The Santa Barbara Museum of Art is this year’s recipient of the prestigious Alfred H. Barr Jr. Award for the catalogue for The Artful Recluse: Painting, Poetry, and Politics in Seventeenth-Century China. The museum’s exhibit of the same name was on view from Oct. 20, 2012 through Jan. 20, 2013 in Santa Barbara, and from March 6 through June 2 at Asia Society in New York. The catalogue is designed by Graphic Design faculty Lorraine Wild.
From the press release:
The catalogue represents the first publication to explore in depth the theme of reclusion in painting and calligraphy within the context of political and social changes in 17th-century China. The beautifully illustrated exhibition publication… invites readers deep into the world of scholar-painters from the era. The images reveal how the educated elite expressed their thoughts and ideals through depictions of the landscape, human figures, birds, flowers, fish and insects. Accompanied by penetrating essays on the subject, these works celebrate the extraordinary skill with which the period’s artists communicated their place in a century of crisis.
The annual award recognizes especially distinguished catalogues produced, in English, by museums, libraries and collections. Above, we posted photos of The Artful Recluse.