Art Books
Tao de France
By John GanzWhile the doyens of French philosophy burn through textbooks on set theory and abstract algebra to keep their ontological motors running, Francois Jullien, a sinologist at University of Paris VII-Denis Diderot, has turned instead to Chinese philosophy and literature of self-cultivation to build one of the most compelling—and least talked about—bodies of work in contemporary theory.
Made in China?
By Eugenie DallandThe release of Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu’s latest study on fashion and culture, The Beautiful Generation, coincided with the recent Chinese New Year, an event that exemplified issues addressed in her book.
Face to Face
By Maxwell HellerThough this is his first monograph, photographer Zwelethu Mthethwa’s uniquely personal portraits of South African life have won him international attention for decades. Most images that reach us from southern Africa fall into a category that essayist Okwui Enwezor calls “Afro-pessimism”—they horrify, polarize, and suggest that the African experience is and always has been distant from our own.
