Diversity & Inclusivity Resources at The Ringling Art Library

Asian American Art: A History, 1850-1970 is the first comprehensive study of the lives and artistic production of artists of Asian ancestry active in the United States before 1970. The publication features original essays by ten leading scholars, biographies of more than 150 artists, and over 400 reproductions of artwork, ephemera, and images of the artists. Aside from a few artists such as Dong Kingman, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Isamu Noguchi, and Yun Gee, artists of Asian ancestry have received inadequate historical attention, even though many of them received wide critical acclaim during their productive years. This pioneering work recovers the extraordinarily impressive artistic production of numerous Asian Americans, and offers richly informed interpretations of a long-neglected art history. To unravel the complexity of Asian American art expression and its vital place in American art, the texts consider aesthetics, the social structures of art production and criticism, and national and international historical contexts.Without a doubt, Asian American Art will profoundly influence our understanding of the history of art in America and the Asian American experience for years to come.

Examines the work of 18 Asian Pacific American artists creating in the Pacific Northwest during the period from 1900 to 1960. Essays on art in Seattle, Asian American painters of Washington state, early Asian American photographers, and the legacy of Asian American art accompany color paintings and

A survey of Asian American modernists active during the era of Abstract Expressionism which sets out to re-evaluate a generation of neglected artists. Paintings, stone and metal sculptures, woodcuts, works on paper, ceramics and collages are all presented in this volume.

Modern Asian Art is a seminal publication focusing on the modern art of Japan, China, India, Thailand and Indonesia. Clark offers a unique viewpoint, debunking the idea of a single 'modern Asian art' and of a one-way flow of influence from West to East, presenting instead a complex ebb and flow of information and transformation, where many diverse modernisms interact.
Through a series of empirical micro-histories the book proceeds to look closely at the conditions for art practice in each country. Prehistories, colonialism, transfers of information, the application of neotraditional art, arts infrastructure, types of artist, modes of exhibition, domains of practice, the avant-garde movement, the influence of nationalism, and issues of integration and autonomy are rigorously explored by the author. The dynamic realm of contemporary Asian art, which today takes the international stage, is also highlighted in later chapters.
Modern Asian Art is a scholarly publication that offers specialists - academics, art historians and curators - a sophisticated reading of modern art discourses, while presenting the general reader and student of modern and contemporary Asian art with an insight into the art and recent histories of the Asian region.

With essays by Frederick M. Asher, Melissa Chiu, John Clark, Gao Shiming, Yukio Lippit, Saloni Mathur, Kaja M. McGowan, Rana Mitter, Alexandra Munroe, Jerome Silbergeld, Kavita Singh, Nancy S. Steinhardt, Akira Takagishi, and Gennifer Weisenfeld   Since its beginnings in the early 1900s, the study of Asian art has dramatically changed and has constantly been shaped by shifting world politics. Asian Art History in the Twenty-First Century explores the field of Asian art and its historiography, tensions, and possible future directions. It features essays by fourteen leading authors specializing in Chinese, East Asian, Indian, and Japanese art history. They consider what is meant by the term "Asian art"; how it is manifested in museums, exhibitions, and galleries; and how it should be understood in relation to shifting geopolitics. Among the many fascinating topics discussed are the Zen portrait in medieval Japan, the influence of Asian art on American art, and public art and memory of war in contemporary China. The authors also consider what new theoretical structures must be created to suit the realities of the twenty-first century and Asian art today.

Shedding fresh light on modern art beyond the West, this textintroduces readers to artists, art movements, debates andtheoretical positions of the modern era that continue to shapecontemporary art worldwide.  Area histories of modern art arerepositioned and interconnected towards a global arthistoriography.   Provides a much-needed corrective to the Eurocentrichistoriography of modern art, offering a more worldly and expandedview than any existing modern art survey Brings together a selection of major essays and historicaldocuments from a wide range of sources Section introductions, critical essays, and documents providethe relevant contextual and historiographical material, link theselections together, and guide the reader through the keytheoretical positions and debates Offers a useful tool for students and scholars with little orno prior knowledge of non-Western modernisms Includes many contrasting voices in its documents and essays,encouraging reader response and lively classroom discussion Includes a selection of major essays and historical documentsaddressing not only painting and sculpture but photography, filmand architecture as well.

A monumental addition to the understudied field of Korean art, this brilliantly illustrated volume assembles the perspectives of art historians, critics, curators, and museum directors from major universities and museums around the world to trace the varied and dynamic experiences of Korean art acquisitions over the past century.The first part of Arts of Korea reveals patterns of collection-building and display strategies across time and place, discusses the role of the private collector in the growth of institutional holdings, and addresses issues of provenance and authenticity. Topics covered include the prevalence of ceramics at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London; gallery architecture and design at the British Museum; the aesthetic and political challenges of displaying another nation's artistic achievements through a case study of the United Kingdom; the involvement of collectors and benefactors at the National Museum of Scotland; Korean Buddhist paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston; masterpieces donated by industrialist Avery Brundage to the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco; the diversity of media in the Newark Art Museum's collection; and early collecting at the Honolulu Museum of Art.In the second part, contributors focus on artists, artistic genres, and previously neglected art periods, highlighting new research coming out of Korea and Japan and speaking to specific challenges in introducing Korean art to an international audience. After discussing important historical events that put the United States and Europe in contact with Korean culture, this section investigates Joseon dynasty Buddhist sculpture in American museums; Buddhist paintings from the Goryeo period in Japanese collections; Goryeo celadon ceramics and their reception in the West; world maps from the late Joseon dynasty; the power of nationalism in Korean art history; the influence of Europe's Art Informel movement on Korean Informel artists; and the rich heritage behind contemporary Korean ceramics.Assessing the current state of a field that has grown since Korean independence in 1945 to become a benchmark of the modern humanities, Arts of Korea provides a much-needed historical and global overview of collection building, presentation, and interpretation of Korean art.

In early modern Japan, 1600-1900, thousands of sexually explicit paintings, prints, and illustrated books with texts were produced, known as 'spring pictures' (shunga). Frequently tender, funny and beautiful, shunga were mostly produced within the popular school known as 'pictures of the floating world' (ukiyo-e), by celebrated artists such as Utamaro and Hokusai. Early modern Japan was certainly not a sex-paradise; however, the values promoted in shunga are generally positive towards sexual pleasure for all. Official life in this period was governed by strict Confucian laws, but private life was less controlled in practice. Shunga is in some ways a unique phenomenon in pre-modern world culture, in terms of the quantity, the quality and the nature of the art that was produced. This catalogue of a major exhibition at the British Museum marks the culmination of a substantial international research project and aims to answer some key questions about what shunga was and why it was produced. In particular the social and cultural contexts for sex art in Japan are explored. Erotic Japanese art was heavily suppressed in Japan from the 1870s onwards as part of a process of cultural 'modernisation' that imported many contemporary western moral values. Only in the last twenty years or so has it been possible to publish unexpurgated examples in Japan and this ground-breaking publication presents this fascinating art in its historical and cultural context for the first time. Drawing on the latest scholarship from the leading experts in the field and featuring over 400 images of works from major public and private collections, this landmark book looks at painted and printed erotic images produced in Japan during the Edo period (1600-1868) and early Meiji era (1868-1912). These are related to the wider contexts of literature, theatre, the culture of the pleasure quarters, and urban consumerism; and interpreted in terms of their sensuality, reverence, humour and parody. This title is only available through Hotei Publishing in the United States of America, Canada and the Philippines.

New in theWorld of Art series is this guide to the treasures of the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the national museums of Asian art at the Smithsonian Insitution inWashington DC. The museums house a spectacular array of Asian art, originally begun by the 19th-century collector Charles Lang Freer with aesthetic beauty as his sole guiding criterion, and now comprising one of the world's most extensive collections outside Asia. The Freer Gallery also contains an important collection of 19th-century American art, featuring James McNeillWhistler's fantastic blue-and-gold Peacock Room, perhaps one of the earliest art installations on record. The guide presents the curators' selections of the most important and beautiful objects in the collections. An introduction by the chief curator, a timeline, maps and sections on the museums' archives, library and conservation efforts celebrate Freer Sackler Galleries' evolution into the 21st century.

The remarkable phenomenon of the twenty-first-century art world is contemporary Asian art. Fueled by a newfound openness in the East, and by an economic boom that has promoted a vibrant cultural confidence, art made in Asia or by Asian artists since the 1990s has become dynamic and exciting, acknowledged and appreciated by collectors, critics, and curators. This authoritative, wide-ranging volume surveys the contemporary art of Asia, examining key issues and themes: art's relationship to history and tradition, its engagement with politics, society, and the state, its exploration of consumerism and popular culture, and its interplay with the urban environment. Artists range from the established--Nam June Paik, On Kawara, Yoko Ono, Cai Guo-Qiang, Takashi Murakami--to the emerging--Indonesian cartoon artist Wedhar Riyadi, Mongolian site-specific artist Chaolun Baatar, Pakistani graffiti artist Naiza Khan, Vietnamese-American photo artist Dinh Q. Le, and many more. Together, these artists represent the range of Asian countries, from Indonesia to Japan, Uzbekistan to South Korea, Iran to China. More than 230 sumptuous illustrations capture the full scope of the artists' practice, from calligraphy, painting, sculpture, and photography to performance, installation, video, and Internet art. Complete with comprehensive biographies, Asian Art Now is both a superb critical overview and the consummate visual reference.

This beautifully illustrated volume details how South Asian art has been acquired by public and private collectors in Europe, North America, and Singapore from the mid-nineteenth century onward. It traces the various journeys and colonial legacies of artwork from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Contributors explore the removal of art objects from their countries of origin for external appreciation. They discuss British collecting practices during colonial rule in South Asia, when military officials and individuals associated with the East India Company transported various pieces to the Tower of London, the British Museum, and the Royal Ontario Museum. An overview of Newark Museum's unique history of acquiring art originating in South Asia is provided, followed by insight into the birth of postcolonial exhibitions during a cultural renaissance in Singapore. The authors also tell the stories of private collectors including Alfred Chester Beatty, who bequeathed his entire library of miniature paintings and rare manuscripts to the people of Ireland; Ananda Coomaraswamy, who played an integral role in introducing Indian art to the West; Hugh Nevill, who compiled over 2,000 manuscripts in Sri Lanka; and Nasli Heeramaneck, who became one of the world's leading dealers in Asian arts and antiques. The essays in this volume also address the ethical and political dilemmas of displaying South Asian art for Western appreciation. They highlight calls for the return of cultural property to their original sites and explain that repatriated works are often used as centerpieces of political exhibitionism rather than celebrated as recovered symbols of national heritage. Featuring archival materials and high-quality images of key pieces, Arts of South Asia offers an inside look at early collecting practices while addressing contemporary concerns about how artwork obtained under colonial rule is displayed abroad.

Table of Contents:
National/modern : preliminaries (1991) / Geeta Kapur -- Open and closed discourses of modernity in Asian art (1993) / John Clark -- Developing regionalist perspectives in Southeast Asian art historiography (1996) / T.K. Sabapathy -- Multiculturalism/mulitmodernism (1996) / Jim Supangkat -- Imagining Asia : a genealogical analysis (200) / Wang Hui -- Why cubism? (2006) / Tatehata Akira -- The future : post-Cold war, postmodernism, postmarginalia (playing with slippery lubricants) (1993) / Apinan Poshyananda -- Cities on the move (1997) / Hou Hanru and Hans-Ulrich Obrist -- Contemporary Asian art and its western reception (2002) / David Clarke -- Home and away : highways and byways in Asian art (2004) / Chaitanya Sambrani -- Beyond the "authentic-exotic" : collecting contemporary Asian art in the twenty-first century (2005) / Vishakha N. Desai -- The curatorial turn in Southeast Asia and the afterlife of the modern (2008) / Patrick D. Flores -- Biennale demand (2008) / Lee Weng Choy -- The politics of curating "contemporary Korean art" for audiences abroad (2008) / Young Min Moon -- The mono-ha : foreshadowings and premonitions (1977; revised 2001) / Lee Ufan -- Modernism and the Chinese other in twentieth-century art criticism (1996) / Alice Yang -- Conceptual art with anticonceptual attutude : mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong (1999) / Gao Minglu -- Radicalizing tradition (2000) / Salima Hashmi -- Historicizing "contemporary art" : some discursive practices in Gendai Bijutsu in Japan (2004) / Reiko Tomii -- Theories of being outside : diaspora and Chinese artists (2007) / Melissa Chiu -- What is feminist about contemporary Asian women's art? (2007; revised 2009) / Joan Kee -- Reinscribing tradition in a transnational art world (2007) / Gennifer Weisenfeld -- A case of being "contemporary" : conditions, spheres, and narratives of contemporary Chinese art (2008) / Wu Hung

Contemporary Art from South East Asia explores what factors might distinguish the contemporary art of South East Asia from Western aesthetic paradigms, through the work of eleven artists from eight countries. "S.E.A." is an acronym for South East Asian art, but also alludes to the fact that all of the art surveyed in this volume comes from countries bordering the Pacific Ocean. The artists featured tackle such themes as identity and memory, emotional distance and diaspora, using a variety of media, from painting to performance documentation. Each is introduced by a local art critic with international stature; the artists include Aung Ko (Myanmar), Donna Ong (Singapore), Sopheap Pich (Cambodia), Natee Utarit (Thailand), Nithakhong Somsanith (Laos), Nguyen Th i Tuan (Vietnam), Khvay Samnang (Cambodia), Aditya Novali (Indonesia), La Huy (Vietnam), Ruben Pang (Singapore) and Isabel & Alfredo Aquilizan (Philippines).

Reflected in the holdings of Asia Society, this book shows how contemporary artists from Asia and the diaspora have responded to seismic shifts in sociopolitical, economic, and cultural conditions. The book groups artworks to emphasize the strengths of the collection and to allow for broader discussion of the connections between historic and contemporary art. The initial section includes traditional works, divided by region. Following is a section devoted to contemporary works, including those made by Asians living abroad. The pieces are presented as part of a narrative, rather than discrete objects, thus allowing readers to consider history, region, religion, and technique as contextual touchstones in their appreciation of these treasures. Lavishly illustrated, this book acknowledges the enormous transformations that have taken place in Asian cultures, while also commemorating the continent's magnificent contributions throughout the history of art. (Exhibition: Asia Society Museum, New York, USA (12/20/2016 - 01/07/2018).

Explores beliefs and practices relating to rice as they are made manifest in the unique arts and material cultures of Asian peoples Contains magnificent photographs This volume explores beliefs and practices relating to rice as they are made manifest in the unique arts and material cultures of the various peoples who live throughout South, Southeast, and East Asia. Incorporating essays by 27 authorities representing a wide variety of cultures and perspectives, the lavishly illustrated book describes rice-related rituals and beliefs in Thailand, Nepal, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Japan, China, and Korea. Throughout, the juxtaposition of magnificent photographs of works of art - paintings, prints, ceramics, textiles, lacquerware, and sculpture - with objects of a more humble nature - agricultural implements, rice-straw ornaments, cooking utensils, baskets, puppets, votive plaques, and more - serves to indicate the striking pervasiveness of rice in all aspects and all walks of life. Wedding ceremonies, parades, festivals, celebrations of birth, rites held to honor the rice goddess, and those performed to ensure success at every step in the rice-growing cycle are vividl

During the Festival of Indonesia in the United States (1901-1) there was a remarkable display of traditional art and performance. However, the emphasis in art was upon classical sculpture (pre-sixteenth century), royal court treasures, textiles, and ethnographic objects from Indonesia's OuterIslands. There was no exhibition devoted solely to the country's folk art and certainly none to that from Java. In addition, there have been very few studies, either popular or serious, by Indonesian or foreign scholars on this vital tradition.This book serves as an introduction to the folk arts of Java as determined by the Javanese themselves. It features objects associated with traditional games and toys, reverse paintings on glass that reflect Hindu-Buddhist and Islamic traditions, various representations in Javanese society of theservant-clowns in the Wayang theatre, ceramics that reflect folklore and ritual, folk painters, traditiional children's art, and such objects as roof tiles, bronze bells, brass votive figures, and village masks and puppets.The book underscores the great importance of these components of traditional material culture in both the past and present development of Indonesia, and calls for serious research and continued promotion of these arts and crafts that so strikingly reflect the creative vitality and the economicresources of the Javanese people.

In May 2012, nearly thirty leading contemporary artists from throughout Asia presented arresting and provocative work at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. Art objects from the museum's extensive collection of traditional art were juxtaposed with the contemporary works--not so much to compare the past and present as to expand our imaginations beyond space and time into the spiritual world and the afterlife. Phantoms of Asia, the resulting publication, is a unique and intriguing exploration of the concept of Asia not as a block of political and economic interest but as an interconnected network of "phantoms" of invisible spiritual energy.

As his personal circumstances move in constant flux, Ai Weiwei remains a cultural magnet. Renowned for his political activism and social media activity almost as much as for his social interventions, contemporary approach to the readymade, and knowledge of Chinese traditional crafts, Ai's fame extends throughout and beyond the art world. Drawn from TASCHEN's limited Collector's Edition, this monograph explores each of Ai's career phases up until his release from Chinese custody. It features extensive visual material to trace Ai's development from his early New York days right through to his recent practice. Focus moments include his international breakthrough in the early 2000s, his porcelain Sunflower Seeds at the Turbine Hall of the Tate Modern, his response to the Sichuan earthquake of 2008, and his police detention in 2011. With behind-the-scenes studio pictures, production shots, and numerous statements derived from exclusive interviews with Ai, we gain privileged access to the artist's process, influences, and importance. The book includes texts from Uli Sigg, Ai's longtime friend and former Swiss ambassador to China; Roger M. Buergel, who curated the 2007 documenta and hosted the artist's Fairytale piece; and experts on Chinese culture and politics: Carlos Rojas, William A. Callahan, and James J. Lally.

Despite being one of the most significant cultural figures to have emerged from China in recent decades, Ai Weiwei Hon RA is so controversial within his native country that until recently his name was removed from Chinese editions of art books. Eloquently fusing art and activism with a dark and rebellious wit, he has galvanised a generation of artists with his strong convictions and his willingness to risk personal liberties in pursuit of freedom of speech. Published to accompany his first major UK exhibition, this handsome book's texts include a new interview with Ai, an insightful exploration of his position within the Chinese and international contemporary art worlds, an incisive account of his architectural practice, and a chronology containing reflections from key figures who have worked with him. Sumptuous illustrations demonstrate the virtuosity of the traditional Chinese craftsmanship that Ai employs to produce his works and reveal the unflinching determination that lies behind his art.

From the first sets of photographic records made by Western travelers to doctored portraits of Chairman Mao and the avant-garde photographic performances of the post-Cultural Revolution era, photography in China has followed divergent paths. In this book, Wu Hung explores the multiple histories of photographic production in China, using them to tell a larger story about China's shifting sociopolitical contexts and the different agendas, technologies, and aesthetics that have helped define its arts. At the center of the book is a large question: how has photography represented China and its people, its collective history and memory as well as the diversity of Chinese artists who have striven for creative expression? To address this question, the author offers an in-depth study of selected photographers, themes, and movements in Chinese photography from 1860 to the present, covering a wide range of genres, including portraiture, photojournalism, architectural and landscape photography, and conceptual photography. Beautifully illustrated, this book offers a multifaceted and in-depth analysis of an important photographic history.   

Miao Xiaochun became well known with his large-format panorama photographs, digital assemblies of modern Chinese cities or time-honoured buildings. A person named 'He' who depicts Miao himself wearing traditional Chinese garments often plays a key role in these works. A further imposing piece is the three-dimensional computer simulation The Last Judgement in Cyberspace which quotes Michelangelo's fresco from the Sistine Chapel. All the figures are replaced by a single virtual model that in turn also depicts the artist. In recent works, Miao occupies himself with the pictorial canon of Western art history which he realizes digitally. See the cover of this book that shows a Chinese adaptation of the famous Fountain of Youth by 16th century German painter Lucas Cranach the Elder. English and German.