Description
Eye-catching volume examines the enduring presence of three legendary creatures—the dragon, the tiger, and the monkey— in the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean visual cultures.
Featuring beautiful and significant prints, scrolls, textiles, and three-dimensional works drawn from the Worcester Art Museum, MA, as well as from major American and international collections, this book traces the shared myths that shaped the representation of these animals while acknowledging and highlighting their distinct regional meanings. It explores the dragon’s connections to water, wisdom and sovereignty; the tiger’s symbolism of courage and protection; and the monkey’s shifting identity as trickster and demon-queller across East Asian art from the 14th century to the present.
The volume combines iconic examples of works by Chinese and Japanese masters, including Gao Qipei and Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, and contemporary diasporic artists like Mu Pan. It is envisioned as a required reading for a range of undergraduate and post-graduate courses on Japanese, Chinese, and Korean art and mythology.
This catalogue accompanies the exhibition Beasts of Legend: Animals in East Asian Art at Worcester Art Museum, November 21, 2026 – February 21, 2027.
Edited by Yagnaseni Datta
Contributions by Matthieu Felt, Fan Jeremy Zhang, Jiyeon Kim, Ji Hao and Quincy Ngan
Author biographies
Yagnaseni Datta is the Sohail and Mona Masood Associate Curator of Asian and Islamic Art at Worcester Art Museum, MA
Matthieu Felt is associate professor of Japanese at the University of Florida
Fan Jeremy Zhang is the Barbara and Gerson Bakar curator of Chinese art at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, CA
Jiyeon Kim is curator of Korean Art and Culture at the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA
Ji Hao is associate professor of Chinese and director of Asian Studies at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA
Quincy Ngan’s research focuses on the visual and material cultures of early modern China
Table of Contents
- Director’s Foreword by Matthias Waschek Jean and Myles McDonough Director, Worcester Art Museum
- Comparative Timeline
- Introduction by Yagnaseni Datta and Ji Hao
- Dragon Narratives and Imagery in Japanese Literature and Art by Matthieu Felt
- Tiger Imagery in Chinese Art: From Sacred Icons to Cultural Symbols by Fan Jeremy Zhang
- Powerful Companion: The Tiger in Korean Art and Imagination by Jiyeon Kim
- Sun Wukong and the Journey to the West Tradition in Popular Imagination by Ji Hao
- The Animal Metaphor in Xu Bing’s and Mu Pan’s Oeuvres by Quincy Ngan
- Catalogue
- Bibliography
- Contributor Biographies
- Index
- Photo Credits
