China Institute Gallery WOODCUTS IN MODERN CHINA, 1937 - 2008: TOWARDS A UNIVERSAL PICTORIAL LANGUAGE September 16 – December 5, 2010 Exhibition Explores a Foundation for Chinese Contemporary Art and The Rise of the Chinese Avant-Garde
What: WOODCUTS IN MODERN CHINA, 1937 - 2008:
TOWARDS A UNIVERSAL PICTORIAL LANGUAGE
The first exhibition in the United States to present a comprehensive overview of the development of modern woodcut prints in China over the last 70 years surveys 68 woodcuts, ranging from formative early work, when artists in China first began experimenting with western-style techniques and a simplified pictorial language that would resonate with the public, to the work of important artists working today such as Xu Bing and Zhang Minjie. Early work dating from 1937 to 1948 offers a unique perspective on World War II, and on the civil war between the Nationalists and the Communists, while later work is from 11 important contemporary artists whose work expresses their reverence for the older masters and engages them in a dialogue across time.
Where: China Institute Gallery, 125 East 65th Street, New York
When: September 16 – December 5, 2010
Hours: Monday – Sunday, 10:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M.
Tuesday & Thursday to 8:00 P.M.
Admission: Admission is $7, $4 for students and seniors.
Admission is free on Tues. and Thurs. from 6 to 8 p.m.
Information: China Institute: 212-744-8181 or www.chinainstitute.org
Access: By subway: 6 to 68th Street; N, R, W, #4, #5, #6 to 59th Street & Lexington Avenue;
F to Lexington Avenue & 63rd Street
Exhibition Related Programs
For additional information about the following exhibition related programs or to register, please call 212-744-8181 x111 or emaillchrysostome@chinainstitute.
CURATOR'S LECTURE: The Rising Tide of Change: Modern Woodcuts of China
Renee Covalucci, co-curator of the exhibition, Woodcuts in Modern China, 1937–2008: Towards a Universal Pictorial Language, is a Boston-based printmaker and an adjunct professor of Fine Arts at Lesley University. Since 2002, she has curated three exhibitions of contemporary Chinese woodblock prints and visited schools and art centers, conducting workshops and talks on the subject. Professor Covalucci is Vice President of the Boston Printmakers, an organization that produces shows and opportunities for artists. Thursday, September 16 ~ 6:30 – 8 PM, $10 member / $15 non-member
LECTURE: Folk Art, Revolutionary Politics, and Market Economics
Ralph Croizier, Professor Emeritus of History of Art & Architecture and History at University of Victoria, is a distinguished scholar of seminal critical studies on art in post-Cultural Revolution China. He will discuss the evolution of the woodblock printing and peasant painting movements and their impact on contemporary Chinese art. His publications include Traditional Medicine in Modern China: Science, Nationalism, and the Tensions of Cultural Choice(Harvard University Press, 1968), China’s Cultural Legacy and Communism (Harvard, 1970), Myth, History and the Hero: Koxinga and Modern Chinese Nationalism (Harvard, 1976), and Art and Revolution in Modern China: The Cantonese School, 1906–1951 (Berkeley University of California Press, 1988). Professor Croizier was President of the World History Association from 2002 to 2003. Tuesday, September 28 ~ 6:30 – 8PM, $10 member / $15 non-member
SHORT COURSE: Windows to a Culture—The Fascinating Chinese Proverbs
Rich and colorful, the Chinese language blends music and painting: a language nonpareil in its unique visceral quality. The Chinese proverbs, mostly four-character phrases, concise but deep in their meanings, take a special place in Chinese culture, illustrating moral and emotional expressions. The philosophical and often incisive messages the proverbs carry are alternately somber, didactic, amusing, hilarious or ironic. Used properly in writings or speeches, they can achieve what cannot be achieved by other ways of articulating the same thoughts. This three-session course in English will cover some of the most poignant and evocative among the thousands of Chinese proverbs. Previous knowledge of Chinese is not required. Instructor Ben Wang is Senior Lecturer in Humanities and Chinese Language at China Institute and an award-winning translator. Tuesdays, October 26, November 2 and 9 ~ 6:30 – 8:30 PM, $85 member / $95 non-member (3 sessions), $30 member / $35 non-member (per session)
PERFORMANCE: A Lecture and Performance of Peking Opera
Peking Opera, arguably the most popular form of theater in modern China, embodies all major vernacular performance arts—music, dance, mime, and acrobatics. Audience will enjoy an explanatory lecture by China Institute’s Senior Lecturer Ben Wang and a performance of vignettes from the classical repertoire by New York City’s very own “Singing Delivery Man,” Yang Yu Bao, who was recently featured in the New York Daily News. Tuesday, November 16 ~ 6:30 – 8:30 PM, $20 member / $25 non-member
About China Institute:
China Institute endeavors to bring a deeper level of understanding about China to the people of the United States through education, culture and art.
Founded in 1926 by a group of American and Chinese educators, China Institute in America is the oldest bicultural, non-profit organization in America to focus exclusively on China. The organization promotes the appreciation of Chinese heritage, and provides the historical context for understanding contemporary China. Programs, activities, courses and seminars are offered on the visual and performing arts, culture, history, music, philosophy, language and literature for the general public, children and teachers, as well as for business.
China Institute Gallery, established in 1966, is distinct among the museums of New York City. It was the first in the United States to exclusively showcase Chinese art on a regular basis. Today, China Institute Gallery is New York's only non-commercial exhibition space solely dedicated to Chinese art and is known for its innovative thematic and scholarly exhibitions, publications and related art education programs.
