A student practices drawing, 2013. Photo courtesy of The People's Daily.

Art study fever sweeps Chinese provinces

The lure of college entrance is enticing many Chinese youngsters to paint and sketch

As students across the globe begin their first term at college, it might be timely to consider the scramble for higher education places across the world. The People's Daily (owned and published by the Chinese Communist Party, and so perhaps not an unalloyed source of truth) reports that prospective students are turning to arts tuition in high numbers, not only in the country's highly cultured big cities, but also in the less culturally cultivated provinces.

The paper explains, that, if a student is sufficiently talented, "he will be admitted by an art college with relatively lower academic scores. Many students who have never studied fine arts, performances or broadcasting are able to obtain [a] good result only through an intensive training in a short period. So art study becomes a shortcut for the students to pass the college entrance examinations."

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Nevertheless, an arts education is not an easy option. The People's Daily also states that during so-called "devil training" sessions, "except for the sleep time of four to five hours a day, [prospective students] will spend almost all the day painting." That's an awful lot of brush strokes, wherever you're learning.

Read the full story here. And, whatever your work load, may we recommend our great new text, The Chinese Art Book, which presents a definitive selection of 300 works, from the earliest dynasties to the new generation of contemporary artists enlivening the global art world today. Order it here, now.

The Chinese Art Book : Colin Mackenzie, Keith Pratt, Jeffrey Moser and Katie Hill

Price AUD$69.95 Price CAD$59.95 Price €49.95 Price £39.95 Price T59.95 Price USD$59.95

The Chinese Art Book is a beautifully presented, authoritative and unprecedented overview of Chinese art. The book examines the art of the oldest continuous civilization on Earth through 300 works, from the (earliest dynasties) Neolithic period to the new generation of contemporary artists enlivening the global art world today. Every form of Chinese visual art is featured –including painting, calligraphy, sculpture, ceramics, figurines, jades, bronzes, gold and silver, photography, video, installation and performance art. Concise descriptive essays place each work in context, and cross-references lead the reader on a fascinating journey through Chinese art history.

The Chinese Art Book features an introductory essay by Colin Mackenzie, Senior Curator of Chinese Art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, an accessible summary of Chinese political and cultural history, a comprehensive glossary defining technical terms, and an illustrated timeline.

Full of surprises for the reader new to Chinese art as well as for specialists, the book breaks new ground by pairing works that speak to one another in unexpected ways, enlightening historical, stylistic and cultural connections.

Currently, the market for Chinese art is one of the hottest and fastest growing in the world. The Chinese Art Book is the book that the global art community has been waiting for.

Specifications:

Format: Hardback
Size: 290 × 250 mm (11 3/8 × 9 7/8 in)
Pages: 352 pp
Illustrations: 300 illustrations
ISBN: 9780714865751

Colin Mackenzie (Introduction) is Senior Curator of Chinese Art at
the Nelson-Akins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri.
—
Keith Pratt (painting and calligraphy to 1949) is Emeritus Professor of
East Asian Studies at the University of Durham.
—
Jeffrey Moser (plastic arts to 1949) is the Gretta Chambers Assistant Professor of East Asian Art History at McGill University, Montreal.
—
Katie Hill (contemporary art after 1949) is Director of the Office of Contemporary Chinese Art, and Course Leader for Contemporary Chinese Art at Sotheby’s Institute of Art.

"...A gorgeously laid out overview in which classics like Chen Rong's Nine Dragons, painted in 1244 are juxtaposed with contemporary artists from heroic Ai Weiwei to the fireworks of Cai Guo-Qiang... Engage with the art of China past and present..."—The Guardian

"Phaidon's selection of 300 highlights from 5,000 years of Chinese art is notable for its stimulating juxtapositions... The marvelous diversity of forms selected illustrates the ongoing dialogue between contemporary Chinese artists and the traditions that both nourish and challenge them. Informative captions and a chronological timeline contextualize the individual works."—Sotheby's Magazine

"The Chinese Art Book... is a beautifully-produced pictorial record of Chinese art... A book with such a vast timespan is well-placed to give a healthy sense of perspective."—The Asian Review of Books

"...A stunning new compendium, The Chinese Art Book, carefully put together by Colin Mackenzie, Katie Hill and Jeffrey Moser, deploys a surprisingly effective strategy for making both current and contemporary works come to life..."—Town and Country Magazine