of ruins : presence and absence in Chinese art and visual culture / Wu Hung.
LIBRA N7340 .W8 2012
Available from offsite location
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Wu Hung, 1945- author.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Ruins in art.
- Symbolism in art--History.
- Symbolism in art.
- Art, Chinese--Themes, motives.
- Art, Chinese.
- Art and society--China--History.
- Art and society.
- Art and history--China.
- Art and history.
- Ruined buildings--China--Psychological aspects.
- Ruined buildings.
- Psychological aspects.
- History.
- Kina.
- China.
- Local Subjects:
- Kina.
- Genre:
- History.
- Physical Description:
- 293 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 26 cm
- Place of Publication:
- Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2012.
- Summary:
- "This richly illustrated book examines the changing significance of ruins as vehicles for cultural memory in Chinese art and visual culture from ancient times to the present. Leading scholar of Chinese art Wu Hung shows how the story of ruins in China is different from but connected to "ruin culture" in the West. He investigates indigenous Chinese concepts of ruins and their visual manifestations, as well as the complex historical interactions between China and the West since the eighteenth century. Analyzing a broad variety of traditional and contemporary visual materials, including painting, architecture, photography, prints, and cinema, Wu also embraces a wide variety of subjects--from indigenous methods of recording damage and decay in ancient China, to realistic images of architectural ruins in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, to the strong interest in urban ruins in contemporary China, as shown in the many artworks that depict demolished houses and decaying industrial sites. The result is an original interpretation of the development of Chinese art, as well as a unique contribution to global art history." -- Publisher's description
- Contents:
- 1. Internalizing ruins : premodern sensibilities of time passed. Where are the ruins in traditional Chinese art?
- Qui and Xu: erasure and remembrance
- The stele and withered trees: painting and poetry on 'Lamenting the Past'
- Rubbing as surrogate ruin
- Ji: traces in landscape
- 2. The birth of ruins : inventing a modern visual culture in China. Circulating picturesque ruins
- War ruins: conquering and survival
- The destruction, ruination and resurrection of the Garden of Perfect Brightness (Yuanming Yuan)
- 3. Between past and future : transience as a contemporary aesthetic of ruins. Signifiers of despair and hope
- Representing contemporary ruins
- Coda: State Legacy.
- Notes:
- "Originally published in Great Britain in 2012 by Reaktion Books Ltd"--Title page verso.
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 259-284) and index.
- Chinese American Librarians Association Annual Best Book Award - Academic Books, Best Book, 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780691155029
- 069115502X
- OCLC:
- 761850995
- Online:
- Contributor biographical information
- Publisher description
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