(Untitled) from The Spirit of Harmony II

(Untitled) from The Spirit of Harmony II

Arts; Arts-Painting;

Acrylic on rice paper, section of twelve part suite. The suite of works currently in the library is particularly lyrical in its treatment of color and form. For the most part, there is little to signify that these are Chinese paintings, which is part of what makes the inclusion of these in the project so useful. That is, in the transnational (art) world of the early 20th-century, what makes a work or an artist 'Chinese'? On the other hand, the pair of scrolls (untitled in the checklist, but one of these is his Work with Joy, of 1974, which has been exhibited and published) plays off many traditions of Chinese painting, including the lengthy (narrative) handscroll painted on paper and mounted on cloth, even though it is executed in a style growing out of Abstract Expressionism. The mounting of the two scrolls conforms to tradition. Traditionally, such scrolls were kept rolled up, and to be viewed would be 'read' sequentially, unrolling a portion at a time as one viewed the entire work while holding; thus, viewing such a scroll was an intimate encounter with the work. The current display of the scrolls, where they hang, opened, in a tall vertical space, challenges those traditional notions of how such paintings would be viewed.

Donated by the artist.

Wang Ming, b. 1922

DiMenna-Myselius Library

Fairfield University

Materials may be used for educational, non-commercial purposes only. Acknowledgement to be given to the ASIANetwork-Luce Asian Art in the Undergraduate Curriculum Project and to the college from whose collection the work comes. The individual college retains copyright to the work.

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China

China - People's Republic of China 1949 - present