Compression vs. Expression: Containing and Explaining the World's Art

Edited by John Onians

With essays by Cao Yiqiang, Wilfried van Damme, Rita Eder, James Elkins, Arlene K. Fleming, Derek Gillman, Jyotindra Jain, Cecelia F. Klein, Yves Le Fur, Dominic Marner, Anitra Nettleton, John Onians, Edmund P. Pillsbury, Michael Rinehart, David Summers, and Georges S. Zouain

How do we do justice to art when we treat it not as a discrete European or other regional tradition, but as a worldwide phenomenon with a long history? Based on the 2000 Clark Conference, Compression vs. Expression: Containing and Explaining the World's Art explores the conflict between the need to compress and the desire to express the world's art. All those who work with art—whether as curators, teachers, librarians, bibliographers, administrators, or writers—face this challenge as they work with art of more than one individual, place, period, or culture. Sixteen distinguished scholars from nine countries explore the conflict and address the many questions that emerge.

268 pages
40 black-and-white illustrations
2006
ISBN 0-300-09790-5 (softcover)