{"secondaryobjectnumber":null,"periodterms":[{"id":2033651,"period":"modern Chinese styles and periods"}],"creditline":"Purchase of the East Asian Studies Program, Princeton University Art Museum, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund; and the P.Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Center for East Asian Art","caption":"Xu Bing 徐冰 (born 1955 Chongqing, China; active Beijing and New York), Book from the Sky (Tianshu 天書), ca. 1987–91. Box set of four hand-printed books with thread binding; ink on paper, plus wood box; 45.9 x 29.9 cm (book), 48.9 x 33.2 x 10.2 cm (box). Purchase of the East Asian Studies Program, Princeton University Art Museum, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund; and the P.Y. and Kinmay W. 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Box set of four hand-printed books with thread binding; ink on paper, plus wood box; 45.9 x 29.9 cm (book), 48.9 x 33.2 x 10.2 cm (box). Purchase of the East Asian Studies Program, Princeton University Art Museum, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund; and the P.Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Center for East Asian Art (2002-281.1-.5)","displaydate":"ca. 1987–91","medium":"Box set of four hand-printed books with thread binding; ink on paper, plus wood box","media":[{"id":753,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2002-281-1","isprimary":1,"rank":1,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"Restricted","caption":"Luna Digitization Project"},{"id":754,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2002-281-2","isprimary":0,"rank":2,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"Restricted","caption":"Luna Digitization Project"},{"id":755,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2002-281-3","isprimary":0,"rank":3,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"Restricted","caption":"Luna Digitization Project"},{"id":756,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2002-281-4","isprimary":0,"rank":4,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"Restricted","caption":"Luna Digitization Project"},{"id":757,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2002-281-5","isprimary":0,"rank":5,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"Restricted","caption":"Luna Digitization Project"},{"id":758,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2002-281-6","isprimary":0,"rank":6,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"Restricted","caption":"Luna Digitization Project"},{"id":759,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2002-281-7","isprimary":0,"rank":7,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"Restricted","caption":"Luna Digitization Project"},{"id":760,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2002-281-8","isprimary":0,"rank":8,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"Restricted","caption":"Luna Digitization Project"},{"id":761,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/2002-281-9","isprimary":0,"rank":9,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":"Restricted","caption":"Luna Digitization Project"}],"displayperiod":null,"extended_content":true,"campuscollections":"false","bibliography":[{"boilertext":"\"Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2002,\" <em>Record of the Princeton University Art Museum</em> 62 (2003): p. 107-161.","citation":"\"Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2002,\" <em>Record of the Princeton University Art Museum</em> 62 (2003): p. 107-161., pp. 147–148 (illus.)","date":2003,"id":3022,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774824"},{"boilertext":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection</i> (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007)","citation":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection</i> (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), 36 (illus.)","date":2007,"id":474,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/191864564"},{"boilertext":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections </i>(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013)","citation":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections </i>(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 36","date":2013,"id":1994,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/865020505"}],"nowebuse":"False","periods":[],"department":"Asian Art","attribute_groups":[{"id":2199319,"term":"Asian Art","termtype":"Collecting Area"},{"id":2199324,"term":"Art Since 1945","termtype":"Collecting Area"},{"id":2199327,"term":"Prints and Drawings","termtype":"Collecting Area"}],"daterange":"A.D. 1945-present","dateend":1991,"depicted":[],"titles":[{"title":"Book from the Sky (Tianshu 天書)","titletype":"Primary Title","displayorder":1}],"hasimage":"true","creditlinerepro":"© Xu Bing","objectnumber":"2002-281.1-.5","inscribed":null,"texts":[{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Gallery Label","textentryhtml":"\r\n<EM>Book from the Sky</EM> contains four thousand invented symbols that have the appearance of Chinese characters but are totally unreadable. Several sets of the book, along with printed rolls of paper suspended from the ceiling, were first exhibited in Beijing at the 1989<I> China/Avant-Garde </I>exhibition, which has become linked to the June 4 student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square of the same year. The books represent a reaction to the history of writing, calligraphy, and book culture in China. In an essay for the exhibition <I>Book from the Sky</I>, shown at the Princeton University Art Museum in 2003, Jerome Silbergeld writes that \"Xu Bing's 'writing' (or non-writing) might be considered an 'abuse of language,' a reminder of how language has already been abused by those in control of it, and as a strike against those who have violated the written word through modern political propaganda.\" </P></SPAN>","remarks":"Asian rotation January 2016"},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Gallery Label","textentryhtml":"<SPAN lang=EN>\r\n<P dir=ltr align=left>Book from the Sky contains four thousand invented symbols that have the appearance of Chinese characters but are intentionally without meaning, rendering all readers illiterate. At first many viewers didn’t realize that the text in this work—a critique of the Maoist government’s cooption of language and manipulation of education—was unreadable. Printed from hand-carved wooden blocks with traditional Chinese typesetting techniques, the nonsensical book was severely criticized as a mockery of culture. It has not been shown in China since 1989, when several sets of the book along with printed rolls of paper suspended from the ceiling were included in the<I> China/Avant Garde</I> exhibition in Beijing that became linked to the June 4 student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square four months later. </P></SPAN>","remarks":"Migrations and Material Alchemy: Marquand Mather Rotation\r\n"},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Provenance","textentryhtml":"<span lang=\"EN\"><p>ca. 1987/1991–2002&nbsp;Xu Bing, born 1955 (Brooklyn, NY), sold to the Princeton University Art Museum, 2002.</p></span>","remarks":null}],"datebegin":1987,"sortnumber":"2002  281     1   5","published_date":"2026-03-31 02:31:09.310828","objectid":41315,"dimensions":"Books (each): 45.9 x 29.9 cm. (18 1/16 x 11 3/4 in.) \r\nBox: 48.9 x 33.2 x 10.2 cm. (19 1/4 x 13 1/16 x 4 in.)","on_view":false}