Posted By: William Casey
Posted On: December 16, 2019
Asian Art is an excellent historical overview of Asian art from the ancient to the contemporary. I appreciate the narrative style of the text which is extremely well written. I was able to easily understand and become engaged in the cultural context for each of the artworks discussed. In fact, the overall history of each region is so extensively discussed and well written, that I’ve gained a greater understanding of both history and culture with the artwork providing a visual context for this.
I was pleased to see that the book contains excellent information about neglected regions of Asia as well. In particular, I found the section on Korea to be extremely informative and helpful. The influences of China, Mongolia, Siberia, and Japan on Korean culture are discussed as well as Korean innovations which surpassed its neighbors. In particular, the invention of metal moveable type and the perfection of Celadon pottery during the Goryeo Dynasty.
I am a PA Certified Visual Arts Educator K-12. I would recommend this book to be used as a resource to create units/lessons exploring Asian art at all grade levels. The narrative style of the book is so accessible, it could even be used as a textbook at the High School level. I highly recommend that sections of this book be included in a general art history course at the college level. Certainly, it should be considered required reading in a collegiate course on Asian Art.