The Double Screen
Author | : Wu Hung |
Publisher | : Reaktion Books |
Total Pages | : 298 |
Release | : 1996-11-22 |
ISBN-10 | : 9781861898425 |
ISBN-13 | : 1861898428 |
Rating | : 4/5 (428 Downloads) |
Download or read book The Double Screen written by Wu Hung and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 1996-11-22 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the first exploration of Chinese paintings as both material products and pictorial representations, The Double Screen shows how the collaboration and tension between material form and image gives life to a painting. A Chinese painting is often reduced to the image it bears; its material form is dismissed; its intimate connection with social activities and cultural conventions neglected. A screen occupies a space and divides it, supplies an ideal surface for painting, and has been a favorite pictorial image in Chinese art since antiquity. Wu Hung undertakes a comprehensive analysis of the screen, which can be an object, an art medium, a pictorial motif, or all three at once. With its diverse roles, the screen has provided Chinese painters with endless opportunities to reinvent their art. The Double Screen provides a powerful non-Western perspective on issues from portraiture and pictorial narrative to voyeurism, masquerade, and political rhetoric. It will be invaluable to anyone interested in the history of art and Asian studies.