Full Color Designs From Chinese Opera Costumes

Sixty authentic full-color motifs drawn from highly stylized opera traditions. Symbolic representations of dragons, lions, phoenixes, mandarin ducks, cranes, peonies, lotuses, much more. Vibrant color, subtle hues, beautifully rendered illustrations. Invaluable source of authentic Chinese design and color. Descriptive captions.

Sixty authentic full-color motifs drawn from highly stylized opera traditions. Symbolic representations of dragons, lions, phoenixes, mandarin ducks, cranes, peonies, lotuses, much more. Vibrant color, subtle hues, beautifully renderings.

Beijing Opera Costumes: The Visual Communication of Character and Culture illuminates the links between theatrical attire and social customs and aesthetics of China, covering both the theory and practice of stage dress. Distinguishing attributes include an introduction to the performance style, the delineation of the costume conventions, an analysis of the costumes through their historical precedents and theatrical modifications, and the use of garment shape, color, and embroidery for symbolic effect. Practical information covers dressing the performers and a costume plot, the design and creation of the make-up and hairstyles, and pattern drafts of the major garments. Photographs from live performances, as well as details of embroidery, and close-up photographs of the headdresses thoroughly portray the stunning beauty of this incomparable performance style. Presenting the brilliant colors of the elaborately embroidered silk costumes together with the intricate makeup and glittering headdresses, this volume embodies the elegance of the Beijing opera.

First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Impeccably researched and richly detailed, this book addresses the issue of translation between visual arts and landscape design in the 50-year career of American painter and environmental artist Patricia Johanson. Exploring the artist's search for an art of the real as a member of the postwar New York art world, it demonstrates that visual translation cannot be understood solely through the works of art, instead attention must be paid to the process of creation. This book is an insightful attempt to confront a crucial question in the history of art through the work of a contemporary artist.

Impeccably researched and richly detailed, this book addresses the issue of translation between visual arts and landscape design in the 50 more years career of Patricia Johanson, an important artist in the second half of the twentieth-century. Examining the artist?s search for an "art of the real" as a member of the post-World War II New York art world, and how such pursuit has led her from painting and sculpture to public garden and environmental art, Xin Wu argues for the significance of the process of art creation, challenging the centrality of art objects. This book is an insightful study to confront a crucial question in the history of art through the work of a contemporary artist. It therefore converses with art historians and critics alike, as well as advanced readers of twentieth-century art. Following Johanson's artistic development, from its formation in the 1960s American art scene to the very present day, across the fields of art, architecture, garden, civil engineering and environmental aesthetics, it investigates the process of creation in a transdisciplinary perspective, and reveals a view of art as a domain of exploration of key issues for the contemporary world. The artist's concept of nature is highlighted, and particular impacts of Chinese aesthetics and thought unveiled. Based on extensive analysis of unpublished private archives, Xin Wu offers us the first ever comprehensive scholarly interpretation of Patricia Johanson's oeuvre, including drawings, paintings, sculptures, installations, garden proposals, and built and unbuilt projects in the United States, Brazil, Kenya, and Korea.