Apinan Poshyananda, Modern Art in Thailand: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
This handsome book is the most substantial account of the development of modern art in Thailand to date. Its author, Apinan Poshyananda, is a trained art historian based at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University where he holds several positions associated with the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts. His writing has developed from his practice as an art critic and also as one of Thailand's leading younger artists during the early part of his career. Dr Poshyananda has presented many lively and perceptive papers internationally (Australia included) on Asian definitions of modernity in art and more particularly on Thai artists negotiating the NIC (Newly Industrialised Countries) culture.
This overview of the Thai art scene had its genesis in a doctoral thesis begun at Cornell University in 1985 followed by further research into the effects of postmodernism. In the course of nine chapters, which have been conveniently broken down into sections, the author moves with knowledgeable ease from describing nineteenth century royal patronage to the present situation in which corporate institutions and dealer galleries offer support, with a number of artists risking an independent stance. Poshyananda's historical commentary leaves nothing unstated and he manages to blend first-hand interviews and archival documentation with the larger questions of critical theory. Humorous insight leavens his factual reports.
Early on Poshyananda points out that amongst the NIC cultures of South East Asia the nodal points of modernism 'have particularities, genealogies, and concepts which are totally different from those in the West.' While it is true that Thailand has constantly looked towards Europe and more recently the United States as a prototype, giving rise to a diversity of styles which can be closely paralleled with the development of