Word and image in Chinese art - exhibition in New York - Brief Article

Magazine Antiques, Nov, 2000 by Allison Eckardt Ledes

In China, paintings that include poems penned in exquisite calligraphy have long been considered one of the highest art forms, both produced and admired by the literati for centuries. They are the subject of a small but compelling exhibition at the China Institute Gallery in New York City. On view through December 10, the show is entitled The Chinese Painter as Poet and comprises some three dozen works, including hanging scrolls, hand scrolls, fans, woodblock prints, and carved jades.

The objects date from the late Song dynasty (960-1279) to the present and can be divided into three categories: paintings that have poems inscribed on them, paintings that illustrate the poems that appear on them, and paintings that capture the spirit of a poem, thereby transcending the literal interpretation of the words. The last category is considered the supreme manifestation of the merger of word and picture. An excellent example is chronicled in the exhibition catalogue. The emperor Huizong Thao Ji tested the skills of the artists of his academy by assigning them the task of interpreting this line of poetry: "Returning from a trip of flower appreciation, the horse spreads fragrance." Many of the artists painted galloping horses and flowers, but the emperor deemed that the most distinguished example (because it best distilled the essence of the poem) was a painting in which a horse is shown moving in a calm gait with bees hovering around its hooves.

The merger of art and world is credited to Wang Wei during the Tang dynasty (618-907) and was formalized by Su Shi and flourished during the Song dynasty Wang was the first to combine the skills of both the poet and the painter: As the tradition was carried forward, painters selected existing poems to place on their works, poets penned their own verses on existing paintings, or poets and painters collaborated. During the Ming dynasty particularly in the late seventeenth century, the penchant for travel inspired a profusion of guidebooks illustrated with woodblock-printed landscapes that included poetry. Examples of these are also in the exhibition.

The catalogue for the exhibition is written by the guest curator, Jonathan Chaves. It is available by telephoning the China Institute at 212-744-8181.