Art by the Book

"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."—Choice

"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."—Anne Burkus-Chasson, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies

"[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."—Lisa Claypool, The Journal of Asian Studies

"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."—Richard Vinograd, Stanford University