Dear Friends,
It is our pleasure to review here the recent China-related activities taking place at the Freer Gallery of
Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, including special exhibitions, web-based projects and scholarly
publications. Several of you have expressed interest in hearing about future years' projects, which we
will also outline below. The exciting plans we will share with you should help restore the centrality of
the museums in the China field.
We want to thank you all again for your warmth, enthusiasm, and passion for Chinese art - and wish you
a very healthy, happy, and inspiring fall! We hope to see many of you in the Galleries soon.
Keith Wilson
Associate Director of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Curator of Ancient Chinese Art
Joseph Chang
Associate Curator of Chinese Art
ON VIEW IN THE GALLERIES
Writing, Carving and Rubbing: China's Calligraphic
Arts, Freer Gallery of Art
The current exhibition Writing, Carving and Rubbing: China's
Calligraphic Arts traces the evolution of Chinese calligraphy
through six major types of script: oracle-bone, seal, clerical,
cursive, running and standard. These scripts share a
common origin and were developed in sequence, with
standard script perfected during the Tang dynasty (618907).
Over three thousand years each has acquired its own distinct characteristics. Eminent calligraphers have
reinterpreted the accomplishments of past masters and created original works that showcase their personal
styles.
IMAGE: Four Wooden Tablets in clerical script, Colophon by Zhang Heng (1914-1963), China, Han dynasty, 42 B.C.E., Black ink on wood (H x W
(a.): 23.5 cm (9 1/4 in), H x W (c.): 18.7 cm (7 3/8 in), Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of John M. Crawford, Jr.: F1981.4a
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This stylistic evolution continues to enliven Chinese calligraphy to the present day. Also included in this
presentation are writing tools, such as the Four Treasures of the Scholar's Studio (paper, ink stick, brush,
and ink stone), as well as seals and seal paste. This exhibition will be on view through October 26, 2009.
In conjunction with the exhibition, Education Specialist Joanna Pecore will present related calligraphy
programs for adults on Saturdays, September 26th and October 3rd. Please click visit the Freer and Sackler
Gallery website for more information on these public programs: www.asia.si.edu.
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
Boys Just Want to Have Fun, Freer Gallery of Art
The upcoming exhibition, Boys Just Want to Have Fun, will showcase
the depictions of children at play in the past two millenniums from
the Freer Gallery's permanent collection. Mother and infant
relationships and youth activities -- such as catching butterflies,
rope skipping in the garden and boys herding ox -- are all lovingly
portrayed either in paintings or on 3-dimentional objects, such as
ceramics and carved ivory. The objects range in date from
approximately the first to the twentieth-century C.E.
This exhibition, on view from November 14, 2009 to April 18,
2010, will interpret the selected artworks through available
literature, history, and archaeology in a larger cultural and social
context. Related educational programs will be available.
In addition, the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery will lend 15 works from its collections to the exhibition The Three
Dreams of the Mandarin organized by the Cultural Centre, ING Belgium Bank, Brussels, taking place from
October 22, 2009 to February 14, 2010, as part of the Europalia China Festival.
SCHOLARLY TALKS AND PUBLICATIONS
This fall the Freer Gallery of Art is planning to launch an online collection catalogue of 85 works of Chinese
painting and calligraphy dating to the Song and Yuan dynasties (10th-14th centuries), which is widely
considered the most significant creative period in the development of traditional Chinese painting. The
collection at the Freer Gallery of Art ranks as one of the finest in world with many exceptional and unique
works. This launch represents the culmination of the first phase in presenting these important works of
Chinese painting and calligraphy to the public, and will be followed in the near future with a more
sophisticated technological exposition.
During this initial stage, the Chinese painting module on the museum's Explore + Learn page will consist of
written documentation and extensive photography of 85 Song and Yuan dynasty works presented in PDF
format. The photography section will provide the first complete published versions of many of these works,
including all frontispieces and colophons, while the documentation section consists of punctuated
IMAGE: Children Playing in a Garden, China, Ming dynasty, 1368-1644, Fan (mounted as an album leaf); ink and color on silk, Gift of Charles Lang
Freer F1911.161f
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transcriptions and identifications of all Chinese texts associated with each object-including labels,
inscriptions, colophons, and seals-together with numerous explanatory comments and a wide selection of
annotated English translations. As static records, the documentation PDFs will not be searchable in this
phase; however, a rudimentary link tool will soon become available, and a more robust search tool will be
developed as the museum's technological capabilities advance and expand.
A special issue of Ars Orientalis will be devoted to the nine papers and commentary from a conference held in
conjunction with an exhibition of six Yuan paintings from a private collection at the Museum of the
University of Pennsylvania in 2006. This special issue will be published by the Freer Gallery of Art and
Arthur M. Sackler Museum and the University of Michigan in the fall.
Last week the Macao Museum of Art held a symposium and exhibition on the 17th century Chinese
calligraphy, painting, and seals during the late-Ming and early-Qing period. 115 works from the Shanghai
Museum collection will be on view from September 14 through November 15, 2009. You can view more
information about the symposium on the Macao Museum of Art website by clicking here.
Finally, Keith Wilson has been invited to represent the museum at the first-ever Forum for Curators of Chinese
Art, hosted by the J. S. Lee Memorial Foundation and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The Forum is
being held to mark the beginnings of the new J. S. Lee fellows program, which is intended to provide staff
members working in Chinese museum with resident fellowships of up to one year to promote professional
growth and exchange. The Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Galleries will be hosting one of
the first J. S. Lee fellows - Ms. CHAN Lai-pik - a recent PhD from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Ms.
CHAN, whose specialization is in early Chinese jades, will be arriving in Washington in December for a
one-year stay.
COMMITTEE of 100 AT THE FREER
The Freer was the serene setting for a lively gathering of members
of the Committee of 100, who held a pre-dinner reception here in
conjunction with their 2009 annual conference on May 1. "C-100,"
is a national organization of American citizens of Chinese descent
who are recognized professionals and leaders in many fields.
Widely respected for its work in fostering greater cultural
understanding, the organization takes on important issues
affecting the Chinese-American community and U.S.-China
relations.
The theme of this year's C-100 conference, "Learn from the Past, Create the Future,"
resonated with the museums' vision for the re-installation of the Freer Chinese
Galleries, presented to the group by curators Keith Wilson and Joseph Chang. The
members enjoyed the beauty and cultural significance of the galleries, and many took
part in Joseph Chang's tour of the current exhibition Writing, Carving, and Rubbing:
China's Calligraphic Arts.
IMAGES: Right: Associate Curator of Chinese Art Joseph Chang, Director Julian Raby and Trustee Michael Feng
welcome members of the C-100 to the Freer Gallery of Art. Left: Associate Director of the Arthur M. Sackler
Gallery and Curator of Ancient Chinese Art, Keith Wilson, shares the museums' vision for the re-installation of
the Freer Chinese Galleries.
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On behalf of the group, conference co-chair Calvin Tsao of Tsao & McKown Architects expressed an
enthusiastic desire for the Committee of 100 to return to the Freer in four years to experience the new
Chinese Galleries. We will be delighted to welcome them back to celebrate in 2013!
Our thanks go to Michael E. Feng and H. Christopher Luce, members of the Board of Trustees of the Freer
and Sackler who made this important event possible with their generous support.
IMAGES: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Trustees Michael Feng (left photo, second from left), H. Christopher Luce (right
photo, second from left) and Director Julian Raby enjoy the May reception with members of the C-100.
THE COMING YEARS
The Freer Gallery of Art China Galleries Re-installation Project
For the first time ever, the installation and
interpretation of Chinese art in the Freer Gallery
of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery are being
planned in concert. The reinstallation of both
collections in the two museums will take place
over three years, 2010-2012. The intent is to
reflect the evolving twentieth-century study,
understanding, and collection of Chinese art in
the West, progressing from Charles Lang Freer's
intuitive focus on aesthetics and connoisseurship
to Arthur M. Sackler's embrace of cultural
contextualization.
In the new plan, the distinctive characteristics of the two collections will be maximized to offer visitors
complementary experiences that enhance their understanding of major themes in Chinese art. In the new
installation, each of six galleries in the Freer will be dedicated to a specific China collection strength in a
sensible, chronological sequence as is mapped out below.
IMAGE: Example gallery installation plan for the Freer Gallery 19, representing Neolithic and Bronze Age jades
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Freer Gallery 19: This gallery will be devoted to Neolithic and Bronze Age jades, most notably a large
number of astounding late Neolithic objects created by the Liangzhu culture and a choice sampling of the
remarkable pendants, fittings, and vessels discovered at the late Zhou dynasty royal cemetery at Jincun.
Freer Gallery 18: Bronze Age ritual vessels and fittings, a great pride of the Museum, will be represented in
this gallery by classic, metropolitan examples from Anyang and world-renowned works - many inscribed from the early Western Zhou and late Eastern Zhou periods.
Freer Gallery 17: Sixth- and early seventh-century Buddhist sculpture, especially 15 pieces from the
Buddhist cave chapels at Xiangtangshan, provide the centerpiece for this gallery. The remarkable cave
sculptures will be complimented by other world-famous pieces such as a massive late sixth-century
cosmological Buddha carved with narrative scenes and an extremely rare life-size seated Buddha in dry
lacquer.
Freer Gallery 16: This gallery will feature luxury arts of the Silk Road including beautiful objects from
Byzantine Constantinople, Sasanian Iran, and Tang Chang'an, including works from the Sheikh Adaba
Byzantine treasury, the Sasanian "Stroganov dish," and a group of Chinese objects that resemble imported
recent discoveries in the Tang capital, Chang'an.
Freer Gallery 15: This gallery will combine Song- and Yuan-dynasty painting, calligraphy and ceramics,
including some of the most well-known, early inscribed Chinese paintings in the West, outstanding
examples from each of the major Song stoneware kilns, and some of the earliest products of the porcelain
factories at Jingdezhen.
Freer Gallery 13: This gallery will celebrate Ming- and Qing-dynasty painting, calligraphy, and porcelain
which is represented in the collection in surprising depth in both court and scholar-gentry genres.
Echoes of the Past: The Buddhist Temple Caves of Xiangtangshan
The Xiangtangshan cave temples were created in the Northern Qi
dynasty (550-557), a period now recognized as a time of remarkable
multi-cultural exchange and stunning artistic innovation. As the
crowning artistic achievement of the period, the Xiangtangshan caves
reveal how the Northern Qi period set the stage for the truly
cosmopolitan Chinese culture that flourished in the subsequent Sui and
Tang dynasties. The cave temples originally contained monumental
Buddhas and bodhisattvas, some seven meters tall, flying deities,
crouching monsters and inscribed Buddhist scriptures. In the early
twentieth century, once dealers learned the prices these sculptures
could fetch on the international art market, the caves were soon stripped
bare of their glory.
IMAGE: Seated Bodhisattva, Limestone with traces of pigment, Northern Qi dynasty (550-577),
Xiangtangshan, Northern Group of Caves, North Cave, 46-7/16 x 29-13/16 x 18-5/8 in. (118 x 75.7
x 47.3 cm), Washington DC, Freer Gallery of Art; Gift of Charles Lang Freer F1913.57
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In recent years, archeological discoveries have led to new interest in the Xiangtangshan cave temples and
the culture from which they developed. In a critically important research effort, the Center for the Study of
East Asian Art of the University of Chicago, led by Wu Hung, has been able to use 3D scanning technology
to create an archive of images of the sculptures, fragments of sculptures, and the caves themselves.
The results of this pioneering effort to document - and digitally reconstruct - the original beauty and
meaning of the Xiangtangshan caves will be showcased in the upcoming exhibition Echoes of the Past,
initiated by the University of Chicago's Smart Museum of Art and presented in partnership with the Freer
Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. The show will begin in Chicago with 15 objects and run
from September 30, 2010 to January 23, 2011, followed by an expanded presentation in Washington, D.C.
from February 26, to July 30, 2011.
The larger presentation in Washington will include 31 objects,
including four additional loans and 12 exceptional sculptures from
the permanent collection of the Freer Gallery of Art, which are not
permitted to travel. The Freer objects include two monumental
friezes - one being the first datable depiction of the Western
Paradise of the Buddha Amitabha - and a monumental standing
bodhisattva from Southern Xiangtangshan, a life-size seated
bodhisattva, four protective monsters and two superb heads. The
Freer and Sackler exhibition will see the reunification of many
groups of deities that have not been shown together since they
were removed from the Caves one century ago.
The exhibition will seek to balance two conflicting approaches to the caves: enjoyment of the serene beauty
of much of the art with the pain of the twentieth-century history of the caves. To create this balance, the
sculptures and particularly their fragments - severed heads and hands - will be placed next to digital
components designed to expand the observer's understanding of the art and its original religious context.
The exhibition also will advance scholarship on 6th century Buddhist art through two important efforts: a
major scholarly catalogue with a comprehensive guide to the site and images of all known objects removed
from Xiangtangshan; and an international symposium focusing on the religious and secular changes that
resulted from sixth-century cultural interactions across Inner Asia which ranged from the exchange of
luxury goods to the spread of religious practice, belief, and iconography.
BEHIND THE SCENES
Studies Underway in the Department of Conservation and Scientific Research
Scientific research of the materials of Chinese Buddhist stone sculpture is currently underway in the
Department of Conservation and Scientific Research. The first study of its kind, this project is being headed
by Conservation Scientist Janet Douglas and will illuminate the types of limestone and sandstone used for
carving at some of the major Buddhist temple cave sites in Shanxi, Hebei, and Henan provinces dating from
the Northern Wei to the Northern Qi dynasties, including North and South Xiangtangshan, Yungang,
Longmen, Gongyi and Tianlongshan.
IMAGE: Artist's rendering of a digital cave, a center piece of the exhibition. The large-scale video installation by artist Jason Salavon will be a kinetic
re-creation of one of the largest temples
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Analytical methods are being used to compare the stone in sculptures from the Freer Gallery's collection
with those from the temple cave sites. The results, correlated with previous art historical attributions, will
allow the sculptures to be assigned to specific cave sites of origin. Other aspects of the research include
identification of pigment traces, and when feasible, determination of
original color schemes. This project will aid art historical research on
the Freer Gallery's collection, especially in light of the upcoming
exhibition on the temple caves of Xiangtangshan, as well as create a
framework for the study of Buddhist stone sculpture in other
Western museum collections.
The Department of Conservation and Scientific Research is also
working with scientists from the Shaanxi Archaeological Institute on
studies of finds from archaeological sites in and around Xi'an.
Department Head Paul Jett is focusing on the study of gold and silver
objects from various tombs and sites, while Senior Scientist Blythe
McCarthy will travel to Xi'an in September to gather samples of
ancient glass for analysis and study. This past summer, two
scientists from Xi'an spent three months in the Freer Galleries'
conservation labs analyzing ceramic samples and studying
treatments for lacquer objects.
IMAGE: Excavation at an archaeological site on the outskirts of Xian, 2004.
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