Kleutghen, Kristina, 1981-

Imperial illusions : crossing pictorial boundaries in the Qing palaces / Kristina Kleutghen. - Seattle : University of Washington Press, (c)2015. - 1 online resource (xv, 379 pages) : illustrations (chiefly color). - Art history publication initiative .

Includes bibliographies and index.

Introduction: a new vision of painting -- Painted walls and pictorial illusions -- The study of vision -- Contemplating the future -- Peacocks and cave-heavens -- Staging Europe -- The beauty in the garden -- Epilogue: illusions, imperial and otherwise.

"In the Forbidden City and other palaces around Beijing, Emperor Qianlong (r. 1736-1795) surrounded himself with monumental paintings of architecture, gardens, people, and faraway places. The best artists of the imperial painting academy, including a number of European missionary painters, used Western perspectival illusionism to transform walls and ceilings with visually striking images that were also deeply meaningful to Qianlong. These unprecedented works not only offer new insights into late imperial China's most influential emperor, but also reflect one way in which Chinese art integrated and domesticated foreign ideas. In Imperial Illusions, Kristina Kleutghen examines all known surviving examples of the Qing court phenomenon of "scenic illusion paintings" (tongjinghua), which today remain inaccessible inside the Forbidden City. Produced at the height of early modern cultural exchange between China and Europe, these works have received little scholarly attention. Richly illustrated, Imperial Illusions offers the first comprehensive investigation of the aesthetic, cultural, perceptual, and political importance of these illusionistic paintings essential to Qianlong's world."--Publisher's description.



9780295805528

2014007530


Gu gong bo wu yuan (China)
Gu gong bo wu yuan (China)


Painting, Chinese--China--Beijing--Ming-Qing dynasties, 1368-1912.
Art and society--History--China--18th century.
Trompe l'oeil painting--China--Beijing.


Electronic Books.

ND1047 / .I474 2015