The Chinese Garden: History, Art and Architecture, Third Edition
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.18 (805 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0674010868 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 240 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2018-02-10 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Beautiful book I bought this book for visual inspiration in my illustrating. I found the text pleasant to read and have been happy to learn about Chinese gardens. The visuals are stunning and of great variety. I hope the book is updated someday but this is a wonderful book for those interested in Chinese culture and gardening.. Acutely Perceptive, Informative, Profound A superb study that is as engrossing as it is elegantly written and lavishly illustrated, and a sensitive inquiry into the aesthetics, the history and the philosophy that underpin an ancient and majestic civilization's view of mankinds's place within the cosmos. Both unique and profound. An essential work.. John C. Nausieda said The right place to begin. I've been a garden designer in Portland Oregon for twenty years and have spent over a year in China visiting gardens . This book is a very good place to begin if you want to understand , on a basic level, Chinese gardens . It is however, not the place to stop if you really seek to understand them . To do that you have to try to understand the culture and times which produced them. Fruitful Sites by Craig Clunas is the best work which I have found so far as it analyzes the gardens
First sensuous impressions give way to more cerebral delights, and forms conjure unending, increasingly esoteric and mystical layers of meaning for the initiate. Only on closer acquaintance does it offer up its mysteries; and such is the achievement of Maggie Keswick's celebrated classic that it affords us--adventurers, armchair travelers, and garden buffs alike--the intimate pleasures of the Chinese garden. Updated and expanded in this third edition, with an introduction by Alison Hardie, many new illustrations, and an updated list of gardens in China accessible to visitors, Keswick's engaging work remains unparalleled as an introduction to the Chinese garden.. Keswick conducts us through the art and architecture, the principles and techniques of Chinese gardens, showing us their long history as the background for a civilization--the settings for China's great poets and painters, the scenes of ribald parties and peaceful contemplation, political intrigues and family festivals. In these richly illustrated pages, Chinese gardens unfold as cosmic diagrams, revealing a profound and ancient view of the world and of humanity's place in it. Dense with winding paths, dominated by huge rock piles and buildings squeezed i
. Maggie Keswick was educated in Shanghai and Hong Kong and at Oxford University; she was married to the architectural critic and historian Charles Jencks, who contributed to this book.Alison Hardie is a lecturer in Chinese studies at Newcastle University. She first met Maggie Keswick in China twenty years ago, and it was following Maggie's lead that she embarked on her study of Chinese gardens. She has done extensive researc
(Los Angeles Times) . (New York Times)Chinese gardens are high among the wonders of Chinese art, but they do not receive the attention they deserveThe late Maggie Keswick's well-received original volume of the same title was a tour-de-force of insight, which this update enhances. --J. (Far Eastern Economic Review)Keswick shows, in a complex and even exhilarating argument, how the gardens are contrived with enormous subtlety to look like accidental snatches of nature. After reading Maggie Keswick's sensitive study one is tempted to run off to Suzhou using The Chinese Garden as a spiritual guidebook. She did it with rare empathy. O. The Chinese Garden was so enlightening it was reissuedgiving Keswick a crack at a new generationHer introduction to this strange and beautiful world was so good, her touch so light, one could only nod, smile and tu