The great image has no form, or On the nonobject through painting

Bibliographic Information

The great image has no form, or On the nonobject through painting

François Jullien ; translated by Jane Marie Todd

University of Chicago Press, 2012

  • : paper

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Note

Originally published: 2009

Includes bibliographical references and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

In premodern China, elite painters used imagery not to mirror the world around them, but to evoke unfathomable experience. Considering their art alongside the philosophical traditions that inform it, "The Great Image Has No Form" explores the "nonobject" - a notion exemplified by paintings that do not seek to represent observable surroundings. Francois Jullien argues that this nonobjectifying approach stems from the painters' deeply held belief in a continuum of existence, in which art is not distinct from reality. Contrasting this perspective with the Western notion of art as separate from the world it represents, Jullien investigates the theoretical conditions that allow us to apprehend, isolate, and abstract objects. His comparative method lays bare the assumptions of Chinese and European thought, revitalizing the questions of what painting is, where it comes from, and what it does. Provocative and intellectually vigorous, this sweeping inquiry introduces new ways of thinking about the relationship of art to the ideas in which it is rooted.

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Details
  • NCID
    BB13890502
  • ISBN
    • 9780226415314
  • Country Code
    us
  • Title Language Code
    eng
  • Text Language Code
    eng
  • Original Language Code
    fre
  • Place of Publication
    Chicago
  • Pages/Volumes
    xxiii, 263 p., [8] p. of plates
  • Size
    23 cm
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