This is a provocative essay of reflections on traditional mainstream scholarship on Chinese art as done by towering figures in the field such as James Cahill and Wen Fong. James Elkins offers an engaging and accessible survey of his personal journey encountering and interpreting Chinese art through Western scholars' writings. He argues that the search for optimal comparisons is itself a modern, Western interest, and that art history as a discipline is inherently Western in several identifiable senses. Although he concentrates on art history in this book, and on Chinese painting in particular, these issues bear implications for Sinology in general, and for wider questions about humanistic inquiry and historical writing. Jennifer Purtle's Foreword provides a useful counterpoint from the perspective of a Chinese art specialist, anticipating and responding to other specialists’ likely reactions to Elkins's hypotheses.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1946.

Contents: V. II, part 1. Translation and annotations -- V. II, part 2, Chinese text.

This book, Chiang Yee and His Circle: Chinese Artistic and Intellectual Life in Britain, 1930–1950, celebrates the life and work of Chiang Yee (1903–1977), a Chinese writer, poet, and painter who made his home in London, England during the 1930s and 1940s. It examines Chiang’s relationship with his circle of friends and colleagues in the English capital, and assesses the work he produced during his sojourn there. This edited volume, with contributions from eleven distinguished scholars, tells a story of a Chinese intellectual community in London that up to now has been largely overlooked. It portrays a dynamic picture of the London-based émigré life during the years that led up to the war and during the conflict that was the catalyst for many of them moving on. In addition, the book broadens our understanding of cultural interactions between China and the West in Hampstead, one of the most vibrant artistic communities in London. ‘The collected essays convey a striking portrait of a community of Chinese intellectuals in England during World War II and how it interacted with cultural elites in London and elsewhere both as artists and as anti-fascist activists. As a whole, the volume makes significant points about how people claim status as “authentic” interpreters of a cultural tradition, a process that can pit friends against each other.’ —Kristin Stapleton, The University at Buffalo, SUNY ‘In this delightful collection of essays, a team of experts in literature, history, and the arts bring to light a world of literary interconnectedness and wartime collaboration seldom explored in scholarship. The perfect resource for anyone who values the humanistic common ground between the East and the West.’ —Jenny H. Day, Skidmore College

"From the Neolithic to the avant-garde, and through all the brilliant centuries in between, Michael Sullivan's introduction to Chinese art history is the classic in its field, unsurpassed in its clarity, balance, and sure grasp of the subject. Whether for the classroom student or the casual reader, its remarkable range and elegant style make this book a wonderful way for anyone to begin learning about Chinese art."—Jerome Silbergeld, Princeton University "I have used Sullivan's Arts of China in my class for thirty years. No other historian of Chinese art today commands such a wide range of knowledge as Michael Sullivan."—Richard Barnhart, Yale University, editor of Three Thousand Years of Chinese Painting "After more than forty years since its first publication, Michael Sullivan's Arts of China, now in its fifth edition, remains the most concise yet most comprehensive introduction to the history of Chinese art to students and the public."—Wu Hung, Harrie A. Vanderstappen Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago "Michael Sullivan is the acknowledged dean of modern Chinese art studies, and any work bearing his name guarantees both a high level of quality and a wide readership."—Maxwell K. Hearn, Metropolitan Museum of Art