Mountains in the Sea: The Vietnamese Miniature Landscape Art of Hon Non Bo [ILLUSTRATED] (Hardcover)
From Booklist
Hon Non Bo, or the art of creating miniature landscapes, is an important aspect of Vietnamese culture. For centuries Vietnam’s mountainous terrain of caverns and outcrops, sinuous rivers, and verdant plant life has inspired the arrangements of stones, water, and plants set in shallow pots. With this book as a resource, admirers of bonsai and Asian art can obtain an effective historical perspective on a little-known living art form, and formulate a context encompassing the spiritual and aesthetic symbolism of Hon Non Bo. Photographs help explain the association of artistic elements and the meaningful countenance of trees, huts, bridges, and animal and human figures used in the creation of the landscapes; a step-by-step approach to making the concrete container basins is also illustrated. A commendable handbook, introducing technical information along with the fundamental precepts of building a miniature landscape. Alice Joyce
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
Large, easy to follow, instructive photographs clearly [define] the Vietnamese art. . . . The book is a pleasure to enjoy. — William N. Valavanis, International Bonsai, No. 1 2002
The explanations of the historical, religious, and philosophical significance of this art are understandable and very informative. — Barbara S. Jones, California Garden, May – June 2002
What a fascinating and hiterto completely unknown field. . . . I can hardly wait. — Stefan Buczacki, Bookseller Buyer’s Guide, Autumn 2001
The explanations of the historical, religious, and philosophical significance of this art are understandable and very informative. — Barbara S. Jones, California Garden, May – June 2002
What a fascinating and hiterto completely unknown field. . . . I can hardly wait. — Stefan Buczacki, Bookseller Buyer’s Guide, Autumn 2001
January 13th, 2010 at 7:25 pm
The amount of work that has gone into this excellent book shows clearly in the clear writing and great images throughout. Not everything is Bonsai now, we are learning about other cultures, and their path to what we find is a mutual interest. This is not a book about Vietnamese Bonsai at all but a book about creating landscape in miniature. Popular for many centuries but little know outside its home, Hon Non Bo is exciting in concept and immensely pleasurable in developing. Not difficult as an art form but does need this book to explain to you how to get started and how to develop your understanding of this ancient art. I enjoyed the book and found myself reaching for it a number of times this year. I recommended it to all my classes, friends and students.
Produced by one of the worlds leading Horticultural publishers, Timber Press, the guiding hand of the editor is apparent in the demand for concise and clear explanation throughout the book that reflects the quality of the rest of their excellent publications. The task was very well achieved by Lew Buller who developed and wrote the book over many years with one of Americas leading exponents in this art, Lit van Phan.
You really do need this on your bookshelf although I have a feeling it will rarely stay there.