The graphic arts emphasize design, be it in the arts of drawing, painting, engraving, etching, or other print media, from the techniques of producing a single image to the composition of the page, the album, or the book. Volume 51 of Ars Orientalis focuses on how interlocking practices of making, collecting, compiling, and publishing graphic arts across Asia and between regions in Asia and Europe encouraged the replication, as well as the subtle transformation, of forms, opening up new possibilities for interpretation. The essays specifically attend to the steady replication of readily identifiable forms—whether portraits, general types of people, flora or fauna, ornament, books or other objects, or even the materials of making themselves, like paper—along with their production in artist workshops, libraries, and publishing houses, and their collection in albums, books, or other compendia. In short, the articles engage with the creation and reception of forms and how they wander.
The Graphic Arts
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The Viral and The Virus: Representations of Parangi in Colonial Sri Lanka
Anna Arabindan-Kesson
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The Unremembered: Indian Soldiers of World War II
Annu Palakunnathu Matthew
Digital Initiatives
Digital Initiatives in volume 51 explores digitization and virtual reconstructions as examined in the following reviews of two web-based projects. Virtual Angkor both recreates the medieval Southeast Asian city and situates it within rich, multisensory resources crafted primarily for classroom use. The British Library’s Endangered Archives Programme and the virtual Reading Room of the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library bring together disparate global collections through digital reproductions and robust tools geared towards researchers and specialists.
Digital Initiatives is a column that explores digital tools, research resources, publications, and learning opportunities in art history and related fields, with a special focus on topics relevant to Ars Orientalis readers.
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Virtual Angkor: Reimagining Cambodia’s Temple-City
Emma Natalya Stein
