Please email mubaninfo@gmail.com or go to Amazon if you wish to buy any of the following books.
Farrer, Anne ed: CHINESE PRINTMAKING TODAY. Woodblock Printing in China 1980-2000. 224 pp. 200 colour plates. Bibliography. 29x27 cm. Paper. London, 2003.
This is the catalogue of the exhibition of “Chinese Printmaking Today”, held at British Library, 7 November 2003 – 7 March 2004. Most of the prints featured in the book are in the collections of the Muban Educational Trust, London, which has the largest collection of Chinese pictorial prints in the world. Many of the prints have never been seen before. This textis an opportunity to make available to a wider audience an exciting aspect of contemporary Chinese art that is at present little known outside China. There are biographies of print artists, an extensive bi-lingual bibliography and information about Chinese art institutions.
This book is edited by Anne Farrer, Senior Lecturer at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, and was formerly Assistant Keeper responsible for the Chinese painting and print collections at the British Museum.
Price: £40 + postage.
von der Burg, Christer et al: THE ART OF CONTEMPORARY CHINESE WOODCUTS. Zhongguo Dangdai Muban Yishu. 268 pp. 60 colour and 171 b/w plates. Glossary, bibliography. 33x24 cm. Paper. London, 2003.
The Art of Contemporary Chinese Woodcuts （《中国当代木刻艺术》） showcases woodcuts of astonishingly high quality by 60 Chinese artists. The woodcuts were all produced specifically for the Portfolio presented in this volume. The large volume (33×23 cm) features full-page colour plates faced with an entry that describes the artist’s life, career, influences, awards, style, subject matter, and typical working method. Four lengthy essays, by art historians Frances Wood, Julia E Andrews, Ellen Johnston Laing and An Bin, discuss the history of Chinese prints before 1900, during the Revolution, during the People’s Republic, and from 1985. There is a 38 page glossary of Chinese woodcut terms, a list of Chinese institutions’ names and terms, and a bibliography.
Price: £50 + postage
Barker, David and Ginsberg, Mary: LU XUN’S LEGACY.
Printmaking in Modern China: An exhibition of prints from the Muban Educational Trust.
4, 182 pp. Colour and b/w illustrations throughout. 25×23 cm. Wrappers. London, March 2020.
Catalogue produced to accompany a travelling exhibition to be held in Edinburgh, Durham and London. Illustrates and describes. 132 colour and black-and-white chinese woodblock prints dating from the 1930s to the present day. The author Lu Xun revitalized the tradition of woodblock printing in China in the 1930s and this exhibition traces the development and progression from then on. Whilst there are many fine early prints, this catalogue is testament to the extraordinary talent of the younger generation of artists from the 1980s onwards. Introductions and essays accompany. A very worthwhile and enjoyable contribution.
Price: £20 + postage
Barker, David: A Chinese-English glossary of terms relating to the history and practice of printmaking in China. Paperback, 372 pp. 21x15 cm. January 2019
Arranged alphabetically by first letter of the pinyin pronunciation of the Chinese term. Chinese characters given, the pinyin and English translation and explanation. Much cross referencing with other related terms. Most useful and informative. Published in 2019.
Price: £20 + postage
Laing, Ellen: Art and Aesthetics in Chinese Popular Prints: Selections from the Muban Foundation Collection (Michigan Monographs in Chinese Studies) Paperback, 206pp, full colour illustrations. June 2002.
Traditional woodblock prints preserve a Chinese folk art that has now nearly vanished. This book explores and explains the artistic and aesthetic bases of popular prints revealed in eighty-four late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century prints belonging to the London-based Muban Foundation. Woodblock printing was the principal method of producing inexpensive and colorful single-sheet images for mass consumption in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century China. Prints of this type are known today as "New Year pictures" because the demand for them peaked at New Year's time. However, the term "popular print" more accurately describes these works, whose subjects include deities and tutelary spirits, illustrations to stories and operas, and even contemporary political or revolutionary messages. The emphasis on the artistic aspects of these prints makes this publication uniquely appealing to Chinese art historians but also to those interested in Chinese anthropology, popular religion, Chinese and other folk art, and traditional crafts. Ellen J. Laing received a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. She was Maude I. Kerns Distinguished Professor of Oriental Art, University of Oregon and is currently Research Associate at the Center for Chinese Studies, University of Michigan. She has published numerous scholarly articles, books, and reference works on Chinese art.
Price: £40 + postage