Refuge from Turmoil in Nature
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
“The collapse of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and subsequent conquest of China by semi-nomadic Manchu tribesmen from northeast of the Great Wall comprised some of the most traumatic events in Chinese history,” according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, whose exhibition, “The Art of Dissent in 17th-Century China,” explores the turbulent era.
“This wrenching era also spurred an enormous outpouring of creative energy as many former Ming subjects turned to the arts to express their loyalty to the noble but doomed cause of Ming restoration and to assert their defiance and moral virtue. Drawn from one of the finest and most comprehensive private assemblages of the art of the Ming-Qing transition, this exhibition showcases more than sixty landscape paintings and calligraphies that highlight the intensely personal styles created by the leading artists of that time. Particularly noteworthy are the clusters of exceptional works by Huang Daozhou, Hongren, Bada Shanren (Zhu Da), and Shitao.”
“The Art of Dissent in 17th-Century China: Masterpieces of Ming Loyalist Art from the Chih Lo Lou” runs through January 2 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue (at 82nd Street), 212-535-7710, metmuseum.org.
Franklin Einspruch is an artist and writer.
