Jeremiah Theus' portrait of Colonel Barnard Elliott, Jr, is on show
at the
National Art Museum of China. The painting is
part of the special American art exhibition, which is attracting a
flurry of visitors.
?
Sitting on a small folding stool, Wang Yifan, a primary school
student in Beijing, worked attentively on his pastel drawing, an
imitation of an exotic landscape oil painting hanging in the
National Art Museum of China on February 11.
The oil painting he was trying to copy was created in 1826 by
famed American landscape artist Thomas Cole (1801-1848) and is
entitled Landscape with Figures: A Scene from "The Last of the
Mohicans".
Accompanied by his parents, Wang, like hundreds of other primary
students, traded his weekend for a free, on-site drawing lesson
arranged by the public education department of the museum.
The kids were offered 10 sheets of drawing papers, each
featuring a roughly outlined image from the more than 130 works by
nearly 120 American artists at the grand exhibition of Art In
America: 300 Years Of Innovation.
"I was deeply moved by the scene at the art museum," said Li
Liqiang, a retiree who attended the exhibition, which opened last
Friday. "For a young child, an intimate encounter with foreign art,
such as American art, can sow the seeds of understanding of other
cultures," he said.
His views were echoed by Fan Di'an, director of the museum.
This exhibition is "the fruit of the friendship between the
Chinese and American peoples, and an indication of further artistic
exchanges between these two nations in the 21st Century," said
Fan.
He said the exhibition would give Chinese viewers "a glimpse
into American art and an opportunity to understand how it relates
to art worldwide".
Touted as the largest collection of American art to be shown in
China and the first to reflect the history of art in the United
States, the exhibition is hosted by the National Art Museum of
China and organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation of New
York and the Terra Foundation for American Art of Chicago.
"It is the first time ever in history that American artworks on
such a huge scale have been brought together in a single show for
art lovers," Fan said. "Art lovers should not miss it."
The exhibition is a response to the hugely successfully
exhibition China: 5,000 Years presented to American viewers in 1998
at the Guggenheim Museum SoHo and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in
New York, according to Thomas Krens, director of the Solomon R.
Guggenheim Foundation.
The exhibition is divided into six sections and spans the
following periods: Colonization and Rebellion (1700-1830),
Expansion and Fragmentation (1830-1880), Cosmopolitanism and
Nationalism (1880-1915), Modernism and Regionalism (1915-1945),
Prosperity and Disillusionment (1945-1980) and Multiculturalism and
Globalization (1980-present), according to Susan Davidson, senior
curator with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
"All of these show how American culture has constantly modified
itself in the course of social development to adapt and innovate in
an enterprising spirit," said Elizabeth Glassman, president and
CEO, Terra Foundation for American Art, in Beijing.
Between the early 18th and the late 19th Century, American art
was mostly realist, presenting the glories of life, natural scenes,
and social life in brilliant colors on canvas.
The exhibition begins with the resolute portrait of an Indian
from 1735, and Benjamin West's Penn's Treaty with the Indians
(1771-72) quietly opens the curtain on the drama of European
colonialism. Gilbert Stuart's classic portrait of George Washington
makes American unification and independence powerfully clear. Other
portraits from this period reflect a vitality even hundreds of
years after their creation.
In the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, a great number of
American artists were active internationally including John Singer
Sargent and Mary Cassatt.
"They were deeply versed in European technique and taste, yet
committed to creating an American art with distinct
characteristics," noted Michael Leja, an art historian with the
University of Pennsylvania, at an academic lecture delivered to
Chinese audiences last Sunday at the National Art Museum of
China.
In the period of World War II, the United States replaced Europe
as an artistic center, and this is an important part of the current
exhibition, where the works of many modern masters are
assembled.
The exhibition also shows the works of some modern American
artists who are better known in Chinese art communities.
Among them are Abstract Expressionist artist Jackson Pollock's
1942 work The Moon-Woman and the 1950 work Number 18. Also on
display are masterpieces created by Pop Art pioneer Andy Warhol and
Robert Rauschenberg. Warhol's 1963 work Race Riot, reflects racial
tensions in the United States.
The exhibition also features certain works of ethnic Chinese
artists working in the United States. The appearance of these
artists should be of particular interest to Chinese viewers.
"Viewing this exhibition is analogous to reading a very thick
history of American art," said Leja.
(China Daily February 26, 2007)
