Art in Turmoil by Ralph Croizier

Art in Turmoil by Ralph Croizier

Forty years after China's tumultuous Cultural Revolution, this book revisits the visual and performing arts of the period - the paintings, propaganda posters, political cartoons, sculpture, folk arts, private sketchbooks, opera, and ballet - and examines what these vibrant, militant, often gaudy images meant to artists, their patrons, and their audiences at the time, and what they mean now, both in their original forms and as revolutionary icons reworked for a new market-oriented age. Chapters by scholars of Chinese history and art and by artists whose careers were shaped by the Cultural Revolution offer new insights into works that have transcended their times.

In this national convulsion the arts played a strikingly large role, a process described with great care in Art in Turmoil -- Robert Fulford * “A new level of art criticism,” National Post, June 15, 2010 *

This is a brilliant, thorough study of art created during the disastrous decade in China’s modern history. The recent flood of publications on China’s contemporary art scene make this book on the immediately preceding period necessary reading because of the polar opposite forces that brought the two periods into play.… Essential.

* CHOICE *

This volume compellingly illustrates that the artistic products of the CR period were anything but “artless, sterile, without depth, without truth, and without reality” (189). Moreover, present-day artistic producers and their works, as well as society at large, continue to be influenced by them.

-- Stefan R. Landsberger, University of Amsterdam * The China Beat *

The level of scholarship throughout is high, with extensive reading in Chinese-language primary and secondary sources combined with personal experience. It is recommended reading for all students of contemporary Chinese culture and society.

-- Bonnie S. McDougall, University of Sydney, Australia * Pacific Affairs, Vol 84, No 3 *

Richard King is Professor of Chinese studies at the University of Victoria, teaching Chinese literature and film, Asian popular culture, research methods, and Chinese language.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780774815437
ISBN 10	0774815434
Title	Art in Turmoil
Author	Ralph Croizier
Series	Contemporary Chinese Studies
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	University of British Columbia Press
Year published	2010-07-01
Number of pages	318
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.