Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

The Double Screen: Medium and Representation in Chinese Painting

Rate this book
In the first exploration of Chinese paintings as both material products
and pictorial representations, The Double Screen shows how the
collaboration and tension between material form and image gives life to
a painting. A Chinese painting is often reduced to the image it bears;
its material form is dismissed; its intimate connection with social
activities and cultural conventions neglected.

A screen occupies a space and divides it, supplies an ideal surface for
painting, and has been a favorite pictorial image in Chinese art since
antiquity. Wu Hung undertakes a comprehensive analysis of the screen,
which can be an object, an art medium, a pictorial motif, or all three
at once. With its diverse roles, the screen has provided Chinese
painters with endless opportunities to reinvent their art.

The Double Screen provides a powerful non-Western perspective on
issues from portraiture and pictorial narrative to voyeurism,
masquerade, and political rhetoric. It will be invaluable to anyone
interested in the history of art and Asian studies.

296 pages, Paperback

First published May 24, 2013

14 people are currently reading
68 people want to read

About the author

Wu Hung

59 books22 followers

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
19 (59%)
4 stars
10 (31%)
3 stars
3 (9%)
2 stars
0 (0%)
1 star
0 (0%)
Displaying 1 of 1 review
52 reviews
February 3, 2025
Nice overlook of screens in Chinese painting. Should definitely read to learn more about that. Romanticism being taken out of painting depicting theater I perhaps disagree with.
Displaying 1 of 1 review

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.