The Written Image
Subtitle: Japanese Calligraphy and Painting from the Sylvan Barnet and William Burto Collection
Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art New York
Published: June 2002
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 200
ISBN-13: 9781588390684
Subjects: History - General; Calligraphy, Japanese; Art collections; Art & Art Instruction; United States; Art; Private collections; Exhibitions; Art, Japanese; Barnet, Sylvan
Description: "Calligraphy is often regarded as the purest manifestation of an artist's inner character and level of cultivation, as well as the expression of his soul, thoughts, and feelings. This publication presents some fifty-eight Japanese works, almost all calligraphy, from the remarkable collection formed over the last forty years by Sylvan Barnet and William Burto, literary scholars who became enraptured by the Japanese art of the brush. Their holdings, virtually unique outside Japan, not only embody a fundamental aspect of Japanese culture but also testify to the growing sophistication of Americans' engagement with other cultures." "Spanning more than a thousand years from the Nara period (710-784) through the nineteenth century, the material includes sublime early sutras, or transcriptions of the Buddha's discourses; an extraordinary mandala that is perhaps the finest example of its kind in the West; seminal works by such renowned figures as Myoe, Koetsu, Muso, Konoe, and Daishin; engaging letters and poems that illuminate courtly life; and powerful graphic statements by Zen monk-artists."--Jacket.