Southeast Asia is a region of ambiguity and complexity. Existing countries in the region went through different historical transformations before coming into being with diverse linguistic heritages. There is no unified lingua franca. Although—on the surface—there is geopolitical unity (such as through ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations), art practitioners often struggle to establish cross-cultural understanding because of a lack of resources and knowledge about their neighboring countries. The Modern in Southeast Asian Art: A Reader is an attempt to establish such common ground. With the support of National Gallery Singapore, and Nanyang Technological University, Centre of Contemporary Art Singapore, two prominent art historians T.K. Sabapathy and Patrick Flores, along with assistance from associate editors Phoebe Scott and Julie Ewington, and several contributing editors from the region, worked on this project for seven years. The result is the first reader of modern art in Southeast Asia, comparable to the Primary Documents series by the Museum of Modern Art and the Documents of 20th-Century Art series by The University of California Press. Almost half of the materials have been translated from eleven languages into English for the first time.

This up-to-date and comprehensive reader brings together approximately three hundred primary documents from the 20th century with a few outliers. For instance, the earliest texts in the reader are “The Hikayat Abdullah” (1843,142–44), originally written in the Malay language, describing an early encounter with photography, and two accounts of the Filipino artists Juan Luna (1857–1899) and Félix Resurrección Hidalgo (1855–1913), who were awarded medals at the 1884 National Exposition of Fine Arts in Madrid (163–68). These are rare accounts of modern subjectivity that show self-reflexivity and a sense of belonging, or a new awareness of their artists’ place in the world. In the second volume, the majority of texts from the 1990s provide retrospective criticism of modernism by art practitioners and critics who advocated for contemporary art as early as the 1980s. For example, “Installation: A Case for Hangings" (1981, 1248–50) by Filipino artist and curator Raymundo Albano (1947–1985) argues that painting is a Western phenomenon, and thus advocates for installation as an Indigenous method. In this selection of texts, the reader enables diverse critical discourses from different regional contexts to appear together and engage with one another.

The book is divided into two volumes by a rough chronological order. The first volume is composed of three chapters that focus on the contexts of colonialism, nation-building, and the emergence of modernity, dating from the 1900s to the 1960s. The second volume includes a chapter on the clash of ideologies during the Cold War period from the 1970s to the 1980s and concludes with critical writings from the new generation of artists and writers from the 1990s, whose perspectives were responsive to the developments of globalization and the international art world. The texts in these chapters are organized more thematically compared to the first volume. However, readers may notice that some historical themes or issues (in discrepant geographical contexts) overlap across chapters.

As the title suggests, the reader doesn’t just present academic writing and criticism about modern art from the region. The editors also source from a diverse range of materials, including lifestyle magazines, public announcements, personal letters, manifestos, and memoirs. Most of them are excerpted reprints accompanied by brief editorial introductions. The choice of texts thus brings forth what is “modern” in artistic practice as well as in critical discourse about art in Southeast Asia. Due to the editorial selection, organization, and commentary, one may find that the reader differs from, or contradicts the Eurocentric paradigm of modern art history, and helps shape broader understandings of modern art in a global context as well.

A distinctive characteristic of the book is its wide spectrum of voices. For example, while “What is Beauty? A Few Words on Aesthetics” (1918, 128–34) by Vietnamese intellectual and politician Phạm Quỳnh (1892–1945) shows an attempt to define beauty in Vietnamese culture using a framework that was influenced by Western aesthetics, “A Cambodian Prison Portrait: One Year in the Khmer Rouge’s S-21” (1998, 796–803) by Cambodian painter Vann Nath (1964–2011) uses everyday language to recall his days as an artist in captivity. Such heterogeneity demonstrates the extent to which orality has been a dominant mode of intergenerational transmission of cultural memories in Southeast Asia, and its visual and material cultures remain understudied.

The reader is commendable for its attentiveness to issues of gender in relation to art and modernity, and its politically objective stance. Despite complicated political ideological conflicts within and between countries in Southeast Asia, the reader maintains a sense of neutrality.  However, this may obscure areas that require further scholarly attention. The categorization of texts into five broad themes in the editorial structure risks overlooking more subtle relationships within and between the chapters. Two examples illustrate this point. Firstly, a group of texts in the second chapter, titled “To Sense and to Name,” deals with the Japanese influence in Southeast Asia prior to and during World War II. Notably, “French Indochinese and Japanese Art: A Report by the Delegation for the French Indochina Traveling Exhibition of Japanese Art” (1942, 276–81) by renowned Japanese painter Foujita Tsuguharu (1886–1968) provides an account of the traveling exhibition of Japanese painting (Nihonga) to Vietnam during Franco-Japanese occupation. “Seni-Roepa (Visual Arts) in the Atmosphere of a New Java” (1943, 284–86) by Agnes Djajasoeminta (1913–1994) was published in Djawa Baroe (New Java), a bilingual magazine during the Japanese occupation (1942–45). The text is translated from the original Indonesian language, which, as the commentary highlights, is more nationalistic and patriotic than the Japanese version. Unfortunately, there is no translated version from Japanese that “seems to focus more on the manifestation of Eastern culture and ideals” (284) with which to compare. Japanese influence in the region is glimpsed elsewhere in the reader, in texts dating as early as “The Ideals of the East” (1931, 32–36) by Phạm Quỳnh, that provides philosophical reflection on The Ideals of the East (John Murray, 1903) by Okakura Kakuzo (1862–1913), and as late as “An Introduction: The Seed Will Grow into a Great Garuda with Mighty Wings That Will Bear You Heavenward” (1997, 95–100) by curator Ushiroshoji Masahiro (b. 1954), which served as the introductory catalog text for an exhibition of Southeast Asian modern art at the Fukuoka Art Museum. Traces of Japanese empire are thus glimpsed across the chapters in the book and could use more noticeable attention from the editors.

Secondly, most of the texts foreground a left-leaning ideology in artistic practice, prioritizing art for the people rather than “art for art’s sake.” This is also highlighted by the editorial commentaries. However, complexities within the leftist ideological framework have not been fully explained, especially with regards to those who in the progress of history were subsequently oppressed by their governments. For example, the English translation of “‘Art for Life’ What Is Its True Meaning?” (1957, 775–81) by Marxist philologist and poet Theepakorn [Chit Phumisak] (1930–1966) is published for the first time. The writer’s Marxist analysis should not be broadly associated with The Communist Party of Thailand (CPT) because Western Marxism may have influenced his thought through William J. Gedney his American mentor, before he joined the Maoist CPT. The dominant art school in Thailand, Silpakorn University, banned “Art for Life” ideological work, but it survived in literature and music. The other selected texts, such as “The Conception of a People’s Culture” (1950, 749–55) by the Indonesian leftist organization Lembaga Kebudajaan Rakjat (Lekra, the Institution of People Culture) (1959–65) and “Letter to the 1951 Painting Exhibition” (1951, 756–57) by Vietnamese revolutionary leader Hồ Chí Minh (1890–1969) are written as a manifesto and as propaganda, making it difficult to grasp the underlying understanding of art from communist rhetoric in the region, which was itself a significant Cold War battleground. The lack of a Marxist analysis of art in the reader implies that there is still plenty to uncover.

Nonetheless, the reader offers numerous historical accounts that are valuable for related fields, such as curatorial practice and visual studies. Besides serving as historical records about works of art, selected texts also explain related exhibition conditions. Some of them discuss the exhibition as a function of public display beyond art. For example, Price Damrong Rajanubhab (1862–1943) wrote about Siam’s attempt to create a museum and a collection of images of the Buddha by using a traditional temple in “Wat Benchanabopit and its Collection of Images of the Buddha” (1928, 29–31), making the temple a site of ambiguity between modern exhibition and premodern ritual. On the other hand, “The That Luang Festivities (Full Moon of the 12th Month)” (1956, 594–99) by Theo Nhouy Abhay (1909–1963) describes a temple in Laos as a site of festivity and play. While the Siamese (Thai) made their public displays systematic and orderly, Laotions chose to embrace the chaos during the Lao Nhay campaign of the early 1940s. These are just a few examples of some of the textual constellations across the chapters that could be drawn out in more prominence.

Despite its formidable heft, The Modern in Southeast Asian Art: A Reader may not include everything as expected in the era of perpetual inundation. Regardless, the book successfully gathers historical texts from a complex and conflict-ridden region. It carefully maintains a balance in geographical, political, and gender perspectives while also providing a wide breadth of material. It is highly recommended for students of art history and modernity. It should also be useful for art world professionals, particularly because many of these important writings are now available in English for the first time. It is also valuable for the related fields of visual studies and curatorial practice. As the volume contains texts that respond to nationally specific historical developments, it may first require readers to understand Southeast Asian sociopolitical contexts. The book would benefit from having a companion volume that provides scholarly analysis, drawing connections between the texts in these two volumes, and demonstrating how they can be used in art history and beyond. Rather than producing a common ground, the reader can be likened to a marine chronometer, a precise timekeeping instrument that assists in navigation by charting constellations. These celestial formations encompass numerous interconnections waiting to be explored and uncovered.