Visualizing Dunhuang: Seeing, Studying, and Conserving the Caves

Visualizing Dunhuang: Seeing, Studying, and Conserving the Caves
ISBN-10
0691208166
ISBN-13
9780691208169
Category
Architecture
Pages
400
Language
English
Published
2021-06
Publisher
Princeton University Press
Author
Jun Hu

Description

Situated at the crossroads of the northern and southern routes of the ancient silk routes in western China, Dunhuang is one of the richest Buddhist sites in the world, with more than 500 richly decorated cave temples constructed between the fourth and fourteenth centuries. The sculptures, murals, portable paintings, and manuscripts found in the Mogao and Yulin Caves at Dunhuang represent every aspect of Buddhism. From its earliest construction to the present, this location has been visualized by many individuals, from the architects, builders, and artists who built the caves to twentieth-century explorers, photographers, and conservators, as well as contemporary artists.0'Visualizing Dunhuang: Seeing, Studying, and Conserving the Caves' examines how the Lo Archive, a vast collection of photographs taken in the 1940s of the Mogao and Yulin Caves, inspires a broad range of scholarship. Lavishly illustrated with selected Lo Archive and modern photographs, the essays address three main areas-Dunhuang as historical record, as site, and as art and art history. Leading experts across three continents examine a wealth of topics, including expeditionary photography and cave architecture, to demonstrate the intellectual richness of Dunhuang. Diverse as they are in their subjects and methodologies, the essays represent only a fraction of what can be researched about Dunhuang. The high concentration of caves at Mogao and Yulin and their exceptional contents chronicle centuries of artistic styles, shifts in Buddhist doctrine, and patterns of political and private patronage-providing an endless source of material for future work.0Published in association with the Tang Center for East Asian Art, Princeton University.00'Visualizing Dunhuang: Seeing, Studying, and Conserving the Caves' is a paperback edition of the ninth volume of the nine-volume hardback set 'Visualizing Dunhuang. The Lo Archive photographs of the Mogao and Yulin Caves' ISBN 9780691208152.

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