The magical world of Yao painting. Jean Pierre Cormerais

The Yao ceremonial paintings, the masterworks of the Yao people, nowadays are spread across much of Southeast Asia, increasingly fascinated art lovers worldwide after the apparition of the first paintings in antiquary shops decades ago. But the growing interest in the Yao art and culture has not been accompanied by the publishing of reference books able to satisfy the demand of western readers.

The lack of recent literature on the subject arose the idea of this book: an illustrated work that seeks to explain clearly and in detail the meaning and origin of these mysterious paintings.

In the pages of this book, we reader will find a rich iconography, in which the oldest paintings of the Yao tradition, taken out of private collections, share space with more recent works, showing the evolution of this artistic movement from its religious origin. The wide array of works introduced in this book makes it indispensable to understand the magical universe of the Yao ceremonial painting.

Secret works, sometimes centuries old, Yao ceremonial paintings and their colorful and mystical universe, far from the usual canons of Asian art, make these works a major part of the galaxy of tribal arts.

Jean Pierre Cormerais. Doctor of Ethnology, teacher, lecturer, and researcher, he surveyed the planet for several decades. Specializing in religious art performances, he discovered Yao paintings fifteen years ago. This book is the culmination of years of research in Laos, China and Thailand, but also in the United States and Europe.

Les Chemises des dieux – The magical world of Yao painting. Jean Pierre Carmerais. In French

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