Description: Poetic paintings--works done in response to lyric poems or as pictorial equivalents to them--compose a major category of East Asian art. In this beautifully illustrated book, James Cahill looks at three exemplary traditions in this genre.
Brief description: James Cahill (1926-2014) was an American art historian and a leading expert on Chinese art. The author of dozens of books and the recipient of the Smithsonian Institution's Freer Medal for his lifetime contribution to the understanding of the arts of Asia, he was Professor of the History of Art at University of California, Berkeley.
Review Quotes: This generously illustrated book has all the appurtenances required by scholars, taking its place in the thousand year, Oriental tradition of study and debate about the meaning, style and social role of painting. Yet its agreeable prose, based on the author's lectures, reflects his interest in reaching the general reader. That's fortunate, since Cahill's comparison of Japanese and Chinese painting holds plenty of lessons for Westerners unfamiliar with Asian arts.-- "The Times-Picayune"