Performing the Visual explores the practice of wall painting in China from a new perspective. Relying on rare; virtually unpublished drawings on Buddhist themes from a long-hidden medieval library in western China; the author analyzes the painters' pictorial strategies. She also examines the financial accounting of Buddhist temples; providing practical information that ninth- and tenth-century critics ignored: how artists were paid and when; the temple's role as mediator between patrons and artists; and the way painters functioned outside the monastic system; working in guilds and secular academies affiliated with local government. Based on the careful study of hundreds of inaccessible wall paintings at Dunhuang; arguably Asia's largest and most important Buddhist site; the author shows that although critics celebrated spontaneous feats with brush and ink; artists at Dunhuang were heavily dependent on concrete tools such as sketches in the preparation of wall painting.
#530321 in Books Robert Penn Warren 1998-03-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 7.99 x .30 x 5.00l; .35 #File Name: 0803298013109 pagesThe Legacy of the Civil War
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy mosbygreat2 of 4 people found the following review helpful. A must readBy T. L. MarstersAll Americans should read this book. An open-minded; objective Southern scholar; Robert Penn Warren has contributed prize-winning fiction; thoughtful essays and gripping poetry to the American literary landscape. It seems that his goal/desire is to help the reader understand the whys and wherefores of the mentality of the American South. That is a daunting challenge; but he has met it with grace and scholarly insight. I am a devotee of everything Warren has written; and I return to his works again and again.0 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Kenneth A. TorgersonKAs promised.
