The Art of Southeast Asia: Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, Burma, Java, Bali

by Philip Rawson

Briefly discusses the history of styles of painting, sculpture, and architecture in the countries of Southeast Asia

Genres: Art, Art History, History, Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Philip Stanley Rawson was an English artist, teacher and author. A specialist on Eastern art, he wrote widely on the subject in books and for various publications. He also organized a number of exhibitions on Indian art in Britain. Rawson also served as a UNESCO expert on museology in India, worked as a tutor at the Royal College of Art, and was the Dean of the School of Art and Design at Goldsmiths' College, London, among others.

Reviews

[Roy Ng · Rating 5 out of 5]

a great foundation text for teaching

[Annette Abbott · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a 1990 reissue of a 1960s book and it appears not to have been updated since its original publication date. The photos are old. The information is old. Do yourself a favor - dig deep into your pockets and invest in more up-to-date books focusing on the art of individual sites/countries of SEA and contain current images and research.

[Bob Newman · Rating 4 out of 5]

An outdated but very useful text for students of Southeast Asian architecture and arts

Back in the 1960s, Southeast Asia was still generally unknown in the USA (though we entered a war there midway) and I don’t think the general public in Europe knew much about it either, even if Europeans had dominated most of the area for some time. As a student at Cornell University I was exposed to knowledge of Southeast Asia because it was the main center of studies of the region in North America. Sometime during my university career there I bought this book, but must confess that I did not read it until now. Readers will get considerable information about the rise and fall of various kingdoms in Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar (called Burma here), and Indonesia. The vanished kingdom of the Chams, in what is now southern Vietnam, also features. As the two earlier poles of power as well as the oldest two civilizations in the region, Cambodia and Java dominate the text. There is an excellent collection of 251 mostly black and white photographs of all the arts and architecture being discussed.
The author concentrates on the early history of Southeast Asia when the tribal societies had emerged into kingdoms highly influenced by India, so much so that many writers refer to them as being “Indianized Southeast Asian states”. Indians never arrived in the region as conquerors, but came for trade, bringing their culture with them which they passed on to the rulers. Hinduism and later Buddhism slowly entered the local cultures spreading from the royal courts down to the mass of the population who accepted the new religions alongside their traditional beliefs. The time period for Cambodia begins perhaps in the 4th century A.D.; Java a bit later. The Khmer (Cambodian) period ended in the 1300s when the monarchs were unable to keep off the Thais and Vietnamese, while the Javanese arts took a drastic turn with the arrival of Islam during the 1400s.
The Burmese and Thais were latecomers to the area, while the kingdom of Champa was destroyed and its population scattered after their endless wars with Cambodia and Vietnam. The latter country was dominated by China for nearly a thousand years and thus lay outside the Indianized sphere of the rest. While Hindu and Buddhist arts dominated most of the area, Chinese culture lay at the foundation of Vietnam.
As a collection of artwork and architectural display, the book is certainly highly worthwhile, but most readers will find the text (except for the purely historical sections) quite too detailed to be interesting. If you are a student of Southeast Asian art history, you definitely need this book, but unless you can retain such sentences as (p.258) “The nucleus of the building is a square cell with slightly projecting porticos hooded by a kirtimukha head….” and (p.154) “It has high gables with long, steep, tiled roofs, and overhanging eaves, the ends of the ridge-pole marked by long, pointed finials” will probably prove a bit too much. At least half of the text gives such technical descriptions of several hundred monuments and sculptures which—if you are not a serious student—will not remain for long in your head.

So perhaps there are better and more up-to-date books, but I don't want to rubbish this one--it still has something to offer. 3 stars for the text but 5 stars for the collection of photographs.

[aldo zirsov · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,25/5

[Chris Rawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting book written by my late uncle.