David Clarke, Chinese Art and Its Encounter with the World,

he is also a photographer), Clarke envisages the art world in three main dimensions: artistic creation, academic research, and administration of its promotion.All this imparts a special richness to this compilation of six of his articles, some previously published in exhibition catalogues, collective works, and specialised journals between 2005 and 2010.Apart from this, Clarke lives in the heartland of the object of his investigation.Such proximity nurtures a form of empathy he seeks and that does seem to be a necessary quality for the discipline of art history, which cannot be divorced from frequent familiarity with the subject of study.This triple quality -scientific, public, and artistic -opens up enlarged perspectives.The coming together of different forms of art helps engender a non-formalist art history without, however, losing sight