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Kaikodo Journal XI

In the Company of Spirits

Corresponding to the exhibition held between March 16 and April 17, 1999. 41 Chinese and Japanese paintings; 33 Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese objects (74 color plates). Preface by Howard Rogers. 319 pages.

Includes the essays:
Howard Rogers:
“In Search of Enlightenment”
James Cahill:
“The Emperor’s Erotica” (Ching Yuan Chai so-shih II)
Anita Chung:
“The Life, Art, and Travels of Xugu (1823-1896)”
Arnold Chang:
“After the Age of Auction: Chinese Painting in New York”

The essays in this volume are arranged in an order determined not by importance or even intrinsic interest but, to the contrary, on the simplistic basis of the relative chronological order of the topic. The first essay was occasioned by inclusion in this journal of a Yuan dynasty stone image of Sakyamuni (no. 69), the unusual iconography of which encouraged a more general treatment. The next essay, the second in a series we trust will prove as long-running as it is popular, presents James Cahill’s most recent discoveries in the area of urban studio painting, an aspect of later Chinese painting that is certain to become a standard feature of painting histories yet to come but one which was hardly noticed and never defined until it attracted the attention of Professor Cahill’s analytic and ever-inquiring mind. Entitled “The Emperor’s Erotica,” the essay explores the function and meaning of erotic albums in the upper reaches of Chinese and Manchu society and to define the important role in the creation of these works of art played by professional artists from the southern cities active in the capital.

This volume includes an important painting (no. 30) by the monk-painter Xugu, whose history since its creation in the 17th century can be followed continuously to the present day via the colophons on the painting. Dr. Anita Chung, at the time of the publication of this issue a professor at the University of Edinburgh and curator of Chinese art at the National Museums of Scotland and subsequently curator at the Cleveland Museum of Art, and a specialist on Xugu, provided an especially illuminating essay on this fascinating artist. In the final essay, Arnold Chang, who worked at Sotheby’s from 1979 until 1992, reflects on the years during which he was instrumental in creating both a greatly expanded international market for Chinese paintings as well as a specialty department at the auction house to serve the needs of this new clientele, this essay inspired by the diminishing activity in New York auctions in the area of Chinese painting. Lark Mason, at the time of publication head of Chinese Furniture at Sotheby’s is a true pioneer in his field being one of very few Westerners who have studied their subject in China as well as the West and whose judgments are respected world-wide. The zitan painting table being offered here as catalogue number 74 was sufficiently unusual to warrant special treatment, and Lark very agreed to write on the subject and did so with such facility and length that his comments almost constitute another essay.

Kaikodo Journal XXXVIII - Spring 2022 (web)Online only
Kaikodo Journal XXXVII - Spring 2021 (web)Online only
Kaikodo Journal XXXVI - Spring 2020 (web)Online only
Kaikodo Journal XXXV - Spring 2019 (web)Online only
Kaikodo Journal XXXIV - Spring 2018 (web)Online only
Kaikodo Journal XXXIII - Spring 2017 (web)Online only
Kaikodo Journal XXXII - Spring 2016 (web)Online only
Kaikodo Journal XXXI - Spring 2015Available
Kaikodo Journal XXX - Spring 2014Available
Kaikodo Journal XXIX - Spring 2013Available
Kaikodo Journal XXVIII - Spring 2012Available
Kaikodo Journal XXVII - Spring 2011Available
Kaikodo Journal XXVI - Spring 2010available
Kaikodo Journal XXV - Spring 2009Available
Kaikodo Journal XXIV - Spring 2008Available
Kaikodo Journal XXIII - Spring 2007
Spring in Jinling - Spring 2004
Kaikodo Journal XXII - Spring 2002
Kaikodo Journal XXI - Autumn 2001
Kaikodo Journal XX - Autumn 2001Available
Kaikodo Journal XIX - Spring 2001Available
Kaikodo Journal XVIII - November 2000
Kaikodo Journal XVII - Autumn 2000
Kaikodo Journal XVI - May 2000Available
Kaikodo Journal XV - Spring 2000Available
Kaikodo Journal XIV - November 1999Available
Kaikodo Journal XIII - Autumn 1999Available
Kaikodo Journal XII - Autumn 1999
In Two Dimensions - Spring 1999
Kaikodo Journal XI - Spring 1999
Kaikodo Journal X - November 1998Out of Print
Kaikodo Journal IX - Autumn 1998Available
Kaikodo Journal VIII - May 1998Available
Kaikodo Journal VII - Spring 1998Available
Kaikodo Journal VI - October 1997Not Available
Kaikodo Journal V - Autumn 1997
Kaikodo Journal IV - May 1997OUT OF PRINT
Kaikodo Journal III - Spring 1997OUT OF PRINT
Kaikodo Journal II - Autumn 1996OUT OF PRINT
Kaikodo Journal I - Spring 1996OUT OF PRINT
Backward Glances - February 1996
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