AUSTRALIAN AUTHOR John Clark's magisterial 'The Asian Modern' reconstructs the notion of art and its historiography. Writing the history of the Asian modern through the social life of artists, he generates a new paradigm for the narration of art. Both volumes meticulously chart his analysis of art in Asia from the 1850s to the present day, and are an invaluable resource for the scholar and layman alike. In this expansive study, John Clark draws on decades of his research on modern art cultures across Asia from 1850 to the present day. The Asian Modern uses an artist-centric approach, by way of meticulous case studies, to create a new comparative paradigm for the narration of art. "Affiliations of place," claims John Clark, rather than "genealogies of time," is key to clarifying the category of "the Asian Modern." The transfer is from an extractive art history obsessed with pedigree and derivations, on the one hand, to a redistributive art history, on the other, that is possible only through the reciprocities and fundamental obligations between persons and things. Absent the latter, there can be no future for art history in Asia. - Patrick D. Flores, Professor of Art Studies, University of the Philippines, introduction to The Asian Modern
