Special exhibition of calligraphy and painting works of Jiaxing School
Venue: Jiaxing Museum
Exhibition period: August 8-October 8, 2018
Ticket Price: Free
Comments: The artistic appearance and evolution from Jiaxing Xiang family painting to the early Hai school painting have been sorted out, but the mention of "Jiaxing School" is still debatable.
Rating: Three and a half stars
The Ming Dynasty in Which Xiang Yuanbian lived in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, is particularly dazzling. The calligraphy and paintings in Xiang's "Tianlai Pavilion" have long been encoded in the order of Zhou Lujing's "Chuguang Qianwen" of the Ming Dynasty, which shows the richness of his personal collection, even the great painter Dong Qichang of the Ming Dynasty often discussed calligraphy and paintings going back and forth between Jiaxing and Songjiang, Wumen Wenpeng and Wenjia brothers also had very secret contacts with the Xiang family, and even Qiu Ying, one of the "Four Ming Families", was invited to copy ancient paintings in Xiang's family, and it may be possible to describe the Xiang collection as "rich and enemy of the country". Under such a background, the Xiang family has a pivotal position in jiaxing, and the art of calligraphy and painting has also spread in this family. In the grandchildren of Xiang Yuanbian, Xiang Shengmo stood out and occupied a place in the painting world in the early Qing Dynasty. The exhibition begins with Xiang Shengmu's "Momeitu" as a painting exhibition, telling the artistic outlook of the jiaxing regional painter group under the influence of this large family. The works of Fang Xuan, Wang Wei, Zhang Geng, etc. were influenced by the Xiang family during this period, continuing the art of calligraphy and painting of the Wumen School. For example, Fang Xuan's "New Picture Scroll of Accumulated Rain" and Zhang Geng's "Poetry and Reflections of Xitang" all reflect the literary style and book volume atmosphere of the Wumen School.
Ming "Memetu Axis" Xiang Shengmu
In stark contrast, in the third part of the exhibition, Jiaxing painters have thrown themselves into the torrent of Haipai painting art, and have deeply influenced the early painting and calligraphy art of Haipai, such as Pu Hua, Zhang Xiong, Zhu Xiong, Wu Yixiang, etc. Due to the damage caused by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement to the Jiangnan region during this period, and the rise of the Shanghai Shili Yangchang and the strong commercial atmosphere, the painter adapted to the commercialization and popularization brought about by the opening of the port in order to survive, and most of his works presented a painting style with lively pictures and bright colors. It is very different from the early group of painters in Jiaxing who inherited the literati and books of the Wumen School.
If the exhibition is only showing the contrast between the painting style bookish atmosphere and the commercial atmosphere, then this exhibition is thin and one-sided. The exhibition also sorted out the intermediate links in the evolution of the style of painters in Jiaxing for the audience, that is, the excessive painting style is inseparable from the past and the future of painters such as Dong Di and Wen Ding. The painting style represented by these two painters not only inherits Wu Men Wen Shen Yilu, but also develops the fresh and gorgeous styles of Yun Nantian and Fei Danxu. In Zhang Xiong, Pu Hua, Pan Zhenyong and other painters, you can see the shadows affected by it.
Qing Guangxu Ninth Year "Water Pavilion Na Liang Chart Axis" Zhang Xiong
In addition, it is worth mentioning that the proposal of the specific title of "Jiaxing School" is still debatable. The reason why the school of painting has become a school of painting is not simply divided by a region and a family, but also has a recognized leader and a recognized style orientation, such as the people of Qilu, Wei Yingqiu; the people of GuanShan, but Fan Kuan, it is difficult to identify with the theory of painting school, on the contrary, Wumen and Yangzhou. The Songjiang School is recognized in the history of art, and no matter how rich the collection of the Xiang family is, it is not recognized as the master of the art world in Jiaxing, and posterity only comments that "Xiang Yuankai Jiaxing is also a tributary of Wumen"; his grandson Xiang Shengmo is only a more prominent member of the Xiang family painters. After that, the group of painters in Jiaxing also existed in a relatively loose form. Therefore, in the course of the three-hundred-year historical development of the painter group in Jiaxing, it is difficult to be defined as a painting school.
The proposal of the "school of painting" still has a strict definition of its art history. (Text/Xiao Yongjun)
The Age of Luxury: From Assyria to Alexander
Venue: Hong Kong Museum of History
Duration: 9 may – 3 September 2018
Ticket Price: HK$10
Comments: The exhibition shows the aristocratic and elite life from Assyria to Alexander for about 600 years, and will imitate the "bargains" to meet the needs of different customers, side by side with the original "luxury goods", presenting a collision between history and reality.
Rating: Four stars
Unattainable prices, rare limited-edition items, and exclusive privileges for selected customers are sought after not only in the present tense, but even in the past tense. In the museum, the seemingly cookie-cutter pottery is only of interest to archaeologists, and more viewers will also focus on the artifacts that exude an aristocratic and elite atmosphere. The "Age of Luxury" brings together the Assyrian civilization itself, as well as the "luxuries" of other civilizations that interacted frequently with Assyria, and shows the aristocratic and elite life of the period from Assyria to Alexander for about 600 years.
The British Museum's advantages in the collection and research of Assyrian artifacts are obvious, and Whether it is a regular exhibition in the museum or a special exhibition around the world, Assyria has always been a popular curatorial direction. After the world tour of "Art and Empire: Assyrian Treasures from the British Museum Collection", which brings together many large-scale artifacts such as reliefs, was basically fully covered, a special exhibition of "Luxury Generation: From Assyria to Alexander", which focuses on Small Assyrian artifacts, landed at the Hong Kong Museum of History.
The exhibition begins with a relief from the palace of Nineveh, which tells the story of the Assyrian army attacking the Ilan city of Hamanu, the Assyrian soldiers destroying the city, the castle turning into a sea of fire, and the soldiers transporting away all kinds of booty, which are "luxury goods" in different angles, and Assyrian military ability makes the geographical displacement of luxury goods commonplace. Due to the war, these luxury goods have crossed the category of a single civilization and become "cross-civilization" luxury goods, which provides a possibility for the British Museum to change the direction of curation from "interpreting a single civilization" to "inter-civilization exchange".
Assyrian soldiers carried the spoils of war after the siege of the city
When seeing a group of "bargains" imitated in order to meet the needs of different customers, and the original "luxury goods" are displayed side by side, many viewers can't help but be amused, this is the relationship between the contemporary high imitation and the original, which is a collision between history and reality, which is a chance encounter between contemporary and "contemporary". Historical and archaeological research has the role of learning from the past and the present, and using history as a source of authority, but many exhibitions often only have ink on displaying and revealing the glory of the past, but lack in guiding the viewer to reflect on reality. I think this is related to curatorial and research ideas, and the direction should be fine-tuned towards the "daily life", starting from the daily life that the viewer and researcher are most familiar with, so that archaeology and cultural relics can make a statement for the future.
I still clearly remember that after seeing so many wonderful Assyrian reliefs for the first time, those war scenes fell asleep at night, which can really be described as the "Spring and Autumn Dream" is wonderful, and it can really be described as the charm of Assyrian civilization. Allowing more viewers to be able to match and resonate with the charm of Assyrian civilization in the shortest possible time, and making a video for the audience to see and play with is undoubtedly the best means of telling - parents and children sitting in several semi-circles look at the "war" projected on the wall, children are quietly and orderly, chasing the river and small fish projected on the ground - I think the wonderful story in the Assyrian relief will one day appear in their dreams.
Imitation luxury goods: artificially dyed cylindrical roll prints
The Hong Kong Museum of History has made a breakthrough in display design. Within a rectangular space, two circular spaces were arranged to display the central theme of "expansion, war, loot and luxury of the Assyrian Empire", and the areas outside the two circular spaces were used to display the luxuries of the Phoenician and Achaemenid civilizations. We noticed that this kind of exhibition line design similar to the "central column" of the grotto was also used in the special exhibition "Ancient Shu Huazhang: Sichuan Ancient Cultural Relics Jinghua" of the National Museum of China. The "center column" is watched inside and outside, and the design idea is relatively fresh. However, after observation and feedback, it can be seen that there are always viewers who only look at half of the side, and the proportion of leakage of the line is slightly higher.
In addition, there are some interesting discoveries in the exhibition. In the exhibition, each group of cultural relics has more than 100 words of thematic elaboration, together with the cultural relics description placed on the side of the wide platform in front of the exhibition cabinet, the entire exhibition looks down on the text reading volume is extremely large. This practice is estimated not to apply to mainland exhibitions, first, the viewer does not have enough patience and will not spend time to read carefully, resulting in the curator's intention can not be fully transmitted, which is not good for the exhibition; second, it is easy to cause congestion among viewers, and even has the potential risk of causing conflicts, which brings difficulties to the management of the exhibition hall; third, the mainland has insufficient positive experience in printing text information on the side of the wide platform, and the effect of several trials is not good. The above three points reflect from one side that the behavior tendency of museum viewers with continental characteristics is gradually taking shape. (Text/Napoleon Napoleon)
Nelson Mandela: Centennial Exhibition 2018
Exhibition period: July 17 - August 19, 2018
Venue: London Southbank Centre (Queen Elizabeth Hall)
Comments: In 2018, the Nelson Mandela Centennial Exhibition explored Mandela's life, career and commitment to equality and justice in a combination of text and photography.
Rating: Samsung
Mandela was a model politician of intelligence, kindness, and dignity. The exhibition is a two-dimensional exhibition that combines text and photographic images, with panels carefully designed and arranged on six wall-sized panels that surround it, in the spongy semi-café space of the purcell room.
Cleverly distilled, the exhibition combines its biography with its political background, coupled with personal anecdotes, groups tell the story of various stages of Mandela's life and personality: character, leader, prisoner, negotiator, politician. It's a story of broken wealth, and the original "character" section includes Mandela's recollection of wearing his first pair of pants: in the 1920s, in the South African countryside, a young boy goes to school and his father cuts his own pants, ties them with a rope and gives them to him. From there, the story goes through Mandela's political awakening, his organized resistance to the apartheid regime and deep involvement in the African National Convention, imprisoned for 27 years, culminating in his release and election as South Africa's first black president.
The exhibition also features a number of personal details, such as a 1976 letter from Mandela to his wife Winnie, in which he wrote that he carefully placed the photographs in his cell every morning, "I sometimes touch your nose with my nose in order to reabsorb the current that once flashed through me as I did so." For example, Mandela did not have hot water at Robin Island Prison in 1964, and it was not until 1973.
At the same time, these experiences show how Mandela has shaped his leadership position. Desmond Tutu, for example, observed that during Mandela's decades of prison, "suffering deepened his spiritual resources, and he grew up at that time in a spirit of magnanimity and generosity". In 1961, Mandela gave his first televised interview to ITN, calmly and eloquently outlining that he would not give up as long as the white authorities continued to use violence against him and his people.
Organized by the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, this exhibition is a traveling exhibition that has traveled to other major cities, including Paris and Dublin, among others. In the view of Guardian commentator Steve Ross, the exhibition fulfilled its main mission, publicizing Mandela's extraordinary story, but still lacking some local features. He argues that the exhibition in London lacks material on Mandela's first visit to London in 1962 and subsequent return to London several times to meet with Stephen Lawrence's parents and Naomi Campbell. As a former colonial oppressor in South Africa, Britain was responsible for most of the injustices that Mandela had to overcome in the first place, which were not covered in the exhibition. (Compilation/Fawn)