Christian and Oriental Philosophy of Art

Christian and Oriental Philosophy of Art
Author: Ananda K. Coomaraswamy
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
Total Pages: 195
Release: 2017-01-12
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1787208486

The late Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, curator of Indian art at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, uniquely combined art historian, philosopher, orientalist, linguist, and expositor in his person. His knowledge of the arts and handcrafts of the Orient was unexcelled and his numerous monographs on Oriental art either established or revolutionized entire fields. He was also a great Orientalist, with an almost unmatched understanding of traditional culture. He covered the philosophic and religious experience of the entire premodern world, east and west, and for him primitive, medieval European, and classical Indian experiences of truth and art were only different dialects in a common language. Finally, Coomaraswamy was a provocative writer, whose erudition was expressed in a delightful, aphoristic style. The nine essays in this book are among his most stimulating. They discuss such matters as the true function of aesthetics in art, the importance of symbolism, and the importance of intellectual and philosophical background to the artist; they analyze the role of traditional culture in enriching art; they demonstrate that abstract art and primitive art, despite superficial resemblances, are completely divergent; and they deal with the common philosophy which pervades all great art, the nature of medieval art, folklore and modern art, the beauty inherent in mathematics, and the union of traditional symbolism and individual portraiture in premodern cultures.

Christian and Oriental Philosophy of Art

Christian and Oriental Philosophy of Art
Author: Ananda K. Coomaraswamy
Publisher:
Total Pages: 154
Release: 2016-05-31
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9781621389859

The contentment of innumerable people can be destroyed in a generation by the withering touch of our civilization; the local market is flooded by a production in quantity with which the responsible maker of art cannot complete; the vocational structure of society, with all its guild organization and standards of workmanship, is undermined; the artist is robbed of his art and forced to find himself a job; until finally the ancient society is industrialised and reduced to the level of such societies as ours in which business takes precedence of life. Can one wonder that Western nations are feared and hated by other people, not alone for obvious political or economic reasons, but even more profoundly and instinctively for spiritual reasons? So writes Ananda K. Coomaraswamy historian of traditional metaphysics and art, and social critic in Christian and Oriental Philosophy of Art. The nine essays in this book are among Coomaraswamy s most accessible and rewarding. They address such subjects as the true function of aesthetics in art, the importance of symbolism, and the importance to artists of the intellectual and philosophical backgrounds of their culture. They demonstrate also that abstract and primitive art, despite superficial resemblances, are completely divergent; and they deal with the common philosophy that pervades all great art, the nature of medieval art, folklore, and modern art, the beauty inherent in mathematics, and the union of traditional symbolism and individual portraiture in premodern cultures. The late A. K. Coomaraswamy, curator of Indian art at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, uniquely combined the roles of art historian, philosopher, orientalist, linguist, and expositor. His knowledge of the arts and handcrafts of the Orient was unsurpassed, and his numerous monographs on Oriental art either established, or revolutionized, entire fields. Coomaraswamy was one of the foremost Orientalists of his time, with an almost unmatched understanding of traditional culture. He mastered the philosophic and religious terrain of the entire premodern world, East and West; and for him primitive, medieval European, and classical Indian experiences of truth and art were only different dialects of a common language."

The Essential Ananda K. Coomaraswamy

The Essential Ananda K. Coomaraswamy
Author: Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy
Publisher: World Wisdom, Inc
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2004
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780941532464

Ananda K. Coomaraswamy was engaged in the world not only as a scholarly expositor of traditional culture and philosophy, but also as a radical critic of contemporary life.

Every Man an Artist

Every Man an Artist
Author: Brian Keeble
Publisher: World Wisdom, Inc
Total Pages: 302
Release: 2005
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780941532716

"This anthology proves that it is the human norm for all people to participate in meaningful and purposeful art, craft, and work because this is part of human nature itself."--BOOK JACKET.

The Foundations of Christian Art

The Foundations of Christian Art
Author: Titus Burckhardt
Publisher: World Wisdom, Inc
Total Pages: 134
Release: 2006
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9781933316123

Titus Burckhardt was a renowned expert on the art of traditional worlds. This book takes the reader through the history of Christian art, focusing especially upon architecture, iconography, and illumination.

Christian and Oriental Philosophy of Art

Christian and Oriental Philosophy of Art
Author: Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy
Publisher: South Asia Books
Total Pages: 146
Release: 1974-01-01
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780836425741

9 of the most famous essays by the preeminent philosopher and art historian, exploring such subjects as the true function of aesthetics in art and the importance of symbolism.

The Dragon in Medieval East Christian and Islamic Art

The Dragon in Medieval East Christian and Islamic Art
Author: Sara Kuehn
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 404
Release: 2011-07-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004209727

This book is a pioneering work on a key iconographic motif, that of the dragon. It examines the perception of this complex, multifaceted motif within the overall intellectual and visual universe of the medieval Irano-Turkish world. Using a broadly comparative approach, the author explores the ever-shifting semantics of the dragon motif as it emerges in neighbouring Muslim and non-Muslim cultures. The book will be of particular interest to those concerned with the relationship between the pre-Islamic, Islamic and Eastern Christian (especially Armenian) world. The study is fully illustrated, with 209 (b/w and full colour) plates, many of previously unpublished material. Illustrations include photographs of architectural structures visited by the author, as well as a vast collection of artefacts, all of which are described and discussed in detail with inscription readings, historical data and textual sources.