Taoism and the Arts of China.

• Author: Katz, Paul R.
• Position: Reviews of Books

Taoism and the Arts of China. Edited by STEPHEN LITTLE, with SHAWN EICHMAN. Exhibition catalogue, The Art Institute of Chicago. Berkeley and Los Angeles: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS, 2000. Pp. 415, plates, illus. $60 (cloth); $39.95 (paper).

The publication of this book can justly be said to represent a monumental accomplishment that significantly contributes to our understanding of the many ways in which Taoism has shaped the development of Chinese culture. Taoism and the Arts of China contains photographs of over 150 works of art, and was published in conjunction with the exhibition "Taoism and the Arts of China," presented at the Art Institute of Chicago from November 4, 2000 through January 7, 2001, and at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco from February 21 to May 13, 2001. It has been expertly edited by Stephen Little, Pritzker Curator of Asian Art at the Art Institute of Chicago, and Shawn Eichman, the exhibit coordinator. Both the exhibit and the book itself represent the fruits of widespread international cooperation with dozens of leading scholars and museum personnel throughout the world, including the United States, Europe, and Asia. The book includes essays by Little, Eichman, Kristofer Schipper, Wu Hung, Patricia Ebrey, and Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt.

In the book's introduction, Little describes the three main goals of this cooperative effort as follows: 1) introducing to a Western audience "the iconography and function of works of art made in the service of Taoism" (see pp. 13 and 21); 2) conveying "a new understanding of how Taoists have defined the structure of the natural and divine worlds, and situated humanity in the resulting matrix" (p. 13); and, 3) impressing this audience with the fact that Taoism is a living religion practiced by Chinese throughout the world today. It is to the credit of Little, Eichman, and those other sinologists and curators who supported their efforts that Taoism and the Arts of China largely achieves these goals. Little's opening essay, entitled "Taoism and the Arts of China," represents a fine introduction to Taoist philosophy, cosmology, and religion in the context of the history of Chinese culture. In particular, Little presents a valuable discussion of Taoism's links to the Chinese imperial courts, a theme that is furth er developed by Patricia Ebrey in her essay on the Song dynasty emperor Huizong [CHINESE CHARACTERS NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (r. 1101-25).

"Taoism: The Story of the Way," by Kristofer Schipper, presents a seminal account of the history of Taoism, and represents the wisdom accumulated during...