asia ink 2014
CONTACT US
1 Alma Terrace London W8 6QY +44 20 7938 4476 • sbuchanan@asiainkbooks.com • www.asiainkbooks.com
asia ink 2014
NEW TITLE Gao Xingjian Painter of the Soul Daniel Bergez UPCOMING TITLES Museumtracker Guides Sherry Buchanan ed Abu Dhabi, UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia China India Japan Vietnam Asian Visions The Epic Story of Asian Art in the 20th Century Sherry Buchanan PUBLISHED TITLES Asia Unique Hans Kemp Drawing Under Fire War Diary of a Young Vietnamese Artist 1954 Pham Thanh Tam Legends of the Indus Samina Quraeshi Mekong Diaries Drawings & Stories from the Vietnam War 1964 -1975 Sherry Buchanan Montien Boonma Temple of the Mind Apinan Poshyananda & Melissa Chiu Tran Trung Tin Paintings & Poems from Vietnam Sherry Buchanan Vietnam Zippos American Soldiers’ Engravings & Stories 1965 - 1973 Sherry Buchanan
WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE
GAO XINGJIAN
Interview with the Artist by SHERRY BUCHANAN
‘The book is a triumph!’ Jessica Harrison-Hall, Curator, Asia Department, The British Museum ‘A visually sumptuous read that is both erudite and approachable.’ The Straits Times ‘Highly readbale and enjoyable, the book beautifully illustrates Gao’s work.’ The Bangkok Post Magazine
‘A vision born in ink.’ The Australian Gao Xingjian Painter of the Soul Daniel Bergez Translation and Interview with the Artist by Sherry Buchanan isbn 978- 0 -9537839-7-7 Hardcover with Jacket 285 x 260 mm 264 pages 200 colour plates 25,000 words Printed in Italy Publication Date 2014 55.00 GBP 85.00 USD
Synopsis >> Universally known as the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2000 for his novel Soul Mountain, Gao Xingjian is also an artist whose work is exhibited worldwide. This stunning book showcases for the first time two decades of Gao Xingjian’s enigmatic ink-wash paintings. Daoism, the Chinese literati painting tradition and Western Modernism inform Gao Xingjian’s masterful ink-wash paintings. Born in China in 1940, Gao worked as a French-Chinese translator while painting and writing. After spending five years in a re-education camp during the Cultural Revolution, he became wellknown in Beijing for his avant-garde plays. Targeted in the 1987 Anti-Pollution Campaign, his plays banned, he left China to settle in France. Today he lives in Paris.
>> Daniel Bergez is an art critic, professor of French literature and painter. His books on literary and pictorial creation are authorities in their field.
Gao Xingjian, Eclipse, 2011, oil on canvas, 124.5 x 134.6 cm.
UPCOMING TITLES
MUSEUMTRACKER
>> Museum of Islamic Art • Doha • Qatar • IM Pei • 2008
ARCHAEOLOGY
ARTISTS’ STUDIOS
BRONZE WARES
BUDDHIST ART CALLIGRAPHY CERAMICS CONTEMPORARY ART
EARTHENWARES FRESCOES GLASSWARES INK PAINTING ISLAMIC ART
JADEWARES JEWELLERY METALWORK MINIATURE PAINTING
MODERN ART PHOTOGRAPHY SCULPTURE TEXTILES
MUSEUMTRACKER THE NEW CULTURAL LANDSCAPE OF THE 21ST CENTURY
MUSEUMTRACKER, a printed and digital series on World Museums, brings you the exciting new cultural landscape of the 21st Century. World art treasures are no longer confined the fewwellknown institutions in New York, London or Paris. Breathtaking contemporary Museum buildings, world class Museum collections and seminal archaeological finds in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America are enriching and re-defining how we view and understand our common heritage. In 2014, MUSEUMTRACKER is launching illustrated printed and e-pub guides to Museums in
China, India, Japan, Southeast Asia and The Gulf States.They will be followed by Brazil,Turkey, Korea and Singapore, Malaysia & Indonesia. NEW MUSEUMS & SEMINAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS OF THE 21ST CENTURY
> Twenty to fifty must-see Museums and Archaeological Sites selected by a panel of experts. > Museum entries and collections reviewed by experts in their fields of study. > Lavishly illustrated portable printed guides and an interactive digital e-pub3 book. > Iconic objects and curator’s picks. > Museumtracker Trails act as a narrative to the art, history and culture of the region or country. > World class collections span the Paleolithic Era until today. > Treasures from the premodern era and new seminal archeological discoveries are revealed. > Modern Art outside North America and Western Europe, previously sidelined as derivative of Western models, is fully documented, showcasing important Museum collections of Modern Art in China, India, Qatar and Vietnam, to name a few. > Contemporary Art, except for Japan, is an exciting newcomer to Museums outside North Ameria and Western Europe. Contemporary Art collections are represented in important private, and some public, Museums in China, India, The Gulf States and others. MUSEUMTRACKER GUIDES FOR THE EMERGING MARKETS > WHY NOW?
> Increased economic wealth and growth in emerging markets is changing our cultural landscape. > Museum constructions in China and the Arab Gulf States by architectural superstars and Museum renovation projects in India,Vietnam and others are on the rise. > Seminal archaeological discoveries in Japan, China, India, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia and others are multiplying, thanks to increased government funding for archaeological digs. > Museums in our selected countries and regions are experiencing exponential growth in the number of local and foreign visitors.
MUSEUMTRACKER >>
THE GULF STATES
Series Editor >> Sherry Buchanan
>> THE GULF STATES Series Creator and Editor Sherry Buchanan ISBN 9780953783984 21 x 14 cm 256 pp 200 colour ill Softback with flaps Pub date 2015 Printed edition RRP $30.00 Digital edition MUSEUMTRACKER
Synopsis > Must- see museums selected by a distinguished panel of experts. > The only guide to museums of the Arab Gulf States. > World class collections revealed. > Narrative insights, cultural trails, curator’s picks and must-dos not found in general guidebooks or on travel or museum websites. > New museums by leading architects are transforming the cultural landscape of the Arab Gulf States. IM Pei’s Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar opened in 2008. The Louvre Abu Dhabi is set to open in 2015, the Zayed National Museum, in 2016 and the Guggenheim in 2017. > The governments of the region are investing billions of dollars in their tourism infrastructure to diversify their economies away from oil. As one example, the eight billion US dollar expansion of Dubai International Airport will increase its capacity from 60 million passengers to 90 million by 2018, when it will become the world’s busiest airport.
Contents Museum Treasures of The Arab Gulf States Archeological Sites Museumtracker Trails, Maps & Timeline MUSEUMS
Abu Dabi Bahrain Dubai Kuwait Qatar Saudia Arabia A-Z Museums, Glossary & Bibliography
Series Creator & Editor Sherry Buchanan is an author, editor and publisher. She served
as an editor and columnist with The Wall Street Journal and The International Herald Tribune in New York, Brussels, Paris, London and Hong Kong where she wrote on politics, culture and arts. She was educated in Switzerland and in the United States. She has degrees from Smith College, Harvard and Tufts Universities. Her edited and authored titles include Drawing Under Fire (2005), the best-seller Vietnam Zippos (2007), Mekong Diaries (2008) and Vietnam Posters (Prestel 2009). She is the editor and publisher of Asia Ink.
MUSEUMTRACKER >>
JAPAN
Series Editor >> Sherry Buchanan
MUSEUMTRACKER >>
JAPAN Series Creator & Editor Sherry Buchanan ISBN 9780953783984 21 x 14 cm 256 pp 200 colour ill Softback with flaps Pub date 2015 Printed edition RRP $30.00 Digital edition
>> Synopsis > Must-see museums selected from Japan’s six thousand museums by a panel of experts. > The only English-language guide to Japanese museums. > World class collections revealed. > Narrative insights, cultural trails, curator’s picks and must-dos not found in general guidebooks or on travel or museum websites. > New museums by leading architects have transformed Japan’s cultural landscape. > The number of foreign visitors is expected to reach over eight million in 2013. Visitors from English-speaking countries are the third largest group of travellers to Japan, after China and Korea.
>> Contents The Land of Five Thousand Museums Japan’s National Treasures Museumtracker Trails, Maps & Timeline MUSEUMS Tokyo & Surroundings The Centre > The Chubu Region The Kansai Region & Kyoto The West > The Chugoku Region The South > Kyushu & The Shikoku Islands The North > Tohoku & Hokkaido Islands A-Z Museums, Glossary & Bibliography
MUSEUMTRACKER >>
CHINA
Series Editor >> Sherry Buchanan
MUSEUMTRACKER >> CHINA Series Creator & Editor Sherry Buchanan ISBN 9780953783984 21 x 14 cm 256 pp & 200 colour ill Softback with flaps Pub date 2015 Printed edition RRP $30.00 Digital edition
>> Contents Museums of the Middle Kingdom China’s National Treasures Museumtracker Trails, Maps & Timeline MUSEUMS Beijing & the North
Shanghai & the Centre Xian & the East Chengdu, Sichuan & the Southwest Guangzhou, Hong Kong & the South A-Z Museums, Glossary & Bibliography >> Synopsis > Must-see museums selected from China’s three thousand museums by a panel of experts. > The only guide focused on visual arts museums in China. > World class collections revealed. > Narrative insights, cultural trails, curator’s picks and must-dos not found in general guidebooks or on travel or museum websites. > New museums by leading architects are transforming China’s cultural landscape, starting with IM Pei’s Suzhou Museum in 2006, the new wing of the National Museum of China in Beijing in 2011 and more to open by 2014. > The number of local visitors to museums is huge and increasing. Foreign visitors to China numbered fifty-three million in 2010. China ranks as the world’s third leading travel destination for English-speaking visitors.
200
Art • Ancient
THE SOUTHWEST • GUANGHAN • SICHUAN
THE SANXINGDUI THREE STAR MOUND MUSEUM & THE JINSHA MUSEUM
「
Seminal archeological find of the twentieth century
」
Sanxingdui, a walled city of the Bronze Age, is the stuff of dreams and a
wonderful place for the amateur archeologist in all of us. The more than one thousand astonishing objects displayed in the Three-Star-Mound Museum are the only clues we have to the existence of a Shu civilisation. There is no known Shu written script or direct reference to the kingdom in historical texts; an ancient Shu Kingdom of Wufu exists as a popular legend in Sichuan. The ancient metropolis on the banks of the Yangtze is thought to have been a
major city if not the capital of the Shu Kingdom, one of the earliest civilisations in the region. The Shu would have been contemporaneous with the Shang Dynasty (1600 – 1046 BC ) the earliest known civilisation in southern China, until the discoveries at Sanxingdui. The first jade artefacts were found by a farmer digging an irrigation ditch in his field in 1929. Excavations continued until 1986 when the extraordinary discoveries now exhibited in the museum raised the possibility that the site had been a large settlement on the upper reaches of the Yangtze, perhaps even the capital, of a lost civilisation distinct from the Shang to the north. Brick factory workers were digging for clay when they discovered two large pits that yielded more than one thousand bronze, gold, and jade artefacts that today make up the wondrous museum collection. The archeological site is thought to cover seventeen square kilometres, while the formidable inner walls, forty meters thick and eight to ten meters high, enclosed a smaller inner sanctum where ruins of huge palaces and a temple have been found. The pure gold sceptre, a1.4 meter – long gold staff unearthed from pit one,
is thought to represent a symbol of religious or royal authority, similar to the sceptres in Iran and Central Asia. In contrast, the ancient Chinese symbol of state power is the ding or tripod, the bronze vessel of the Shang empire. Is this evidence
MUSEUMTRACKER
>> CHINA Sample spread
24
BEIJING
CURATOR’S PICKS • Section of the scroll by Wang Ximeng (c.1096 – 1119) • A Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains • 11.9 m x 55.8 cm • Song Dynasty • Wang Ximeng was a painter at the court of Emperor Huizong (1082 – 1135), a patron of the arts and accomplished artist himself. Wang, was considered to be a child prodigy and finished the work when he was only eighteen years old. The scroll is considered one of the greatest works of Chinese painting..
THE PALACE MUSEUM
25
MUSEUMTRACKER>
INDIA
Series Editor >> Sherry Buchanan
MUSEUMTRACKER >> INDIA Series Creator & Editor Sherry Buchanan ISBN 9780953783984 21 x 14 cm 256 pp & 200 colour ill Softback with flaps Pub date 2015 Printed edition RRP $30.00 Digital edition
>> Contents Museum Treasures of India Archeological Sites Museumtracker Trails, Maps & Timeline MUSEUMS New Delhi & the North Rajasthan
Hyderabad & the Centre Mumbai & the East Kolkata & the West A-Z Museums, Glossary & Bibliography >> Synopsis > Must-see museums selected by a panel of experts. > The only illustrated guide to museums in India. > World class collections revealed. > Narrative insights, cultural trails, curator’s picks and must-dos not found in general guidebooks or on travel or museum websites. > New museums coming on stream include the Kolkata Museum of Contemporary Art and more scheduled to open in 2014. > The guide is aimed at the Indian English-speaking market and the foreign visitors’ market. A quarter million Indians speak English as their first language, 1.5 million as a second language. In 2008, 1.7 million foreign visitors to India were English-speaking visitors, from the US (696,739), the UK (734,240), Canada (176567) and Australia (109867).
MUSEUMTRACKER
10
>> INDIA Sample Spread
NEW DELHI
Indian Art • pre-Modern
I
Temple of history and art.
11
I
THE NATIONAL MUSEUM
Maulana Azad Road New Delhi, Delhi 110011
Be prepared to spend several hours in this sanctuary in the heart of New Delhi. The collections span five thousand years, starting with artefacts from the Indus Valley and Harappan Civilisation (3300–1300 BC), one of the worlds’ earliest urban civilisations, contemporaneous with Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt. Pottery, seals, tablets, weights and measures, jewellery, terracotta figurines, toys, and copper tools were excavated from the vestiges of cities of multi-storied brick houses with full-blown roadside drainage systems. >The Mohenjodaro Dancing Girl is one of the earliest bronzes cast from the artist’s sculpture — the loss -wax process and was found in 1926 during the excavation of a settlement in Sindh. Eight hundred bronze, stone and terracotta sculptures dating from the third century BC to the nineteenth century are displayed in the archaeological galleries on the ground, first and second floors and around the Museum building. > Celebrated bronze sculptures of the Chola empire (3 BC — 13 AD), the Tamil dynasty who built the Thanjavur temple in southern India, include the > Nataraja figure of Lord Shiva (PREVIOUS PAGES) the > Kaliya Mardan Krishna and a dancing > Bala Krishna (OVERLEAF). These sacred bronze deities, adorned in silks, were paraded amidst chants and music in daily rituals, processions, and temple festivals. Hindu bronze figurines from later periods include this > Devi (OPPOSITE), Goddess in sanskrit, from the Vijayanagara dynasty (1614 – 1646), the last great dynasty of southern India. >The Museum has some of the earliest and finest examples of miniature paintings written on long narrow strips of palm leaves. Starting in the tenth century, miniature paintings were illustrations for sacred texts. The main centres of manuscript illustration of Buddhist sacred texts were in Bihar, Bengal and Orissa. In Western India, they were centred in Gujarat and illustrated Hindu and Jain texts, sacred, religious and epic manuscripts, ragamalas, legends, even cook books. An illustration of > the Kalpasutra, the holy Jain text that chronicles the lives of the siddhas, the Jain holy men. Illustrated manuscripts were commissioned by Jain princes and merchants to gain religious merit.
CURATOR’S PICKS • Devi • Bronze • 160 x 156 cm • 15th century AD • Vijayanagara period 1614 –1646 • South India • The Vijayanagara empire flourished between the 14th and 16th centuries.
MUSEUMTRACKER >>
VIETNAM
Series Editor >> Sherry Buchanan MUSEUMTRACKER >> VIETNAM Series Creator & Editor Sherry Buchanan ISBN 9780953783984 21 x 14 cm 256 pp 200 colour ill Softback with flaps Pub date 2015 Printed edition RRP $30.00 and digital edition
>> Contents Museum Treasures of Vietnam Archeological Sites Museumtracker Trails, Maps & Timeline
MUSEUMS Hanoi & the North Hue & the Centre Ho Chi Minh City & the South >> Synopsis > Must-see museums selected by a panel of experts. > The only illustrated guide to museums in Vietnam. > World class collections revealed. > Narrative insights, cultural trails, curator’s picks and must-dos not found in general guidebooks or on travel or museum websites. > New museums include the National Museum of History in Hanoi and more scheduled to open in 2014.. > The guide is aimed at the local and tourist markets. In 2011, there were six million foreign visitors to Vietnam, 450,000 came from the United States.
PUBLISHED TITLES
ASIA CONTEMPORARY VIETNAM Ly Hoang Ly, detail, Monument Round Tray, Round metallic serving trays, 2006.
DRAWING UNDER FIRE
The War Diary of a Young Vietnamese Artist, 1954 Pham Thanh Tam
‘An amazing book...' The Times 2005 ‘An extraordinary secret history...’ The Independent 2005 ‘A unique wartime diary...’ BBC 2005 ‘Témoignage exceptionnel. ‘An exceptional document.’ L’Express 2011 ‘...témoignage rarissime où la propagande n’altère pas l’émotion.’ ‘...extremely rare diary where the propaganda does not alter the underlying emotions.’ Le Nouvel Observateur 2011 ‘La rareté des témoignages, côté Viêtminh, rend d’autant plus précieux ce « carnet de guerre » récemment exhumé d’un jeune combattant de 22 ans.’ ‘The rarety of Vietminh contemporaneous accounts of this momentous battle makes this recently discovered diary of a twenty-two yearold soldier all the more precious.’ Le Figaro Litéraire 2011
>> Synopsis Drawing Under Fire The War Diary of A Young Vietnamese Artist, This unique contemporaneous document helps understand why, twenty-one years later, America lost the Vietnam War. Although this was a communist vic1954 tory, Vietnam’s fight was above all a war of independence in which combatPham Thanh Tam tants and civilians were united to defeat the foreign occupation. The diary illustrated with the author’s sketches is the only contemporaneous account 20 x 14 cm of the fifty-five days and nights of the battle of Dien Bien Phu, the twentieth 192 pp century epic battle in which Vietminh forces defeated the militarily superior 50 colour ill. French forces. First published 2005 by Asia Ink ISBN 0953783936 >> The Author and Artist Hardback with Jacket & folds Pham Thanh Tam (1933 – ) studied painting at the Viet Bac Fine Arts College at the £14.99 printed and e-pub beginning of the Indochina War (1946 – 1954), and at the Hanoi Institute of Fine Editions Armand Colin 2011 Arts after the war. Later, he was an official war artist and correspondent during the ISBN 978220257590 Vietnam War (1964 — 1975). Today, he lives in Ho Chi Minh City. Paperback €19.90 World rights ex France available
>> Praise for Drawing Under Fire ‘Pham Thanh Tam’s Drawing Under Fire is an amazing book. Tam was 15 when he joined the resistance against the French after his home was destroyed in the 1946 French bombing of the city. Living under cover, he sketched and reported what he saw. In 1954 he covered the historic battle of Dien Bien Phu. His is an incredible story; his illustrations and reportage equally memorable.’ The Times 2005 ‘A unique wartime diary, more exciting than fiction, with extraordinary drawings and sketches done during the battle of Dien Bien Phu.’ BBC Radio 3 Night Waves 2005 ‘In 1954, Pham Thanh Tam kept a diary of life on the front in the war for independence. It was then hidden away until a chance meeting fifty years later. An extraordinary secret history.’ The Independent 2005
‘“We were young but our faces were old.” In February 1954, 22 years old, Pham Thanh Tam, after seven years of war, leaves for Dien Bien Phu, wearing sandals and his rice belt. Armed with his pencils and paint brushes, the Fine Arts student, influenced by French classical drawing, is attached to the Viet-minh artillery. He records in a diary and draws in pencil, ink and watercolour what he sees: burnt-out landscapes, comrades in arms, fire and death... it is one of the rare, perhaps the only Viet-minh diary of this battle. All the more merit to the American journalist Sherry Buchanan for having found and meticulously edited this diary which ends in August 1954, when Tam returns to Hanoi...Ten years later, he is called upon to draw the first American plane shot down over North Vietnam.Today, Pham Thanh Tam is a retired army colonel who lives and paints in Ho Chi Minh City.” L’Express 2011
drawings & stories from the american vietnam war 1964 — 1975 Sherry Buchanan
Mekong Diaries Drawings & Stories from the American- Vietnam Wa 1964 — 1975 Sherry Buchanan 24 x 22 cm Hardback 264 pp 230 colour ill First published 2008 Chicago ISBN 9780226078304 $ 30.00 World rights available
>> Praise for Mekong Diaries ‘During the Vietnam war, America’s image of the conflict was shaped by news footage of battlefields dominated by miasmal jungle and an enemy who was often portrayed as merciless and inhuman. But the war doesn’t look that way in the drawings, poems, letters and oral histories compiled in Mekong Diaries. Author Sherry Buchanan journeyed across Vietnam to gather previously unpublished material from ten Vietnamese artists who resisted the U.S. The resulting volume is a moving alternative to common American narratives of the war and offers extraordinary insight into Vietnamese hearts, military and civilian.’ TIME Magazine
‘...a stunning look at Vietnam’s wartime art...’ ‘Amid the vast sufferings of the Vietnam War, the Viet Cong dispatched trained artists down the ‘Ho Chi Minh Trail’ into the heart of battle, to record the events in watercolours and drawings. Forty years on, Sherry Buchanan’s new book compiles their work, to reveal a surprisingly gentle aspect to a notoriously brutal conflict.‘ BBC Radio 4 Saturday Review
‘Sherry Buchanan’s new book, Mekong Diaries gives us a stunning look at some of the wartime art produced by the Vietnamese soldier-artists who served in the “American War” to drive out the U.S.’ TRUTHDIG
thai ha | 074 | 075
Mekong Diaries Sample Spread
longing I hear
u,
yo es, I long for
e high pass
Climbing th
gh the forest
stle throu the winds ru
leaves.
u,
yo rs, I think of
Crossing rive
p my feet e current la
es in th I feel the wav to Holding fast
the trench,
u,
I think of yo
u, my love,
nd paths And a thousa
h.
attered eart
rs of the sh
e whispe I listen to th I long for yo
.
de me.
si break free in
y, 1970 nguyen du
artist | thai ha | place | ca mau, the mekong delta | date | november 1966 | inscription | welcoming father home on leave. |
VIETNAM ZIPPOS Sherry Buchanan from the collection of Bradford Edwards
Vietnam Zippos
of personal expression, engraved with statements ranging from
American Soldiers’ Engravings and Stories (1965-1973)
the profane to the obscene to the just plain hopeful. Lavishly il-
Sherry Buchanan
lustrated and startlingly frank, Sherry Buchanan’s Vietnam Zippos:
24 x 22 cm 176 pp 170 ill First published 2007 with Visionary World Asia Ink Visionary World Flexibind ISBN $35.00 Wolrd rights available ex France
is an insightful and gut-wrenching look into the thoughts of the young men who carried them.’ Amazon.com Editor’s Choice Top 30
‘Well designed and photographed...a rare personal dimension to the Vietnam War.’ The New York Times Top 10 Art Books 2007
>> Praise for Vietnam Zippos
‘Potent, shocking and at times bitterly funny documents of war.’ GQ
‘When pictures of thatched huts set ablaze by U.S. troops were
UK
beamed to stateside TVs, the Zippo lighter became a symbol
‘Shocking, satirical,, hilarious and poignant in equal measure.’
of the escalating Vietnam War and America’s uneasiness with
Wonderland
her mission there.The lighters were talismans and tokens
‘...a rare personal dimension to the Vietnam War.’ The New York Times’ Top Ten Art Books 2007
‘Whether you choose to ponder the poignancy of the engravings or appreciate them as beautiful cultural artefacts,Vietnam Zippos deserves a place on your shelf.’ GQ US
Vietnam Zippos Sample Spread
GOD MADE GRASS,
MAN M WHO ARE Y
ZIG ZAG MAN Marijuana, sex and peace were as much a part of in-country culture as they were of the hippie culture at Woodstock. The Zig Zag Man, an icon of the drug culture of the sixties, was a natural choice for marijuana smokers to have engraved on their Zippos. Zig Zag was the GIs rolling paper brand of choice for joints. The Zig Zag Man was actually the portrait of an Algerian zouave that originated in the late nineteenth century as the corporate logo of Maurice and Jacques Braunstein, the French manufacturers of the cigarette rolling papers. The brothers, inspired by the bravery of Algerian soldiers fighting on the French side in the Crimean War, sought to capitalize on their combat machismo to sell their rolling paper brand. In the Vietnam War, the Zig Zag Man was an anti-war symbol found engraved next to Peace symbols.
)*)
S,
ZIPPO INSCRIPTION
N MADE ALCO HOL YOU GOING TO TRUST?
sherry buchanan
paintings and poems from vietnam
TRAN TRUNG TIN
‘Vietnam’s greatest expressionist artist.” The Independent
Tran Trung Tin Paintings & Poems from Vietnam
Sherry Buchanan ISBN 0953783901 30 x 24 cm Hardback jacket & folds 192 pp 124 colour ill
First published 2002 £ 48.00
>> The Artist Tran Trung Tin (1933 – 2007) is a leading artist of the twentieth century. During the Vietnam War, he painted in Hanoi to express the suffering of his people. Self-taught, he searched
for alternatives to conventional expressions in Vietnamese art. International exhibitions include Memories of War at the British Museum (2002) and No More War! at the Asia House Gallery, London (2007). >> Praise for Tran Trung Tin ‘Vietnam’s greatest artist.’ The Independent 2002 ‘Brilliantly coloured tortured images. ‘ The Times 2002 ‘This is a simply and beautifully designed book by Sherry Buchanan. Tin’s work, in its simples forms and translucent washes, quiet religiosity and compassion for the outcast, brings to mind the paintings of Rouault. His abstract work is the most powerful meditative retreats of loosely painted blocks in warm colours, a self-created visual sanctuary from the war raging outside.’ Modern Painters 2002
saigon
A sorrowful Sunday evening Is it you who is there is it you on that sad, sad Sunday you In the black market selling you in the new economic zone working It is also you by the ocean where you cannot go I know it is still you sad, so sad waiting in line I know it is you hawking the family altar for you, only you Saigon, 1977
I
the good king
Tran Trung Tin Paintings & poems from Vietnam Sample Spread
“I painted the innocence and suffering of women of that time.� Tran Trung Tin
Montien Boonma Temple of the Mind Apinan Poshyananda with Melissa Chiu ISBN 0953783928 28 x 24 cm Paperback with flaps 152 pp 120 colour ill. First published 2004 Out of print $ 45.00
>> The Artist Montien Boonma (1953 – 2000) studied in Bangkok, Rome and Paris and began exhibiting internationally in the 1980s. He is best known for his sculptures and installations, which combine traditional and organic substances with cement, steel and other industrial materials. He constantly searched for alternatives to conventional expressions in Thai art within a Buddhist context. >> The Authors Apinan Poshyananda is an art historian and the author of several books on contemporary Thai art. Melissa Chiu is the director of the Asia Society Museum in New York and the author of several books on Asian contemporary art.
Thailand’s most celebrated contemporary artist
Montien Boonma Temple of the Mind Sample Spread
42 Lotus Sound
Each terracotta bell is stacked delicately to form a concave wall; by placing the rows of bells between corners, the formation of grids and curvilinear shapes results in an optical illusion as viewers move across the transparent wall of terracotta bells. Evoking a moment of stillness and silence during prayer or meditation, the realization of inner peace is represented by the stems and petals of golden lotuses floating on the walls. Lotus Sound expresses the essence of Buddhist faith: the porous terracotta walls of the bells are at once opaque and transparent, solid and fragile, permanent and perishable, metaphorical of a barrier and a filter—partially blocking the way to the golden lotus with petals bursting forth in space. Comparable to the shell shielding an interior, or a rib cage protecting the self, they are porous and fragile, moving in accordance with the motion of the lungs in the rhythm of breathing. In Brisbane in 1993 for the Asia Pacific Triennial, Boonma had just finished building the wall of terracotta bells when he opened a can of Coke during the pause. The noise from opening the Coke caused the wall to collapse and the terracotta bells shattered. Boonma simply started rebuilding the wall with his assistant and managed to finish just in time before the opening the following night.
44
‘...a magnificent edition of the Indus Legends...'
Legends of the Indus Samina Quraeshi ISBN 953783901 32.5 x 20 cm Hardback with jacket & French folds 208 pp 120 colour ill First published 2004 Out of print $ 80.00
>> Praise for Legends of the indus ‘Samina Quraeshi builds cultural bridges in this magnificent edition of the Indus Legends. She travelled down the Indus to record the age-old legends from village story-tellers. Mirrors of Pakistani rural life and divine tales, the stories celebrate the triumph of love and tolerance over religious and tribal conflicts. ’ Dawn.com >> The Author Samina Quraeshi is an art historian and designer. She is the author of Legacy of the Indus, Lahore, and Sacred Spaces: A Journey with the Sufis of the Indus.
Izzat Beg was not impressed with the pots
he saw in the bazaar until he went to Tulla’s shop on the banks of the Chenab. As he
stared in the river, he started to feel homesick. Suddenly, another reflection joined
his, that of a beautiful young girl. He was
so transfixed by her reflection, that he could not move. Her name was Sohni, and she was the daughter of Tulla the potter.
Asia Unique Hans Kemp ISBN 9789628563777 Hardback with jacket 160 x 134mm 200 pp 132 colour ill. Published with Visionary World 2009 $16.95 >> Series Editor Hans Kemp is a photographer and creator of innovative docu-photographic titles, including the bestseller Bikes of Burden. He has been photographing Asia for twenty years. His series of luxurious Asia Unique mini books captures Asia’s extraordinary diversity.
CONTACT US
asia ink 1 Alma Terrace London W8 6QY +44 20 7938 4476 • sbuchanan@asiainkbooks.com • www.asiainkbooks.com
Asia Ink, 1 Alma Terrace, London W8 6QY © Asia Ink 2014 The British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data ISBN –13 978 – 0 –9537839 – 2 All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, digital, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system.
asia ink 2014