Books 21 The Rare Art Traditions
by Joseph Alsop, Princeton University Press, ISBN 9780691252254, $80
Tis book offers a wide-ranging cultural and social history of art collecting, art history, and the art market. He argues that art collecting is the basic element in a remarkably complex and historically rare behavioural system, which includes the
historical study of art, the market for buying and selling art, museums, forgery, and the astonishing prices commanded by some works of art. Te Rare Art Traditions tells the story of three important traditions of art collecting: the classical tradition that began in Greece, the Chinese tradition, and the Western tradition. Te result is a major original contribution to art history.
Gone Away: A John Murray Journey by Dom Moraes, John Murray, ISBN 9781399810920, £12.99
At the age of 20, Dom Moraes - already a known as a poet who would go on to be regarded as one of India’s finest writers - returned to his native India after finishing education in England. After spending time in Delhi, meeting Jawaharlal Nehru and the young Dalai Lama, he embarked on a meandering journey through northern India, Nepal and Sikkim at a time of political tension and the threat of invasion by China. Brilliant, curious and precocious, seldom without a drink in his hand, he chanced his way into some extraordinary situations - including staying in a Nepalese palace with a resident bear and being shot at and chased by Chinese soldiers. Gone Away details these adventures with a poet’s eye for detail, and the luminosity and humour for which Moraes was known.
Invitation to a Banquet: The Story of Chinese Food by Fuchsia Dunlop, Particular Books, ISBN 9780241516980, £25
Chinese was the earliest truly global cuisine. When the first Chinese labourers began to sojourn and settle abroad, restaurants appeared in their wake. Yet Chinese food has the curious distinction of being both one of the world’s best-loved culinary traditions and one of the least understood. For more than a century, the overwhelming dominance of a simplified form of Cantonese cooking ensured that few foreigners experienced anything of its richness and sophistication, but today that is beginning to change. In this book, cook and writer Fuchsia Dunlop explores the history, philosophy and techniques of China’s rich and ancient culinary culture.
The Nirvana Express by Mick Brown, C Hurst & Co, ISBN 9781805260196, £25
In this book the author traces the story of the West’s love affair with Indian spirituality, from the orientalism of the British Empire to modern counterculture. In 1897, an Indian yogi exhibited himself at London’s Westminster Aquarium, demonstrating yoga positions to a bemused audience. Four years earlier, Hindu philosopher Swami Vivekananda spoke at the first World Parliament of Religions in Chicago, where Annie Besant extolled the ‘exquisite beauty’ of his spiritual message. Te Victorians were fascinated by, yet suspicious of, Indian religious beliefs and practices. However, within two generations, legions of young Westerners were following the ‘hippie trail’ to the subcontinent, the Beatles meditating at the feet of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Journalist Mick Brown’s account charts this eccentric history of Western
obsessions with Indian faith, through a curious cast of scholars, seekers, charlatans and saints. From bestselling epic poems on the Buddha to murder plots, magic and the occult, this is a sometimes troubling journey through the West’s search for enlightenment.
The Dean of Shandong
by Daniell Bell, Princeton University Press, ISBN 9780691247120, £22
On 1 January, 2017, Daniel Bell was appointed dean of the School of Political Science and Public Administration at Shandong University, the first foreign dean of a political science faculty in mainland China’s history. In Te Dean of Shandong, Bell chronicles his experiences as what he calls ‘a minor bureaucrat’, offering an inside account of the workings of Chinese academia and what they reveal about China’s political system. It was not all smooth sailing, Bell wryly recounts sporadic bungles and misunderstandings, but Bell’s post as dean provides a unique vantage point on China today. Bell, neither a Chinese citizen nor a member of the Chinese Communist Party, was appointed as dean because of his scholarly work on Confucianism, but soon found himself coping with a variety of issues having little to do with scholarship or Confucius. Considering both the revival of Confucianism in China over the last three decades and what he calls ‘the Communist comeback’ since 2008, Bell predicts that China’s political future is likely to be determined by both Confucianism and Communism.
Commercial Galleries:
Bricks, Clicks, and the Digital Future by Henry Little, Lund Humphries, ISBN 9781848226371, £19.99
Written by an art advisor and former gallerist with an insider’s perspective, this book provides a timely overview of the commercial-gallery sector at a moment of rapid change and expansion. More than any participant in the art market, galleries are seen as mysterious actors with an opaque code of conduct. Te book offers a fascinating view of the gallery ecosystem, presenting a systematic diagnosis of key challenges and opportunities facing the sector today. Henry Little discusses the integration of bricks and clicks, addressing the tension between a gallery’s physical premises and its online presence, further asking how the world’s largest galleries have pulled so far ahead both in terms of their physical expansion and their digital offering. In an industry which increasingly rewards consolidation and brand recognition, the book asks how small and mid-tier galleries can hold their own and whether the traditional gallery model may be under threat in an increasingly digital future.
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