The impossible nude : Chinese art and western aesthetics / by François Jullien ; translated by Maev de la Guardia ; with photographs by Ralph Gibson.

Author
Jullien, François, 1951- [Browse]
Uniform title
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2007.
Description
vii, 136 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 22 cm

Availability

Copies in the Library

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Firestone Library - Stacks BJ1500.N8 J8513 2007 Browse related items Request
    Marquand Library - Remote Storage: Marquand Use OnlyBJ1500.N8 J8513 2007 Browse related items Request

      Details

      Subject(s)
      Summary note
      The undraped human form is ubiquitous in Western art and even appears in the art of India and Japan. Only in China, François Jullien argues, is the nude completely absent. In this enthralling extended essay, he explores the different conceptions of the human body that underlie this provocative disparity. Contrasting nakedness (which implies a diminished state) with nudity (which represents a complete presence), Jullien explores the traditional European vision of the nude as a fixed point of fusion where form joins truth. He then shows that the absence of the nude in Chinese art evinces an understanding of the human body as changeable and transitory. Viewed in light of each other, these differing concepts allow for a new way of thinking about form, the ideal, and beauty, enabling us to delve deeper into the relationship between art and the ideas that lie at its roots. Beautifully illustrated and gracefully translated into English for the first time, The Impossible Nude will fascinate anyone interested in art history, Chinese art, or aesthetics.
      Notes
      Translated from the French.
      Bibliographic references
      Includes bibliographical references (p. 133-134).
      Contents
      • Preface
      • A history of being : for an ontology of the photographic nude
      • The impossible nude.
      ISBN
      • 0226415325 ((hardcover ; : alk. paper))
      • 9780226415321 ((hardcover ; : alk. paper))
      LCCN
      2006011163
      OCLC
      66392845
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