Exchanges in a two-way street

Peter Hill

The Revolutionary Century: Art in Asia 1900–2000
by Alison Carroll
Macmillan Art Publishing, $99 hb, 208 pp, 9781921394171

Every 23 Days: 20 Years Touring Asia
edited by Sarah Bond, Alison Carroll and Claire Watson
Asialink, 96 pp, 9780734041784

If you were to tell me that a book had been written that covered a century of art in Asia, from 1900 to 2000, and that its geographic range moved from Japan to Pakistan and Indonesia, to Nepal, the Australian outback, and Cambodia, I would initially ask how many volumes it contained. That such a book exists, in a fairly slim volume, is tribute to the skills of its author, Alison Carroll. How has she done it?