THE YOUXIANTANG COLLECTION OF CHINESE ART - BOOK SAMPLE

Art Libraries Journal, 2014

Chinese art has always been well-represented within SOAS Library. This article provides an overview of the Chinese art and archaeology collection, highlighting materials that make it unique, from rare books to literati paintings and woodblock prints. As the Library approaches its centenary, some of the issues that have influenced its past, such as limitations of space, are still informing its future. With increasing attention paid to modern and contemporary Chinese art, efforts have been made to build the collection to reflect this emphasis. As it has throughout SOAS’s history, the Library and the Chinese art and archeology collection continue to evolve to reflect new research interests, academic courses and the needs of its users.

Orientations, 2003

Introduction to the Chinese Collection of the Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, Florida, along with an interview with E. Robert Hunter, director of the Museum, 1943-49 and 1962-75, pp. 84-85.

Seminar presentation 'Introduction to Chinese Culture', 2017

Current presentation discusses question of the Chinese culture and among others, painting, calligraphy and opera. Painting and calligraphy are of the same origin and are regarded as two treasured arts in China. They are both liked with free movement and distribution of lines in expression. Together with music and chess, they formed the four skills for a learned scholar to pursue in ancient China. They have also been held as a good exercise to temper one’s character and cultivate one’s personality. Chinese painting has a long history and excellent tradition. Through thousands of years, it has developed its own style, its own techniques, and a complete system of art which expresses the aesthetics of the nation. Through its unique style and features, it has established supremacy in the world of art, Chinese painting emphasizes the point that “Inspiration comes from close observation and understanding of Nature.” Traditional Chinese painting is the art of painting on a piece of Xuan paper or silk with a Chinese brush that was soaked with black ink or colored pigments. It is regarded as one of the three “quintessence of Chinese culture”. Chinese paintings are usually in the form of hanging pictures or of horizontal scrolls, in both cases they are normally kept rolled up. The latter paintings, often of great length, are unrolled bit by bit and enjoyed as a reader enjoys reading a manuscript.There is no fixed or standard viewpoint or perspective. Chinese painting is far less concerned with notions of symmetry, balance and proportion than its European counterpart. Because it lacks a single focal point, Chinese artists are free to paint on long strips of paper (or silk) and can compose pieces of amazing complexity in a rather comic book-like manner.Artists could paint a whole chain of pictures to depict continuous scenery. Many pictures include objects that are both far away and near, but they are depicted as being of the same size. It is more likely that the artists were trying to paint life exactly as they saw it. The presentation was held at OUC, 2017.

Leonardo, 2010

2012

J ust over a year ago, Jane and Leopold Swergold surprised and delighted the Bellarmine Museum of Art with a gift of four Han and Tang pottery objects from their stellar collection of ancient Chinese art. We were, of course, thrilled to accept their generous donation, which not only filled an important gap in the museum's permanent collection but also catalyzed a series of enriching conversations about Chinese art and culture at the museum; conversations that culminated in Immortality of the Spirit: Chinese Funerary Art from the Han and Tang Dynasties, on view at the Bellarmine from April 12-June 6, 2012. This exhibition was envisioned by the museum as a platform not only for highlighting the Swergolds' remarkable gift but also enhancing our visitors' understanding of ancient Chinese funerary art by placing such objects in a broader cultural context. Thus the Bellarmine's Sichuan Qin Player, Pair of Green Glazed Grooms, and Figure of a Soldier are accompanied in our galleries by nine related objects, all of which were generously lent to the museum by the Swergolds for this show. The care with which the Swergolds' collection was assembled is evinced both by its exceptionally high quality and by its remarkable internal coherence. Their fine holdings equally bear witness to the vast stores of knowledge they have accumulated over the course of the past two decades, as the Swergolds developed into world-class connoisseurs (a favorable term, derived from the French verb connaître, that suggests expansive knowledge and nuanced understanding) of Chinese art. The depth of their learning (Mrs. Swergold, who taught Interior Design at Fairfield University for over twenty years, wrote her MA thesis on Chinese tester beds, while Mr. Swergold has served as a trustee at the Smithsonian Institution's Freer-Sackler Galleries in Washington, DC, currently sits on the Collections Committee of the Harvard University Museums and organized and directed Treasures Rediscovered-Chinese Stone Sculpture from the Sackler Collections at Columbia University, an exhibition which premiered in Manhattan in the spring of 2008 before traveling to the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida,

Journal of Conservation and Museum Studies, 13(1): 7, 2014

2005

T H E Stein collection in the British Library is essentially a manuscript collection numbering thousands of scrolls of Buddhist sutra texts and other documents, the great majority originating from Cave 17 at the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas at Mogao near Dunhuang in Gansu Province, built in the mid-ninth century as a memorial for the highranking monk Hongbian, and adopted in the early eleventh century as a safe restingplace for outdated scrolls and ex-votos. Although some of the manuscripts contain illustrations, the Buddhist paintings in the collection were assigned to the SubDepartment of Oriental Prints and Drawings of the British Museum and are now kept in the Department of Oriental Antiquities. Thus the recent rediscovery of four previously unpublished and unregistered Buddhist paintings on hemp cloth, unquestionably from Dunhuang, in the British Library adds an extra dimension to the collection, in terms of both material and iconography. The four paintings (Plates II-IV) are ...

The overextension of the labor force during the Qin Dynasty would result in a popular uprising against the empire. In 206 B.C., Liu Bang, a Qin official, led an army composed of peasants and some lower nobility to victory and established his own Dynasty in place, the Han. However, unlike the Qin, the Han would unify China and rule virtually uncontested for over four hundred years. It is during this time that much of what is now considered to be Chinese culture was first actualized. The bureaucracy started under the Qin was now firmly established. The vast lands of China were now under the firm grip of a central authority. Confucianism became the state ideology although the worship of Taoist deity remained widespread, both among the peasants and the aristocracy. Ancient histories and texts were analyzed and rewritten to be more objective while new legendary myths and cultural epics were transcribed. The Han era can also be characterized as one of the greatest artistic outpourings in Chinese history, easily on par with the glories of their Western contemporaries, Greece and Rome. Wealth pouring into China from trade along the Silk Road initiated a period of unprecedented luxury. Stunning bronze vessels were created, decorated with elegant inlaid gold and silver motifs. Jade carvings reached a new level of technical brilliance. But perhaps the artistic revival of the Han Dynasty is nowhere better represented than in their sculptures and vessels that were interred with deceased nobles. Called mingqi, literally meaning "spirit articles," these works depicted a vast array of subject, from warriors and horses to ovens and livestock, which were buried alongside the dead for use in the next world, reflecting the Chinese belief that the afterlife was an extension of our earthy existence. Thus, quite logically, the things we require to sustain and nurture our bodies in this life would be just as necessary in our next life. The Han Dynasty, like the Zhou before it, is divided into two distinct periods, the Western Han (206 B.C.-9 A.D.) and the Eastern Han (23-220 A.D.) with a brief interlude. Towards the end of the Western period, a series of weak emperors ruled the throne, controlled from behind the scenes by Wang Mang and Huo Guang, both relatives of empresses. They both exerted enormous influence over the government and when the last emperor suddenly passed away, Mang became ruling advisor, seizing this opportunity to declare his own Dynasty, the Xin, or "New." However, another popular uprising began joined by the members of the Liu clan, the family that ruled the Han Dynasty, the Xin came to a quick end and the Eastern Han was established in its place with its capital at Loyang (Chang'an, the capital of the Western Han, was completely destroyed). However, even as Chinese influence spread across Southeastern Asia into new lands, the Eastern Han Dynasty was unable to recreate the glories of the Western Period. In fact, this period can be characterized by a bitter power struggle amongst a group of five consortial clans. These families sought to control the young, weak emperors with their court influence. Yet, as the emperors became distrustful of the rising power of the clans, they relied upon their eunuchs to defend them, often eliminating entire families at a time. During the Western Han, the Emperor was viewed as the center of the universe. However, this philosophy slowly disintegrated under the weak, vulnerable rulers of the Eastern Han, leading many scholars and officials to abandon the court. Eventually, the power of the Han would completely erode, ending with its dissolution and the beginning of the period known as the "Three Kingdoms." This bronze pou urn, also known as a lei, is one of the types of vessels used for holding wine or water. The vessel steadily expands from its tapered base until the upper mid section where the rings are placed and contracts at the neck area. The neck is short, slightly flaring upward near the mouth which is rimmed with a flatten border that runs flush to the lid. The lid is attached to one of the holding rings by a chain link with one-inch interlocking chains. Earthen residue adheres to the vessel, patch worked with areas of discoloration from oxidization and changes in patina color and texture that occurs over time. The elegant shape of the vessel attests to the aesthetic value placed on ritual vessels that were used in ceremonies and buried in tombs during the Han Dynasty.-(FZ.348) Han Bronze Pou Wine Vessel Featuring a Lid Attached by a Chain H.015 Origin: China Circa: 1368 AD to 1644 AD Dimensions: 16" (40.6cm) high x 9" (22.9cm) wide Ming Bronze Sculpture of the Buddha S eated in th e D hyanas ana P o s ition

Over 20 art projects conceived and organized by independent curator Luca Zordan, in collaboration with international art galleries, cultural centers, museums, and embassies, on view at the site of the art fair as well as around Beijing, presenting the work and perspectives of foreign artists in China. In these past years globalization has created tremendous opportunities for global collaboration among different countries. At the same time, it has also generated a unique set of problems and issues relating to the effective daily relation with different cultures. We are finding ourselves more and more involved in communication across cultures, between cultures, among cultures. For this reason, understanding other cultures and relating to them is now fundamental. Foreign artists in China want to examine the work of those foreign artists who have decided to take the cultural challenge of confronting themselves with a new culture, entering in contact with China, and making direct experience of the local environment. The projects presented at Art Beijing examine the perspectives and visions of over 20 artists from different nationalities, ages, and cultural backgrounds, who have been living in China, working here, or at least coming here to produce work. Many of the presented artworks are strongly related to China as they are produced here using local materials; some of them might even appear documentations of social and environmental conditions of China; some others reveal their inspiration from this cultural environment. There are also some works which seem not to have any connection with our surroundings, as if they could have been done elsewhere. Looking at the exhibited artworks, we also have to consider all the cultural relations, human experiences, collaborations and interactions with local people, environment, society, culture, which constitute their process of production. They can be truly appreciated only considering the context in which they are produced and to which they intrinsically relate at the point that we could say that many of these works in a certain way belong to China and are not at all foreign. In fact, confronting with different artistic perspectives and cultural points of view can also help us to learn more about ourselves. The contact with what we consider foreign can stimulate us to understand ourselves more, to know deeper the reality around us, to change our mind on some aspects of this reality, to look at things we have never noticed before, to discover new imaginations. Walking next to each other, we can understand better ourselves and the reality, and contribute together to its development. Exhibited artists: Igor Baskakov (Russia), Francisca Benitez, Maartje Blans (The Netherlands), Antonio Gomez Bueno (Spain/USA), Felice Candilio, Francesco De Grandi (Italy), Julio De Matos (Portugal), David Evison (UK/Germany), Anne Graham (Australia), Guo Jian (China), Elisa Haberer (France), Kristiina Koskentola (Finland/The Netherlands), Ewa Kuras (Poland), Manuel S. Rodriguez Loayza, Gabriela Maciel (Brazil), Ioannis Marinoglou (Greece), Alfredo Martinez (USA), Nicoykatiushka (Chile), Vanessa Notley (Scotland/France), Milla-Kariina Oja (Finland), Viktor Popov, Li Qiao (China), Eugenia Raskopoulos, Bianca Regl (Austria), John Reynolds (New Zealand), Alessandro Rolandi (Italy), Gustavo Rugeles G. (Venezuela), Felipe Santander, Tony Scott (Australia), Varvara Shavrova (Russia/Ireland), Jiří Straka (Zcech Republic), Wang Zhiyuan (China), Martin Wehmer (Germany), Xu Shuang (China), Karla Zapata (Venezuela), Sandor Zsila (Hungary). Partner institutions: Dell'Arco Gallery (Italy), Antenna (Chile), Atelier#2 Gallery (Russia), CINU (Bolivia), Delegation of the European Commission ( EU) to China, Embassy of Brazil, Embassy of Bulgaria, Embassy of Greece, Embassy of Hungary, Embassy of Ireland, Embassy of Poland, Embassy of Portugal, Embassy of the Czech Republic, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Hippolyte (Finland), Italian Institute of Culture, Lukas Feichtner Galerie (Austria), Michael Schultz Gallery (Germany), Moriarty (Spain), Starkwhite (New Zealand), Embassy of Venezuela, French Cultural Institute (France), University of Melbourne, Faculty of Arts (Australia).