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Gallery Exhibitions

Exhibition Catalogues

  • Art of the Mountain: Through the Chinese Photographer’s Lens

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    Art of the Mountain: Through the Chinese Photographer’s Lens

    Mountains, in Chinese legend, are the pillars that hold up the sky. The most celebrated mountains of China are especially revered for what they signify in history and in culture: they are the setting of ancient myths and legends, the destinations of pilgrimages made by emperors, and the sites of ritualistic worship of Heaven and Earth. To understand China, one must travel to and experience its mountains.

    This catalogue, which accompanies the exhibition of the same title, includes scholarly essays discussing the mountains of China from various perspectives, including the following essays:

    China’s Mountains: Orogeny and Cultural Implications by Gregory Veeck

    Mountains of China: Legends and Civilization by Willow Weilan Hai

    Sacred Mountains of Tibet by Gray Tuttle

    Stone into Ink: China’s Tradition of Silk and Paper Mountains by Jerome Silbergeld

    The Message of The Mountains: The Yellow Mountains as Source of Inspiration for Painting, Poetry, and Photography by Jonathan Chaves

    New Shanshui Photography—Landscape Photography with a New Dimension by Jiang Rong

    Each of the 63 works by 27 photographers, divided into three topics, reveals the majestic world of these mountains as well as the current state of the field of photography based in China. Full color plates included.

    Art of the Mountain: Through the Chinese Photographer’s Lens is curated by a team led by Willow Weilan Hai, Director of China Institute Gallery. Jerome Silbergeld, P.Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Professor Emeritus of Chinese Art History at Princeton University and photography critic Mr. Jiang Rong are co-curators of the exhibition.

    Exhibition catalogue, 2018. Paperback, 272 pages. ISBN 978-0-6929-3086-1

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  • Art in a Time of Chaos: Masterworks from Six Dynasties China

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    Authors: Willow Weilan Hai, Annette L. Juliano, Gong Liang, Shi Jinming, and Bai Ning. With contributions by Susan L. Beningson, Li Xiujian, David Ake Sensabaugh, Clarissa von Spee, Xue Longchun, Zhou Xiaolu and Zhu Bang.

    Art in a Time of Chaos: Masterworks from Six Dynasties China provides the first major survey of Chinese culture and its international influences during the Six Dynasties period, as well as the relationship between the two dominant political centers in the North and South. This bilingual catalogue of the exhibition presents more than 100 ceramics, sculpture, calligraphy, and paintings, many only recently unearthed. 12 essays by leading scholars explore the works and artistic achievements of the period in greater depth, and the informative appendix features renowned Six Dynasties artistic subjects and a glossary of characters and terminology.

    Exhibition catalogue, 2016. Paperback, 448 pages. ISBN: 978-0-692-55990-1

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  • Word as Image: The Art of Chinese Seal Engraving

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    Author: Jason C. Kuo

    No appreciation of Chinese painting or calligraphy is complete without an understanding of the aesthetics and cultural significance of seal engraving. This catalog traces the history of the art form from the earliest seals and its sources in ancient scripts to the modern masters of seal carving. It discusses the art as two-dimensional graphic design, as three-dimensional object, and as artistic practice.

    Exhibition catalogue, 1992. Paperback, 104 pages: ill. (74 plates, 10 col.).

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  • Trade Taste And Transformation: Jingdezhen Porcelain For Japan, 1620-1645

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    Authors: Julia B. Curtis, with essays by Stephen Little and Mary Ann Rogers

    In the final decades of the Ming dynasty, the potters of Jingdezhen produced blue-and-white porcelain, kosometsuke, and an underglaze-blue and polychrome porcelain ware, ko’akae, for the Japanese market, particularly for use in the popular tea ceremony. Chinese decorative themes and manufacturing standards were transformed to accommodate traditional Japanese forms and aesthetics. This is the first study in the English language devoted to this export ware. It surveys the designs and shapes of kosometsuke and ko’akae, explicates the rebuses and symbolic references in the decoration, and describes its use in the tea ceremony.

    Exhibition catalog, 2006. Hardcover, 131 pages: ill.
    ISBN: 0-9774054-0-0.

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  • Passion For The Mountains: Seventeenth Century Landscape Paintings From The Nanjing Museum

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    Authors: Willow Weilan Hai Chang, with an essay by Dr. Chu-tsing Li

    In the seventeenth century, the city of Nanjing, known in ancient times as Jinling, played an important role in what is seen as the last great florescence of landscape paintings in Chinese art. This catalog explores the influence of the region’s physical environment, as well as its social and cultural traditions, in attracting and shaping the paintings of many of the leading artists such as the famed Eight Masters of Nanjing. The bilingual catalog includes works not published before in Western sources with the transcription and translation of many of the poems and colophons that accompany the images.

    Exhibition catalog, 2003. Paperback, 180 pages: ill.
    ISBN: 0-9729352-4-X

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  • Blanc De Chine: Divine Images In Porcelain

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    Authors: John Ayers with an essay by Yuan Bingling

    The fine, white-glazed porcelain figures and vessels produced in Dehua, Fujian province, have long been admired in the West under the name blanc de Chine. Featuring a wide selection of examples from American collections, this exhibition catalog explores the history and the unique economic and cultural circumstances of this remarkable ware both in China, where it was produced and used domestically, and in Europe where it was exported. It also offers a fresh look at attributions to master potters from the Ming dynasty into the twentieth century.

    Exhibition catalog, 2002. Paperback, 139 pages: ill.
    ISBN: 0-9654270-6-4

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  • Providing For The Afterlife: “brilliant Artifacts” From Shandong

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    Authors: Susan L. Beningson, Cary Y. Liu, et al.

    Some of the most intriguing and important recent archaeological finds from Shandong province—bronzes vessels, jade face covers, chariot fittings, harness trappings, ceramic figures, etc.—are explored in the context of Han dynasty funerary practice and beliefs about the afterlife. Many of the objects come from imperial tombs and are published in English for the first time.

    Exhibition catalog, 2005. Paperback; xix, 116 pages: ill.
    ISBN: 0-9654270-8-0

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  • Exquisite Moments: West Lake And Southern Song Art

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    Authors: Hui-shu Lee

    In this study of Southern Song fans and album leaves, the beautiful landscape of the West Lake environs and the cultural life of the imperial capital, Hangzhou, emerge as key factors in the art of the period. Natural wonders, temples, and palatial settings are identified in both the visual and poetic imagery of the paintings. The catalog explores the interaction between the leading masters and their patrons, as well as the direct participation of imperial patrons in artistic production.

    Exhibition catalog, 2001. Paperback, 159 pages: ill.
    ISBN: 0-965-4270-5-6

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  • The Chinese Painter As Poet

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    Authors: Dr. Jonathan Chaves

    The harmonious integration of painting, poetry, and calligraphy has been an accomplishment of Chinese art since the literati painters of the Song dynasty. This idea of painting and poetry as “sister arts” is explored in works by various artists from Wang Wei of the Tang dynasty, considered China’s first poet-painter, to a Portuguese poet living in Macao. This study encompasses theory, imagery, music, and comparative modern expressions.

    Exhibition catalog, 2000. Paperback, 159 pages: ill.
    ISBN: 0-965-4270-4-8

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  • Dawn Of The Yellow Earth: Ancient Chinese Ceramics From The Meiyintang Collection

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    Authors: Regina Krahl

    This catalog shows how archaeological research during the last twenty years has revolutionized our understanding of the emergence of civilization in China. Recent discoveries have made a more lucid picture of the diverse cultural landscape possible in the prehistoric period. The selected works from the Meiyintang Collection, presented in the context of these finds, reflect not only that diversity, but also the beauty and fine craftsmanship of ancient Chinese ceramics from the late Neolithic period into the Bronze Age.

    Exhibition catalog, 2000. Paperback, 143 pages: ill.
    ISBN: 0-9654270-3-X

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  • The Resonance Of The Qin In East Asian Art

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    Authors: Stephen Addiss

    The Chinese qin, an ancient seven-stringed zither, was an integral part of literati culture in East Asia. Its mythic origins, the beauty and efficacy of its music, and the legendary heroism of its musicians are all part of the vast canon and lore that developed around the instrument over the course of two thousand years. The music of the qin was celebrated in poetry, and the instrument came to be de rigeur in depictions of solitary scholar-gentlemen at leisure in the landscape. Selected works of art, antique instruments, and four separate essays are brought together to explain the profound significance of the ancient qin and its music, and its spread from China to Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.

    Exhibition catalog, 1999. Paperback, 143 pages: ill.
    ISBN: 0-9654270-2-1

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  • A Literati Life In The Twentieth Century: Wang Fangyu — Artist, Scholar, Connoisseur

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    Authors: H.Christopher Luce

    Wang Fangyu (1913-1997), as an artist, a scholar, and a connoisseur, embodied the late Ming ideals of the literati gentleman. Wang’s artistic and scholarly life is explored through the personal tools of his studio, the woodblock-printed seal books in his library, his own art, and selected works form his collection. These include works by Bada Shanren, Dong Qichang, Jin Nong, and Chang Daqian, artists who were the focus of his research and who influenced his own artistic production.

    Exhibition catalog, 1999. Paperback, 48 pages: ill.

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  • Power And Virtue: The Horse In Chinese Art

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    Authors: Robert E. Harrist, Jr.

    The horse is a beloved subject and a profoundly meaningful image in Chinese visual culture. It is variously associated with non-Chinese, imperial power, and Confucian virtues. This text explores the contexts in which this noble animal figures prominently, from tomb sculpture to scholar painting, over a period of two thousand years. In particular, it examines the symbolic and rhetorical traditions of horse painting in Chinese art.

    Exhibition catalog, 1997. Paperback, 136 pages: ill.
    ISBN: 0-9654270-1-3

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  • Life Of A Patron: Zhou Lianggong And The Painters Of Seventeenth Century China

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    Authors: Hongnam Kim

    This in-depth exploration of the life and work of Zhou Lianggong paints a compelling and vivid picture of Chinese scholarly and artistic circles during politically tumultuous and dangerous times. Zhou was a scholar-official under two dynasties, as well as a poet, literary critic, connoisseur, and art patron. He amassed a vast collection, but his most enduring legacy was his Du Hua Lu (Lives of Painters), a collection of biographical notes on the artists of his day. Together with the selected paintings in this exhibition, the catalog offers an intimate look at a lifelong dialogue between a patron and the most important artists of a very creative era.

    Exhibition catalog, 1996. Paperback, 224 pages: ill.
    ISBN: 0-9654270-0-5

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  • The Last Emperor’s Collection: Masterpieces Of Painting And Calligraphy From The Liaoning Provincial Museum

    Price: $59.00
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    Authors: Willow Weilan Hai Chang, Yang Renkai, David Ake Sensabaugh, et al.

    This bilingual catalogue includes illustrations of 34 works of painting and calligraphy from the exhibition, as well as illustrations of portraits of emperors, painting, and calligraphy from the imperial collection. China’s last emperor, Pu Yi, sold off and dispersed countless palace treasures in the early twentieth century, but the Liaoning Provincial Museum has successfully reassembled a large part of that collection since 1949. Using these select masterpieces as a focus, this exhibition examines the history of imperial collecting, the management system and its impact on the contemporary art world and society.

    Exhibition catalog, 2008. Paperback, 363 pages: ill.
    ISBN: 978-0-9774054-3-5

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  • Confucius: His Life And Legacy In Art

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    Authors: Lu Wensheng and Julia K. Murray

    A landmark exhibition on the extraordinary philosopher, statesman and teacher known as Confucius (551- 479 BCE) is on view at China Institute Gallery from February 11 through June 13, 2010. Confucius is one of the most influential teachers in history, and his teachings are deeply rooted in Chinese life and thought. Yet, aside from his famous philosophy, little is known in the West about this teacher’s life. CONFUCIUS: His Life and Legacy in Art focuses on the teachings and continuing influence of Confucius, who has become increasingly synonymous with Chinese culture. This exhibition is the first show in the U.S. to explore the culture of Confucius.

    Accompanying the exhibition, a fully-illustrated scholarly catalogue presents an extensive collection of works from the world of Confucius and his ennobled descendants, including hanging scrolls, album leaves, bronze vessels, stone carvings, jade ceremonial implements, wood-block prints and textiles. The works are on loan for the first time in the U.S. from the Shandong Provincial Museum in Jinan and the Confucius Museum in his hometown of Qufu. The catalogue incorporates images and artifacts that illuminate Confucius as an historical figure and how he has been venerated for the past 2,000 years.

    Exhibition catalog, 2010. Paperback, xvii, 117 pages.
    ISBN: 978-0-9774054-5-9

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  • Humanism In China: A Contemporary Record Of Photography

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    Authors: Jerome Silbergeld and Richard K. Kent

    This exhibition was originally organized by the Guangdong Museum of Art. Selections for the American tour at China Institute were made by Jerome Silbergeld. 100 photographs from the original exhibition’s 601 have been selected and are on view in the U.S. for the first time. This catalogue contains essays by Jerome Silbergeld, the P.Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Professor of Chinese Art History, Princeton University, and Richard K. Kent, Professor of Art History, Franklin and Marshall College.

    Exhibition catalog, 2009. Paperback, vii, 47 pages. (11 in/h x 8.5 in/w; 8oz).
    ISBN: 978-0-9774054-4-2

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  • Humanism In China (photobook)

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    Authors: The Guangdong Museum of Art

    For two years, a Chinese curatorial committee from the Guangdong Museum of Art (in Guangdong, China) travelled to twenty provinces and viewed an estimated 100,000 photographs by 1,000 photographers, and the team selected 601 photos taken between 1951 and 2003 by 248 photographers. Thus, the first major museum collection of documentary photographs taken by China’s own photographers was assembled. This compact photo-book features all 601 of the exhibition’s photographs, offering an extraordinary opportunity to glimpse into rural and urban daily life in China, beyond the glossy veneer of the economic boom.

    Exhibition catalog by the Guangdong Museum of Art, 2003. Hardcover; 623 pages. (5.5 in/h x 5.5 in/w; 1lb 10oz)
    ISBN: 978-7-5362-2847-4

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  • Humanism In China

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    Authors: The Guangdong Museum of Art

    For two years, a Chinese curatorial committee from the Guangdong Museum of Art (in Guangdong, China) travelled to twenty provinces and viewed an estimated 100,000 photographs by 1,000 photographers, and the team selected 601 photos taken between 1951 and 2003 by 248 photographers. Thus, the first major museum collection of documentary photographs taken by China’s own photographers was assembled. This comprehensive catalogue accompanies the ground-breaking exhibition and contains over 590 of the featured photos, as well as twelve Chinese essays with English summaries detailing the genesis of the exhibition and its significance.

    Exhibition catalog by the Guangdong Museum of Art, 2006. Paperback; 488 pages. (11 in/h x 9.5 in/w; 5lbs)
    ISBN:978-988-98941-7-3

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  • Along The Yangzi River: Regional Culture Of The Bronze Age From Hunan

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    Authors: Chen Jianming, Jay Xu, and Fu Juliang

    The middle bank of the Yangzi River is one of the most significant cradles of Chinese civilization and an important locus for the study of Chinese bronze culture. Several important excavations in the past few decades have illuminated some of the little known aspects of this culture through exquisite bronze vessels of the Shang and Zhou dynasties (16th – 3rd century BCE). This exhibition, culled from the collection of the Hunan Provincial Museum, and catalogue introduce audiences to new discoveries about this seminal time in Chinese history. The fascinating story of this regional culture is revealed in three ways: through the development and characteristics of Hunan bronzes, their function and patronage, and their cultural connection to central China.

    Exhibition catalog, 2011. Paperback, 117 pages: ill.
    ISBN: 978-0-9774054-6-6

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  • Blooming In The Shadows: Unofficial Chinese Art, 1974-1985

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    Authors: Kuiyi Shen and Julia F. Andrews

    In the last decade, contemporary Chinese art has taken the art world by storm through heralded museum exhibitions, well-read publications, and heavily attended art auctions. However, despite all this attention, few exhibitions have asked the question of how—against the background of thirty-five years of Socialist Realism—this internationally-oriented artwork appeared and why it captured the attention of the international art market. Blooming in the Shadows: Unofficial Chinese Art, 1974-1985 will introduce the work of three unofficial Chinese art groups who worked in this vein: the Wuming (No Names), the Xingxing (Stars), and the Caocao (Grass Society)—all of which arose following the end of the Cultural Revolution and helped launch the avant-garde movement in China. These artists pursued creatively diverse paths to personal artistic freedom under the harsh political circumstances of the time. This exhibition catalogue will examine work produced by these three significant groups of young artists in the critical decade after the end of the Cultural Revolution leading up to the Communist party’s 1985 decision to allow modern artistic practices.

    Exhibition catalog, 2011. Paperback, 137 pages: ill.
    ISBN: 978-0-9774054-7-3

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  • Theater, Life, & The Afterlife: Tomb Décor Of The Jin Dynasty From Shanxi

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    Authors: Shi Jinming and Willow Weilan Hai Chang

    Brick carving is a traditional folk art that was used to decorate architecture and adorn tombs. Excavations in recent decades have uncovered unique and theatrically-themed brick carvings from the Shanxi province, revealing a passion for theater and opera in this region during the Jin dynasty (1115–1234). The tombs of Shanxi, adorned with beautiful, intricate brick carvings and other décor, illustrate two kinds of popular entertainment: Za Ju, formal performances of written plays and San Qu, performances related to village festivals. An entirely reconstructed tomb will offer visitors a window into the ways ancient art patrons transferred the artistic joys of life into the afterlife. Theater, Life, and the Afterlife: Tomb Décor of the Jin Dynasty from Shanxi, brings to life the intersection of the brick carving and theater traditions.

    Exhibition catalog, 2012. Paperback, 172 pages: ill.
    ISBN: 978-7-03-032940-0

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  • New “china”: Porcelain Art From Jingdezhen, 1910-2012

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    Authors: Lili Fang and Nancy Selvage

    Jingdezhen, also known as the “Porcelain Capital,” has served as the world’s major source of China trade ceramics for over 1,000 years. The city’s history, unique location, access to kaolin and skillful artisans still attract ceramicists from all over the globe. New “China” explores the authoritative influence of Jingdezhen on ceramic arts during the last 100 years and introduces a special group of modern and contemporary artists, who have revitalized Jingdezhen and bolstered the world’s ceramic market through their contemporary ideas and progressive techniques.

    Exhibition catalog, 2012. Paperback, 132 pages: ill.
    ISBN: 978-0-9774054-8-0

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  • Dunhuang: Buddhist Art At The Gateway Of The Silk Road

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    Authors: Edited by Fan Jinshi and Willow Weilan Hai Chang

    Dunhuang, the western gateway to China, is one of the world’s most esteemed art shrines and cultural heritage sites. Dunhuang: Buddhist Art at the Gateway of the Silk Road will address art and ritual practices of the Northern dynasties (420-589) and the Tang dynasty (618-907). The exhibition will feature excavated art works, high relief clay figures, wooden sculptures, silk banners, and molded bricks. A group of treasured Buddhist sutras from the famous Cangjingdong (The Library Cave) will illustrate the story behind Dunhuang’s historic discovery. A magnificent replica of the 8th century cave that houses the beautiful Bodhisattva of the Mogao Grottoes and an illustrious central pillar from the 6th century will also be prominently displayed in the exhibition to recall the actual cave setting.

    The exhibition catalogue contains essays by Fan Jinshi and Annette L. Juliano, and contributions from Lou Jie, Liang Xushu, Huang Yuanwei, J. May Lee Barrett, and Clarissa von Spee.

    Exhibition catalog, 2013. Paperback, 144 pages: ill.
    ISBN: 978-0-9774054-9-7

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  • Inspired By Dunhuang: Re-creation In Contemporary Chinese Art

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    Authors: Willow Weilan Hai and Jerome Silbergeld

    Like the old masters before them, modern and contemporary luminaries, such as Zhang Daqian, Zhang Hongtu, Liu Jude, Liu Dan, and Yu Hong, have sought inspiration from Dunhuang’s ancient sculptures and murals. Inspired by Dunhuang presents the breathtaking results of their painstaking and creative efforts, which capture the experience of Dunhuang in ways that are powerfully transformative. With its carefully curated group of paintings, calligraphy, sculptures, photographs, and mixed media installations that encompass a variety of themes and forms, this exhibition is a pioneering exploration of the historical, literary, artistic, and conceptual nature of the inspiration and influence exerted by Dunhuang’s thousand-year-old tradition on contemporary artistic creation.

    Exhibition catalog, 2013. Paperback, 118 pages: ill.
    ISBN: 978-0-9893776-8-3

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  • Mao’s Golden Mangoes And The Cultural Revolution

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    Authors: Edited by Alfreda Murck

    In August 1968, the Pakistani foreign minister visited Beijing and presented Chairman Mao Zedong with a crate of mangoes as a diplomatic gesture. The next day, Mao sent the mangoes to the “Worker-Peasant Mao Zedong though Propaganda Teams,” who had been stationed at Qinghua University to put down warring factions of Red Guards ten days previously. The message of this gift was to dismiss the Student Red Guards, who had been leaders of the proletarian movement in China, and in their stead to install workers as the permanent guardians of China’s education system. During the following weeks, the mangoes were distributed to several factories, where they were treated as though they were religious relics. The golden mango was thus a powerful emblem of the power and respect accorded to the proletariat under Mao’s rule.

    “Mao’s Gold Mangoes and the Cultural Revolution” is the catalog for an exhibition of the same title at China Institute Gallery, which explores the golden mangoes’ reverberations throughout Chinese culture for years to come. Included texts focus on the historical narrative of the golden mangoes’ rise to fame; first-person accounts of both students and factory workers; an examination the National Day Parade in 1968, which used the symbol of the mangoes prominently; a critical essay on the 1976 film “The Song of the Mango”; and an in-depth comparative study of working conditions in China from the late 1960s and today.

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  • Shu: Reinventing Books In Contemporary Art

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    Authors: Wu Hung

    Books—as subject, inspiration, or artistic medium—lie behind some of the best known works of the Chinese avant-garde. More than 30 works by 22 prominent Chinese artists are presented, illuminating complex relations with tradition as well as a surprising diversity of artistic approach. Lengthy statements by the individual artists lend insight into the profound effect of personal experience, politics, and recent history on their works. The curator’s essay explores an indigenous narrative on contemporary art in a global context, thus offering an explanation for why contemporary Chinese art is both ‘contemporary’ and ‘Chinese’.

    Exhibition catalog, 2006. Paperback, 119 pages: ill. ISBN: 0-9729352-4-X

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  • Buddhist Sculpture In China

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    Authors: Annette L. Juliano, et al.

    By tracing five centuries of stylistic development that span from the Northern dynasties to the Tang dynasty, this catalog illuminates important themes in Buddhist art and religion that have never been explored before, paving new paths for scholarship.

    Exhibition catalog, 2007. Paperback, 155 pages: ill. ISBN: 978-0-9774054-2-8

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