In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

256 Books cultural change: ‘By providing concrete meanings that the majority of Chinese can understand, by laying an emotive basis of identification and acceptance, these popular media can serve the integrative function of propagating new unifying themes and, at the same time, can keep up the momentum ofcultural change.’ The sociological approach to literature and art analysis is nothing new, and, although emphasizing their communicative function is rather different, in the end it represents merely another piece of the same cloth. These studies tell us little about the aesthetics of these serious literary and art forms but rather concentrate on social function and effect. Thus, we are told that ‘A major function of the Chinese popular media is to provide the people with a clearly delineated cognitive mapping’. This sort of jargon is common in communication theory, and the frequent usage undoubtedly reflects the researcher’s heavy reliance on the seminal works of.Harold Lasswell and Milton Rokeach. The key to the approach is content analysis, from which are derived conclusions regarding the values, ideas, and beliefs of the people under study. In this case, the popular media are analyzed as an instrumentality to further understanding of contemporary Chinese social behavior. Aesthetic studies of these media have not yet been done, and the scholars contributing to this collection chose to allow this fact to stand. As a result, their socio-political approach does little to further the knowledge of China specialists. General readers, however, may find the book enlightening insofar as it summarizes most of the generally agreed-upon conclusions regarding Chinese culture and provides insights into the lesser-studied genres. Viewed in this light, the chapters on revolutionary opera and short stories will be the most illuminating because they provide details of the formal structureand rules for the execution of these two forms. Moreover, the book presents an overview of the Chinese cultural milieu, which many artists and writers outside China would find entirely unlike that in which they work. Perhaps they will encounter eye-opening alternatives to their own cultural patterns, alternatives that will provoke self-analysis in terms of artistic function and directions. If this book can stimulate cross-cultural learning and promote ideological exchange , then it will have served its purpose. Watercolor Workbook. Bud Biggs and Lois Marshall. Van Nostrand Reinhold. London, 1979. 160 pp., illus. €14.95. Reviewed by Nancy Hubbe* This book gives a thorough introduction to watercolor technique . Every second page is devoted to illustrations by Biggs, most of which are in color. He constructs his pictures by building up on previous layers of color that have been allowed to dry. Using familiar subjects like trees, houses, barns, and roads, the authors challenge students to follow along constructing similar scenes. Each lesson features a particular problem-some aspect of color, or of design or of a technique, such as ‘paintingbehind’or painting ‘wet-in-wet’. The lessons end with a check list of questions concerning a student’s product, for example, ‘Did you wet your paper before you began?’ ‘How about your color. Does it sing?’ ‘Are your trees interesting shapes? The approach seems to me to be educationally sound. The complexities are introduced in small steps and are frequently reviewed by means of the check list. Some of the concepts taught are basics, like understanding value, warm and cool colors, positive and negative shapes, and composition. Equally interesting to a watercolorist are the idiomatic techniques Biggs advocates, like leaving white at the base of buildings and the tops of roads and dropping ‘jewels’of undiluted paint into a wash. Painting in’the examples illustrated has been done with flair and little apparent fuss. If the colors sometimes seem garish or the reflections are a bit out of line, perhaps a student will be less intimidated by the medium. A series of eight superb completed *288 Katahdin Ave., Millinocket, ME 04462, U.S.A. paintings, included as a ‘gallery’ toward the end of the book, prove to me that the teacher is a master. A glossary of the final three pages doubles as a final review. Some readers may bristle at the patronizing tone of the prose. A compensating virtue is its richness...

pdf

Share