Tracing the Past, Drawing the Future: Master Ink Painters in 20th-Century China at Cantor Arts Center

Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University announces an exhibition that brings to the United States a rare and important group of 20th-century paintings by four Chinese modern masters. The exhibition “Tracing the Past, Drawing the Future: Master Ink Painters in 20th-Century China” presents more than 110 works, in two rotations, February 17 through July 4, 2010. A fully illustrated catalogue with scholarly essays in English accompanies the exhibition, including two introductory essays and essays on each artist. Full entries, translated from Chinese, accompany images of the works in the exhibition.

Wu Changshuo, Flower and Vegetables album: Narcissus, Eggplant, Grapevines, Lotus, Chrysanthemum, 1904. One of the album pages. Ink and colors on silk. 14.9212 x16.4173 inches. Zhejiang Provincial Museum

“This landmark exhibition illuminates a turning point in the development of Chinese ink painting during the 20th-century,” explained Dr. Xiaoneng Yang, the Cantor Arts Center’s Patrick J. J. Maveety Curator of Asian Art. “Drawing upon paintings and calligraphy on loan from Chinese collections new to American audiences, the exhibition presents monumental portraits, vibrant bird-and-flower painting, and spectacular landscapes by Wu Changshuo (1844–1927), Qi Baishi (1864–1957), Huang Binhong (1865–1955), and Pan Tianshou (1897–1971). Collectively known in China as the ‘Four Great Masters of Ink Painting,’ these artists faced the dual challenges of negotiating the impact of encounters with the West, while inventing new directions for long-held practices of ink painting.”

An interdisciplinary symposium, with collaboration and contributions from the Stanford University Departments of Music, East Asian Languages and Literature, Political Science, and Art and Art History, and co-organized by Stanford’s Center for East Asian Studies, will be held the weekend of February 20. A series of five concerts and a demonstration-lecture on Chinese calligraphy will also be presented along with the Pan-Asian Music Festival

Docents offer free public tours of the exhibition Thursdays at 12:15, Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m., and for groups by appointment. Call 650-723-3469 at least six weeks ahead to schedule a private group tour.

The exhibition is made possible by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, the Clumeck Fund, Cantor Arts Center Members, and the Khoan and Michael Sullivan Fund. Additional support is provided by the Halperin Discretionary Fund, the Constance Corcoran Miller Fund, the Kenneth Brenner Family Fund, the Joan and John Jay Corley Fund, and the Stanford Institute for Creativity and the Arts.

VISITOR INFORMATION: Admission to the museum and to the exhibition is free. Cantor Arts Center is open Wednesday – Sunday, 11 a.m. – 5 pm, Thursday until 8 p.m. The Center is located on the Stanford campus, off Palm Drive at Museum Way. Parking is free after 4 pm and all day on weekends. Information: 650-723-4177, museum.stanford.edu