Embodied Image [Hardcover]

Robert E. Harrist (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Could the prominent appearance of large, boldly brushed Chinese characters on the cover of House & Garden magazine (May 1999) signal that Americans are ready to appreciate the ancient but often modern-looking art of calligraphy? The Embodied Image offers both stellar examples of Chinese calligraphy and tools with which to view it. And it successfully bridges the gap between the non-Chinese reader's concern over incomprehension, the modernist's appreciation of calligraphy as linear abstraction, and the traditional connoisseur's approach.

Edited by art historians Robert Harrist and Wen C. Fong and with contributions from 11 other scholars, the volume documents the calligraphy collection of Princeton University's Art Museum, which Fong calls "the only collection outside China and Japan that properly represents the sixteen-hundred-year history of this highly prized ... art form." Filled with marvels ranging from one of the earliest known fragments of the classic text Tao Te Ching to letters and scrolls by artists who are the Rembrandts and Picassos of the medium, The Embodied Image presents Chinese calligraphy in terms of brushwork, as text, as the expression of the writer's personal cultivation, and as the underpinning of later (if not all) Chinese painting.

There's plenty of ink play for the eye to dance over: fluid, angular, stiff, or scratchy. The accompanying texts--two introductory essays on calligraphic history and theory and eight specialized ones, with various levels of detail--allow readers to choose their own depth. But the visual "text" alone is illuminating and provides pleasure. The 55 featured works, dating from 270 to the 1870s, are divided into seven groups, with short historical introductions preceding the works (reproduced in color and nuanced duotone). Four hundred more illustrations, including character comparisons, are enormously helpful, as is the labeling of the parts of a 12-foot scroll assembled over several centuries around a traced copy of a two-line fragment of a letter by the most influential calligrapher of all, Wang Hsi-chih.

The book was published for an exhibition at Princeton University in 1999, touring New York and Seattle through 2001, but The Embodied Image will long contribute to the understanding of an art that is itself more than two millennia old. --Joseph Newland

From Library Journal

The John B. Elliott Collection at Princeton University's Art Museum is the only collection outside of China and Japan that properly represents the 1600-year history of Chinese calligraphy. A recent exhibition at the museum highlights the masterpieces of the collection, featuring the work of the most distinguished Chinese calligraphy masters. This accompanying book opens with introductory essays by two leading art historians of Chinese art, Harrist (Columbia Univ.) and Fong (Princeton Univ.), followed by a marvelously illustrated catalog. The entries are arranged chronologically and framed by brief linking narratives that capture the general style and mood of each period, from early ritual to the Ch'ing Dynasty. Nine topical essays by a team of scholars cover a wide range of issues in the history of calligraphy, relating this widely practiced art to other aspects of life. The glossary-index is especially helpful with English names and texts accompanied by Chinese equivalents. One of the best books on this subject in recent years, this is highly recommended for large collections in both public and academic libraries.ALucia S. Chen, NYPL
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 600 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams; First edition (March 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810963779
• ISBN-13: 978-0810963771
• Product Dimensions: 12.4 x 9.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #484,112 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Different Way of Thinking About the Written Word, May 29, 2001

By 

Chris Matthews (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Embodied Image (Hardcover)

What fascinates me so much about this book, what keeps drawing me to it, is this: the calligraphers of ancient China wrote as they painted, and painted as they wrote. In other words, each character is an "embodied image" which expresses the moods and passions of its creator.

When we Westerners read, we read for content, for meaning only. We do not read and at the same time notice how the characters look. Since Gutenberg and the advent of movable type, and especially now, with digital type, each of our characters must always look the same. When they don't, it is considered an imperfection. In Chinese calligraphy, however, considerable attention is given to how the characters look. It is through their appearance that we can discern the whether the creator was hurried, what angle he wrote at, and what mood he might have been in.

The visual effect of a poem written by a great Chinese calligrapher a thousand years ago, vs. reading the same poem in a standardized font, is quite stark. We have a lot to learn from the Chinese, especially given their likely ascension of global power in the coming years. This book provides an indispensable, detailed, well illustrated reference for an important aspect of how Chinese culture differs so dramatically from our own.

Highly recommended.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Private collection catalogue, May 14, 2003

By 

"reiji" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Embodied Image (Hardcover)

At 1st of May,2003, in Osaka municipal Museum, Japan, I appreciated the travelling exhibition including this John B. Elliott Collection.
This traced copy scroll of a two-line fragment of a letter by Wang Hsi-chih(ACE303-361) is fine. Atouched Dong Quichang(1555-1636) colophones and large character maximes calligraphy are impressive. Sung dynasty Emperor Hui-Tsong(r. 1101-1125) court mounting and seals seem genuine. The Wang calligraphy itself has enough quality among many his old replicas. The ink colour feels rather later period than 8th century.
Another impressive work is Zhu Yunming(ACE1460-1526)'s small square script
album.
However, this is a private and personal collection catalogue. Reading this, one imagines and looks for passed Mr. Elliott's personality and taste.
It is too heavy burden for this collection to act as a textbook of great chinese calligraphy history.
Indeed there is few museum whose collection is completely genuine, I recommend chinese-calligraphy lovers in USA to appreciate, study and learn masterpieces in National Palace Museum, Taipei, First.
Japanese collections also have masterpieces.

10 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars more please, March 16, 2000

By 

flk (Melbourne, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Embodied Image (Hardcover)

A handsome book, with excellent production values. The text is well presented, and the reproductions a treat for lovers of Chinese calligraphy. The compare-and-contrast of the different calligraphic styles is satisfying to read and follow. A useful overview.