Japanese Painting (Treasures of Asia)

216 pp. Includes 81 reproductions in full color. The earliest examples of pictorial arts in Japan are designs engraved on prehistoric tombs. Buddhism was introduced in the 6th century A. D., and by the 7th century the techniques and iconography of the Asiatic mainland had been assimilated; witness the decorations of the Horyu-ji temple at Nara, while the 8th - century screen paintings and miniatures in the imperial treasure of the Shoso-in prove that the Japanese painters of the Nara Period could match the subtlest refinements of classical Chinese painting. CONTENTS: Pre-Buddhist Painting; The Introduction of Buddhist Painting and the Assimilation of the T'Ang Style from China (7th and 8th Centuries); Buddhist Painting of Japanese Inspiration (9th to 13th Century); The Formation of the National Style in Secular Art (9th to 12th century); The Great Age of Scroll Painting (12th to 14th Century); The Renewed Influence of Chinese Art and the Development of Monochrome Painting (13th to 16th Century); The Golden Age of Mural Painting (16th and 17th Centuries); Decorative Painting of the Sotatsu-Korin School (17th to 19th Century); Genre Painting and the Masters of the Japanese Print (17th to 19th Century); Trends of Modern Painting (17th to 19th Century).