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

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? In this study, academics, curators, bibliographers and representatives of international organizations from every continent explain the ways they deal with the conflict between the need to compress and the desire to express. Anyone who faces this challenge, whether in developing a course at university or school, writing a textbook, installing a museum collection, mounting an exhibition, or otherwise presenting the world's cultural heritage should find this work of interest. There are essays by Cao Yiqiang, Wilfried van Damme, Rita Eder, James Elkins, Arlene Fleming, Derek Gillman, Jyotindra Jain, Cecelia Klein, Yves Le Fur, Dominic Marner, Anitra Nettleton, John Onians, Edmund Pillsbury, Michael Rinehart, David Summers and Georges Zouain.

John Onians is professor and director of the World Art Research Programme in the School of World Art Studies at the University of East Anglia and former director of Research and Academic Programmes at the Clark Art Institute.

How do we do justice to art when we treat it not as a regional tradition but as a worldwide phenomenon? In this groundbreaking book, leading academics, curators, bibliographers, and representatives of international organizations explain the ways they deal with the conflict between the need to compress and the desire to express.