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Collecting Stories: Chinese Art through the Historians' Lens

HUANG Yan 黃岩 (born 1966).
Chinese; People’s Republic of China, 2004.
Face Painting: Bamboo
Chromogenic print, 61 x 49 inches. Gift of Helyn Goldenberg and Michael Alper
 

Bamboo, from the Ten Bamboo Studio Manual of Calligraphy and Painting
Editor and compiler: HU Zhengyan 胡正言 (circa 1584-1674)
Chinese; Qing dynasty, Kangxi period, 1675
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper, 10 ⁷/₁₆ x 11 5/8 inches
Murray Warner Collection

 

Collecting Stories: Chinese Art through the Historians' Lens

July 27, 2024 to August 17, 2025
 
This exhibition is the result of the Spring 2024 History through Chinese Art and Material Culture course taught by Professor Ina Asim in which undergraduate students focused on artworks from the museum’s permanent collection as primary research materials to study social history, art symbolism, technological innovation, and the history of collecting. Each object tells multi-layered stories, reflecting the passions of its makers and subsequent generations of admirers. Selected ceramics, metalwork, sculpture, paintings, and textiles ranging in date from the fifth millennium BCE through the present are on view with explanations based on students’ original research. Highlights include recently acquired photographs by contemporary artist Huang Yan (born 1966), juxtaposed with traditional Chinese prints from which they drew inspiration.
 
Co-curated by UO Department of History Professor Ina Asim and her students and JSMA Chief Curator Anne Rose Kitagawa, Collecting Stories includes distinguished works donated by museum founder Gertrude Bass Warner (1863-1951) and many other generous benefactors.