Title
Taoism and the Arts
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2014
Department 1
Religious Studies
Abstract
This essay is Chapter 28 of The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the Arts edited by Frank Burch Brown (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014, pages 379-387). Religion and the Arts is one of the newest additions to the Oxford Handbook series, a project that explores reviews of recent academic research across disciplines. This edited volume of essays examines intersections of the visual and spiritual realms as they are expressed in religious traditions around the globe. Sommer's article, which was commissioned for Part III of this volume, "Religious Ways of Being Artistic," is a state-of-the-field review of recent Western-language scholarship on Taoism and the arts. Sommer explores problems concerning uses of the term "Taoism" and notes that Taoist art is as yet little understood. She understands "religious ways of being artistic" as including not only such media as painting and sculpture but as also including such diverse phenomena as calligraphy, talismans and diagrams, architecture, ritual performance, visualization, body movement, and constructions of sacred space.
Recommended Citation
Sommer, Deborah. "Taoism and the Arts." In Frank Burch Brown, ed., The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the Arts. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014: 379-387.
Comments
Original version is available from the publisher at: http://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-handbook-of-religion-and-the-arts-9780195176674?cc=us&lang=en&tab=toc