Description
Book SynopsisCultural creativity in China between 1796 and 1912 demonstrated extraordinary resilience in a time of warfare, land shortages, famine, and uprisings. Innovation can be seen in material culture (including print, painting, calligraphy, textiles, jewelry, ceramics, lacquer, arms and armor, and photography) during a century in which China's art, literature, crafts, and technology faced unprecedented exposure to global influences. Until recently the nineteenth century in China has been defined as an era of cultural stagnation. Built on new research, this book sets out a fresh understanding of this important period and creates a detailed visual account of responses to war, technology, urbanization, political transformations, and external influences. The narratives are brought to life and individualized through illustrated biographical accounts that highlight the diversity of voices and experiences contributing to this fascinating, turbulent period in Chinese history. Exhibition dates: Br
Trade Review"Superlative."
-- Laura Cummings * Observer *
"[A] typically sumptuous catalogue."
* Books & Boots *
"A substantial tome: a coffee-table book that incorporates many more objects and artworks than the actual exhibition could fit."
* China Books Review *
"The exhibition catalogue's seven essays, edited by the scholars Jessica Harrison-Hall and Julia Lovell, are a guide to this re-reading of the past, threading the relics on display into a rich tapestry of what life entailed under the last century of Manchu reign."
* Mekong Review *
"[A] handsomely illustrated catalogue that includes essays from some of the foremost historians of nineteenth-century China."
* Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide *
"[A] fascinating, lavishly illustrated, exhibition book."
* Lancet *
