Art from Thailand

Book excerpt: This volume provides an overview of Thailand's rich artistic variety. Art found in Thailand (previously named Siam) stretches over more than two millennia. Of great importance and of special interest is a long and intimate relationship between Thailand and India of cultures and artistic traditions, Buddhist and Hindu. The book spans the fourth-nineteenth centuries, from the earliest Indian-related art up until the modern Bangkok period. Though widely studied, the art history of Thailand today is highly contentious and revisionist, and the articles here present recent research and opinions. The study of art from Thailand has progressed rapidly in the last decades. Scholars have new things to say, new theories, new dating, new ideas regarding artistic relationships and influences. This volume is timely as it presents writers who are involved in this rethinking. They include senior scholars and promising young academics.