Life and Afterlife in Ancient China by Jessica Rawson, 2023. I read this book in 2023. Rawson, a former professor at Oxford University, in this…
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Tag: Art History (Books)
Understanding Europe’s Cultural Rebirth
Why did the Age of Renaissance begin in Italy? Why did it begin in that time period? European history can be roughly classified into the…
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Da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci: An Untraceable Life by Stephen Campbell. This 2025 biography is not typical. It is a very difficult read. By resisting a conventional…
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Ukiyo-e, Pictures of the Floating World—Part 3
Unlike a Western painting masterpiece, one can find many different prints of a famous Ukiyo-e woodblock print. There is the first edition and later editions.…
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Ukiyo-e, Pictures of the Floating World—Part 2
It is important to know that a woodblock print is not the sole effort of the artist, Hiroshige or Hokusai, whose name appears on it.…
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Ukiyo-e, Pictures of the Floating World—Part 1
Popular during the Edo period (1615–1868), Ukiyo-e is a term for the beautiful Japanese art of woodblock prints of nature, landscapes, and people. Ukiyo-e literally…
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Excellent books
5 excellent books which I bought at Kinokuniya KLCC last Sunday. Two are on Japanese wood block prints. They give a good picture of this…
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The Han Emperors’ Dilemma: War, Taxes, and a Brave Plea
The Han Emperors struggled between a policy of waging war against the Hsiung Nu or passive defense with diplomacy. [ p 27 The Pattern of…
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Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer’s oeuvre consists of a mere 36 paintings. But the sheer quality of these paintings resulted in the current exhibition of 28 of his…
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Saving China’s imperial treasures
There are 2 excellent books on how the Chinese saved their imperial treasures from the Japanese invaders. They are The Odyssey of China’s Imperial Art…
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