This new exhibition opens today at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Based on recent archaeological discoveries, Phoenix Kingdoms reveals the previously unknown splendor, sophistication, and extravagance of two kingdoms that flourished at the end of China’s Bronze Age. Conquered by the First Emperor in a brutal country-wide unification, the Zeng and Chu states eventually became mere footnotes in the chronicle of the nation’s development, their stories buried beneath 2,000 years of imperial history. Yet as the remarkable artifacts in this exhibition attest, these southern kingdoms were i ..read more

China’s Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta has recently concluded at the Cleveland Museum of Art. It is the first exhibition in the West that focuses on the artistic production and cultural impact of a region located in the coastal area south of the Yangzi River. Called Jiangnan (江南, “River South”), this region has throughout large parts of its history been one of the wealthiest, most populous, and most fertile lands. For millennia, it has been an area of rich agriculture, extensive trade, and influential artistic production. Art from Jiangnan—home to such great cities ..read more

Happy New Year! Only two weeks remain for this special exhibition of Chinese flower-and-bird painting at Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA). Showcasing masterpieces spanning 500 years from Tianjin Museum and Changzhou Museum, this exhibition marks the first showing of works traveling from China to the U.S. since the onset of the pandemic. The exhibition premiered at the China Institute Gallery in New York earlier this year, and SBMA is the presentation’s second and final venue in the United States. SBMA offers a reduced presentation to focus on some of the most important works in the origin ..read more

This one-month exhibition just concluded three days ago at the Nezu Museum in Tokyo, but it is worth a revisit. The Song period (960–1279) was a pinnacle in the history of Chinese painting and calligraphy, and works from that period were regarded as classics by later generations. Starting in Japan’s medieval period (1185–1573), Japanese connoisseurs of Chinese art are known to have treasured Southern Song (1127–1279) works. Moreover, works from the preceding Northern Song period (960-1127) had also been brought to Japan almost contemporaneously with their production, in the late Heian perio ..read more

The Heart of Zen features two extraordinary ink paintings, Persimmons (popularly known as Six Persimmons) and Chestnuts, on view in the United States for the first time. Attributed to the 13th-century monk Muxi (Muqi), these exquisitely subtle compositions were painted in China and then crossed the ocean to Japan, where they have been designated Important Cultural Properties and treasured for centuries at Daitokuji Ryokoin Zen temple in Kyoto. Thanks to a joint effort by Ryokoin and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, this exhibition offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to view these ..read more

Ren Bonian (任伯年, 1840–1895) was a pioneer in the history of modern Chinese painting. He was a representative figure of the early stage of the Shanghai School, characterized by the combination of meticulous techniques and sketching ideas in both flower-and-bird painting and figure painting. He took inspirations from Chen Hongshou, Zhu Da, Yun Shouping, Chen Chun, Shitao, and blended folk art and western paintings.  This special exhibition comprises 158 pieces/sets of paintings from 24 museums and institutions. It is the first systematic presentation of Ren Bonian’s artistic style format ..read more

This one-month special exhibition on Chinese calligraphy just concluded a week ago at Zhejiang Art Museum in Hangzhou. It showcased many rubbings and handwritings of calligraphy from masters since the Song dynasty. Chinese calligraphy has always used “intention” as the aesthetic standard, requiring calligraphy creation to have “true intention” and express the emotion and interest of the calligrapher. When Chinese calligraphy developed till the Song dynasty, “focus on intention” is the ideological characteristics of the calligraphy of that period. Su Shi’s poem said, “I didn’t have a fixed wa ..read more

From the Pre-Qin to the Qin and Han periods, various regions in the southwest entered the Bronze Age successively, giving birth to a brilliant ancient bronze civilization that shines like stars. This left a rich and colorful mark in the history of ancient Chinese civilization. This special exhibition at Jinsha Site Museum in Chengdu, Sichuan province, showcases a wide range of artifacts, including bronze ware, gold ware, jade ware, and seashells. Among them, there are over a hundred first-grade cultural relics, and 88 items/sets of cultural relics are being displayed outside their original ..read more

The British Museum in London is hosting a special exhibition of the nineteenth century China. Between 1796 and 1912 Qing China endured numerous civil uprisings and foreign wars, with revolution ultimately bringing an end to some 2,000 years of dynastic rule and giving way to a modern Chinese republic. This period of violence and turmoil was also one of extraordinary creativity, driven by political, cultural and technological change. In the shadow of these events lie stories of remarkable individuals — at court, in armies, in booming cosmopolitan cities and on the global stage. Exquisite obj ..read more

The Brilliance of the Song Dynasty in Modern Times is the ongoing special exhibition at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, which was the capital of the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279). It showcases 37 sets of calligraphy and painting artworks (including 13 Class One cultural artifacts) from the Song to Qing dynasties. These works fully present the charm of Chinese landscape painting, which matured in the Song dynasty. Many of the paintings depict the scenery of Jiangnan (regions south of the Yangtze River). Featured artists include Guo Xi, the Four Masters of the Southern Song (Li Tang ..read more