Eccentrics, Court Painters, and Professionals in 18th Cent. China
Instead of spreading thank-yous all over in the usual manner of lecture openings, I want to focus more today, and express a really heartfelt gratitude to Sheila Keppel, not only for planning this exhibition but for all the excellent work she's done for the Museum over quite a few years. Sheila, who is a ceramicist, wrote the thesis for her graduate degree on Oribe ware, and has taken part in international symposia on Chinese and Japanese ceramics, has had to become a painting specialist, more than she intended to, to keep the exhibition schedule going, to respond to outsiders who want information and access to the collection, and many other valuable services. For all this, thank you Sheila. I want to dedicate the lecture to her. But I want also to point out that because of a publication deadline she had to write the description of my lecture for me; and while what she wrote would be a very interesting lecture, it isn't exactly the one I mean to give. I'm not, this time, going to "illuminate distinct artistic traditions in the light of social and political trends"--That's very much worth doing, and I've done it in other contexts, but not today. Sorry, Sheila.
I'll talk first about a few large artistic issues in painting of early to mid 18c, period represented by ptgs in exhib., with references more to economic than to political issues; then I'll show slides and speak about individual artists and paintings. As it happens, Sheila has chosen a group of paintings not often shown, which makes it more interesting to talk about them. This wlll be a relatively low-key lecture, and some of it may be familiar to those of you who are well-read in the literature of Chinese painting studies.
Early to mid 18c corresponds, in Ch. history, to late Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong reigns of Manchu (Qing) Dynasty. Follows on one of the highpoints, the great ages of Chinese painting, the late Ming-early Qing, time of major Individualist and Orthodox masters.
S,S. Dong C-c to Four Wangs (Wang Yuan-ch'i)
S.S. Shitao, Hongren?
Deaths of Wang Y-c, Wang Hui, Shitao, all w/in decade can be seen as marking the end of this great age. Corresponds loosely with end of Kangxi era, one of two long, very successful reigns (other is Qianlong's, 1735-95). There are ways in which we can regard the period that follows, the period of the exhibition, Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns, as a bit of a falling-off. But I don't especially mean to make that argument in today's lecture, to which it seems unsuitable, and I'll talk more about what's interesting and admirable in painting of this period.
S: Map. What follows that early 18th century turning point is usually presented, again, in basically polarized pattern: Yangzhou "strange masters" vs. orthodox artists, or, as in exhibition, "eccentric" masters vs. "academic" such as Yuan Jiang. Both useful distinctions; both reflect the real situation, but only in limited ways. The 1985 exhibition catalog The Elegant Brush, exhib. by Chou Ju-hsi and Claudia Brown that covered more or less same period and somewhat later, organized 18c ptg by regions; but that isn't so very useful either. (The catalog, however, is a very useful source of information on artists of period.)
S Will begin by disposing of the Orthodox school of landscape, which isn't by any means the most interesting kind of painting being done in this period. Well represented, for our period, by Huang Ding (1660-1730). Studied with Wang Yuan-ch'i, so was firmly in the Orthodox lineage; much admired in his time. Relatively strong among later Orthodox ptrs; after his time, little innovation in that direction, a lot of dull stuff produced. Ptg in exhib.; "Dwelling in Summer Mts.", gift of my old friend Cheng Chi, maybe still living in retirement (haven't heard from him for several years), major collector and authority on Chinese art who spent most of his time in Tokyo, during the 1970s-80s; I visited him there many times, to see ptgs in his collection and to talk with him about Ch. ptg (he was a great raconteur). He presented this painting to the Museum when it first opened in1969.
Artists painting Orthodox-style landscapes tended to be associated with the imperial court in Beijing, as Huang Ding was, or with officialdom; the Manchu rulers were promoting this style in court, as part of process of legitimizing their rule, persuading the Han Chinese that they understood and respected their culture. (Manchus were non-Chinese, or properly non-Han, people.)
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