still life: East Asian Still Life

In East Asia still-life subjects were depicted as early as the 11th cent. Chinese works were distinguished by brilliant brushwork and rapid execution. Objects were frequently endowed with symbolic import in both Chinese works and the Japanese compositions often derived from them. The importance of illusionistic representation of the object was minimized in East Asian art, and in general its treatment of still life does not correspond with that of Western art.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• East Asian Still Life
• Still Life in the Twentieth Century
• Still Life in the Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries
• Evolution of Still Life
• Bibliography

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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