Buddhist Pilgrim-Monks as Agents of Cultural and Artistic Transmission: The International Buddhist Art Style in East Asia, Ca. 645-770 (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9789814722599)

In the mid-seventh century, a class of Buddhist pilgrim-monks disseminated an art style in China, Japan, and Korea that was uniform in both iconography and formal properties. Traveling between the courts and religious centers of the region, these pilgrim-monks played a powerful role in this proto-cosmopolitanism, promulgating what came to be known as the International Buddhist Art Style.
In Buddhist Pilgrim-Monks as Agents of Cultural and Artistic Transmission, Dorothy C. Wong argues that the visual expression found in this robust new art style arose alongside the ascendant theory of the Buddhist state, and directly influenced it. Aided by lavish illustrations, Wong's book shows that the visual language transmitted and circulated by these pilgrim-monks served as a key agent in shaping the cultural landscape of Northeast Asia.
This is the first major study of the vital role played by Buddhist pilgrim-monks in conveying the notions of Buddhist kingship via artistic communication. Wong's interdisciplinary analysis will attract scholars in Asian art history and religious studies.

Author: Dorothy Wong
ISBN-10: 9814722596
ISBN-13: 9789814722599
Publisher: National University of Singapore Press
Language: English
Published: 10/15/2018
Pages: 366
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 4.00lbs
Size: 9.30h x 7.60w x 1.20d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 08/01/2019