Art by the Book

"This is a scholarly investigation into a subject that has many fascinating aspects – artistic, social, and economic. Park’s extensive research, evident in the careful treatment of the material, is a welcomed addition to the relatively new field of scholarship of Ming cultural history."

"This study of pioneering, late-Ming dynasty painting manuals by Zhou Luijing reveals how access to cultural knowledge played out in the dynamic social world of the late Ming dynasty. Recommended."

"To date, there are few detailed studies of huapa in English, which makes Park’s book a welcomed addition to the literature. His book serves to introduce an important and still controversial aspect of late Ming artistic theory and production."

"[Art by the Book] is a meticulously researched social history of the content and function of painting manuals published during the forty-year period between 1580 and 1620. . . . The book is most absorbing when Park traces the intimate connections of the manuals not only to the social pleasures of performing with brush and ink, but also to the more private emotions generated by the process of learning to use the brush well and fluidly."

"Well-researched and eloquently written, and the joy to read is enriched by the extensive use of high-quality illustrations. . . . It is warmly recommended for readers interested in Ming cultural and social history, print and book culture, as well as visual culture."

"Art by the Book is a significant contribution to our understanding of the way taste, status, and a growing urban sphere changed the content of elite self — understanding in 16th- and 17th-century China. By constantly cross-cutting between social history and the content and style of the painting manuals, Park demonstrates how even those outside the literati orbit could begin to take on the aura of the highest elites."

"The printed manuals are situated within the wider horizons of late Ming thought, literature, tastes, fashions, values, and lifestyles. Thus, in addition to students of late imperial Chinese art history, this book should appeal to those interested in later Chinese literary, social, and cultural history, to readers interested in the history of the book, and to students of early modern cultural and social theory in comparative context."