TEMPORARY EXHIBITION / Life in the Midst of Beauty. The World of a Chinese Scholar. Art from the National Museum of China
1 October 2016 – 8 January 2017
Life in the Midst of Beauty. The World of a Chinese Scholar as part of the exhibition exchange programme between the National Museum in Warsaw and the National Museum of China is planned to be held in Warsaw from 1st October 2016 to 8th January 2017. The exhibition focuses on “scholar-officials” – a special elite class in ancient Chinese society – their emergence, everyday life and painting. Over 160 objects from the National Museum of China collection, including calligraphy, painting, ceramics, jades, bronzes, furniture and textiles, will be on show.
The Chinese literati, often referred to as “scholar-officials” (shidafu), usually served as government officials and at the same time were much admired for great artistic taste. From the Song dynasty (960–1279) onwards, literati painting, as a principal part of Chinese painting, showed scholar-officials’ attitude towards life and art. The fascinating life that scholar-officials lived in many ways reflected their personality and wisdom.
The current exhibition is organized in three sections. The narration begins with the historical and philosophical background of Chinese scholar-officials (I. Scholar or Official: A Choice), followed by aspects of literati lifestyle, such as gatherings, poetry, tea drinking and entertainment. This section is highlighted by a fragment of engraved stone from the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 AD), which is the earliest official version of Confucian classics, and a scroll by the famous artist Wen Zhengming (1470–1559), entitled At the Zhenshang Studio.
The second section (II. The “Four Arts”) illustrates the artistic cultivation of scholar-officials, that is, music, chess, calligraphy and painting, apart from incense burning, studying scrolls and flower arrangement – all were skills that a qualified scholar-official must master. This section features a rich variety of objects, like the King of Lu’s zither from the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and the jade carved imperial album of verses of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911).
In the last section (III. Literati Painting and Aesthetics), emphasis is given on literati painting – an artistic way of expression that is very different from Western painting. In the ideals of scholar-officials, the value of paintings lies in self-cultivation and self-expression. Therefore, the literati paintings point to an inner world, a world that brings us closer to the core of unique literati spirit. Here, on display are works not only by Chinese painters like Wang Ze (1759–1842) and Wang Jian (1598–1677), but also by Giuseppe Castiglione (1688–1766), an Italian Jesuit missionary who came to China and served as a court painter for more than 50 years. Castiglione used both Western and Chinese techniques and specialized in human figures and birds and flowers.
This exhibition has connected painting with everyday life. This will help Polish audiences better understand the Chinese scholar-officials, their life and, more importantly, the ancient Chinese painting that they created. It is hoped that the exhibition will arouse more interest in the art and culture from ancient China.
The Chinese curator of the exhibition is Zhao Yong and the Polish curator is Joanna Popkowska.
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