Author Profile

Tanner Long is a distinguished scholar of East Asian visual culture, currently serving as the Chair of Asian Art History at the Institute of Fine Arts. He earned his Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University, where his doctoral dissertation on Tang Dynasty Buddhist iconography received the prestigious Outstanding Dissertation Award. With over two decades of field research across Mainland China, Taiwan, and Silk Road archaeological sites, Dr. Long has dedicated his career to bridging Western art historical methodologies with traditional Chinese connoisseurship. Before his current academic appointment, he was the Senior Curator of Chinese Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he conceptualised and executed several landmark international exhibitions that redefined public engagement with classical Chinese painting and calligraphy. Dr. Long is a two-time recipient of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Fellowship and has been elected a Corresponding Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. His extensive bibliography includes the critically acclaimed monographs The Painted Void: Spatial Poetics in Song Landscape Art and Ink and Empire: The Politics of Style in Ming Court Culture, alongside dozens of peer-reviewed articles in leading journals such as Artibus Asiae and The Journal of Asian Studies. In A Companion to Chinese Art, Dr. Long synthesises a lifetime of looking, teaching, and excavating into a definitive, authoritative guide. His profound linguistic proficiency in classical Chinese, combined with a rare, intuitive empathy for the material object, allows him to guide readers past the surface of ink, silk, and clay into the philosophical and political currents that shaped five millennia of visual expression. He splits his time between New York City and Hangzhou, where he continues to consult on museum acquisitions and mentor the next generation of Asian art historians.

About The Book

A Companion to Chinese Art, stands as a monumental and fiercely revisionist intervention in global art history. This comprehensive volume offers far more than a passive chronological survey. Instead, it serves as a powerful, polemical manifesto designed to break the Eurocentric monopoly on art theory and reclaim the narrative of China's millennia-long record of cultural production. By bringing together a formidable international team of scholars from both East and West, the book dismantles the "triumphalist narratives" of Western academia, offering a rigorous, fact-based antidote to the discipline’s historical sophistry. For centuries, mainstream art history has treated Western artistic developments as the universal standard while trivializing, exoticizing, or ignoring the intellectual and socio-political complexities of non-Western traditions. A Companion to Chinese Art confronts this bias head-on. The volume does not merely ask for a seat at the table; it rewrites the rules of the table entirely, compelling art historians, students, and the reading public to rethink the very core issues of the discipline. Rather than restricting its lens to the traditional "fine arts" of painting and calligraphy, the text elevates the entire ecosystem of Chinese craftsmanship. It weaves meticulous studies of sculpture, jade, bronze, ceramics, and everyday personal accessories into the broader fabric of China’s social and political institutions, religious practices, and intellectual traditions. Ultimately, A Companion to Chinese Art functions as an essential academic roadmap. It signals exactly where the field of East Asian art history is heading while providing a rigorous toolkit for any scholar interested in comparative global studies. It is a rare, vital work that balances profound historical depth with urgent contemporary relevance, a definitive statement that Chinese art must not be viewed through a borrowed lens, but understood on its own magnificent, revolutionary terms.

Table of Contents

Preface
Chapter 1. Foundations of Chinese Art— A Companion to Chinese Art
Historical Scope and Chronological Framework
Philosophical Thought and Aesthetic Principles
Materials, Techniques, and Artistic Media
Patronage, Workshops, and Artistic Production
Social Functions of Art in Chinese Culture
Ritual, Symbolism, and Visual Meaning
Transmission of Artistic Knowledge
Methodologies in the Study of Chinese Art
Chapter 2. Art of Prehistoric and Early Dynastic China
Neolithic Cultures and Artistic Expression
Jade, Pottery, and Early Material Culture
Shang Dynasty Bronzes and Ritual Vessels
Oracle Bone Inscriptions and Visual Language
Zhou Dynasty Art and Aesthetic Change
Decorative Motifs and Symbolic Systems
Regional Styles and Archaeological Evidence
Legacy of Early Chinese Artistic Traditions
Chapter 3. Qin and Han Dynasty Art
Imperial Unification and Artistic Patronage
Funerary Art and Tomb Culture
Terracotta Army and Monumental Sculpture
Han Pictorial Reliefs and Murals
Calligraphy as an Emerging Art Form
Advances in Materials and Craft Techniques
Art, Cosmology, and Political Authority
Influence on Later Chinese Art
Chapter 4. Art of the Six Dynasties and Buddhist China
Political Fragmentation and Cultural Exchange
Introduction and Spread of Buddhism
Buddhist Sculpture and Cave Temples
Murals, Icons, and Narrative Imagery
Transformation of Chinese Figural Style
Calligraphy and Literati Culture
Daoist Imagery and Religious Art
Synthesis of Indigenous and Foreign Influences
Chapter 5. Sui and Tang Dynasty Art
Cultural Unification and Cosmopolitanism
Court Art and Imperial Workshops
Buddhist Painting and Sculpture
Figure Painting and Courtly Life
Ceramics and Technological Innovations
Poetry, Painting, and Calligraphy
Tang Art and its Enduring Legacy
Chapter 6. Song Dynasty Art and Literati Culture
Political Context and Cultural Transformation
Rise of Literati Painting
Landscape Painting and Natural Philosophy
Bird-and-Flower Painting Traditions
Calligraphy and Scholarly Expression
Ceramics, Ink, and Aesthetic Refinement
Art Theory and Critical Writing
Influence on Later Artistic Practice
Chapter 7. Yuan Dynasty Art and Cultural Change
Mongol Rule and Artistic Patronage
Scholar-Artists and Individual Expression
Innovations in Landscape Painting
Calligraphy and Seal Carving
Intercultural Exchange and Artistic Synthesis
Painting as Personal and Political Expression
Materials, Techniques, and Studio Practice
Yuan Art in Historical Perspective
Chapter 8. Ming Dynasty Art and Global Exchange
Restoration of Han Chinese Rule
Court Painting and Decorative Arts
Porcelain Production and Global Trade
Literati Painting and Regional Schools
Print Culture and Popular Imagery
Urban Culture and Artistic Markets
Interaction with Europe and the Islamic World
Ming Art and Its International Legacy
Chapter 9. Qing Dynasty Art and Modern Encounters
Manchu Patronage and Court Culture
Orthodox and Individualist Painting Traditions
Imperial Workshops and Decorative Arts
Jesuit Influence and Western Techniques
Art, Identity, and Political Authority
Popular Art and Visual Culture
Late Qing Reforms and Artistic Change
Transition toward Modern Chinese Art
Bibliography
Index