Overview

Restless, protean, fluid, evanescent - despite being hugely challenging to represent visually, water has gained a peculiar significance in the art of the twentieth century. This may be due to the fact that it allows for a range of metaphorical meanings, many of which are particularly appropriate to the modern age. Water and Art probes the ways in which water has gained an unprecedented prominence in modern Eastern and Western art, as well as seeking to illuminate its depiction in earlier periods.

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9781861896629

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Reviews

'The ample illustrations and well-written prose support his argument that water's double presence - the author's terminology describing the signifier and signified of water - has allowed artists to foreground fluidity and dissolution, and in so doing to reference the unbounded, changing nature of art and the world ... [Clarke's] study, however, presents an insightful new reading that will be of value to advanced students and scholars ... Highly recommended.' - Choice 'Clarke's focus is on modern and contemporary art, and he demonstrates that our fascination remains fully intact and took on new significance in the modern and post-modern era. From the seascapes of Turner to the geometric abstractions of Mondrian, water offered a provocative challenge to the modern artist.' - Arlis

Author Information

David Clarke is a Professor in Fine Arts at the University of Hong Kong. He is one of a few art historians who has done in-depth research into both Western and Asian art. He has written several books including Hong Kong Art: Culture and Decolonization (Reaktion Books, 2001) and Hong Kong 24 365: A Year in the Life of a City (2007).

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