What's the Use of Art?: Asian Visual and Material Culture in Context

by Morgan Pitelka

Post-Enlightenment notions of culture, which have been naturalized in the West for centuries, require that art be autonomously beautiful, universal, and devoid of any practical purpose. The authors of this multidisciplinary volume seek to complicate this understanding of art by examining art objects from across Asia with attention to their functional, ritual, and everyday contexts. From tea bowls used in the Japanese tea ceremony to television...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0824830636
• ISBN13: 9780824830632
• Release Date: December 2007
• Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
• Length: 328 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.6" x 9.3"