The Silk Tapestry - Hardcover

Atangan, Patrick

3.43

72 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1561634034 ISBN 13: 9781561634033

Publisher: Nbm Pub Co, 2004

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

Three Chinese folk tales revolving around the unique struggle of artists. An old woman, a young boy and a wild spirit are all bound by a passion to create, changing the world around them forever.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

From Booklist:

Atangan follows his elegant adaptations of two Japanese legends, The Yellow Jar (2003), with this equally stylish rendition of three Chinese folktales dealing obliquely or directly with the creative struggle. The initial story relates how Pan-Gu, the first man, created a barren world and sacrificed his life to populate it. Another depicts a pudgy boy, named after a sausage, whose artistic abilities are so great that his paintings spring to life, attracting the interest of the greedy dowager empress. In "Silk Tapestry," an elderly woman races death to complete a magic tapestry so that her fondest dream will come true. All three have satisfying but bittersweet endings in the best tradition of fables from all lands. Whereas Atangan's models for The Yellow Jar were eighteenth-century Japanese woodblock prints, here he is inspired by Chinese scroll paintings and wash drawings. Although his drawings are painstakingly detailed, his simplified style guarantees total clarity on overly small pages, and the muted color scheme adds to the overall effect. Atangan promises to turn next to India. Gordon Flagg
Copyright � American Library Association. All rights reserved

From Publishers Weekly:

This slim collection of Chinese folk tale adaptations by Atangan would have made a fine first or second comic book by a newcomer, but published in a deluxe hardcover format, it collapses under the weight of its own packaging. Atangan is a charming enough cartoonist—he tells his stories in a flat, clean line style not dissimilar to that employed in Tintin, but his writing is clich�d and his storytelling repetitive. When a bird is described as lovely, the next panel shows the bird looking, one supposes, "lovely." Though Atangan's attention to authentic clothes and architecture is commendable, he recycles tired Chinese visuals, with stereotypical dragons, wise men and postcard-derived landscapes. Nothing new is shown, and no effort is made to break out of the old, obvious ideas about the East. It's just the usual Western take on "exotic" Asia. The problems within the book stretch to its format—it's hard to imagine why such a minor, short work justifies an entire book and a disproportionate price tag. Atangan may have a solid book in him, but this isn't it.
Copyright � Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.