Awakenings: Zen Figure Painting in Medieval Japan - Hardcover

Levine, Gregory; Lippit, Yukio

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 030011964X ISBN 13: 9780300119640

Publisher: Japan Society, 2007

Synopsis

Transmitted from China to Japan in the 13th century, Zen Buddhism not only introduced religious practices but also literature, calligraphy, philosophy, and ink painting to Japanese disciples. This elegant book discusses these fields as they combined to encompass the evocative practice of figure painting within Zen Buddhism in medieval Japan.Focusing on forty-seven exceptional Japanese and Chinese paintings from the 12th to the 16th centuries--which together illustrate the story of the awakening of Zen art--the book features essays by distinguished scholars that discuss the life and art within Zen monastic and lay communities. The authors explore the ideology underlying the development of Zen s own pantheon of characters created to imagine the Buddha s wisdom and offer fresh insights into the role of the visual arts within Zen practice as it developed in Japan in close dialogue with the Asian continent.

About this title

About the Author:

Gregory Levine is associate professor of Japanese Art at the University of California, Berkeley. Yukio Lippit is assistant professor of Japanese Art at Harvard University. 

About this edition

• Publisher: Japan Society
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 030011964X
• ISBN 13: 9780300119640
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 222