Last week, Tim Hallman (above) at the Asian Art Museum invited a pack of journalists for a preview of their special summer exhibit, "Power and Glory: Court Arts of China's Ming Dynasty."
After the writers were watered and fed, there were short speeches in both English and Chinese by a succession of dignitaries...
...starting with the new director of the museum, Jay Jie Xu (above), who looked thrilled to be at his new job.
He was followed by Peter Shiu (above), a representative from a wealthy family foundation in Hong Kong, The Richard H.N. Ho Foundation, which helped fund the exhibit as part of their mission to promote cross-cultural exchanges throughout the world.
There was also a short speech and a tour given by Michael Knight (above), the senior curator of Chinese art at the museum. He described the many trips and negotiations with the Nanjing Municipal Museum, the Shanghai Museum, and the Palace Museum in Beijing which were loaning their ancient treasures.
Li Wenru, above, with his translator, is the Vice Director of Beijing's Palace Museum in the Forbidden City, and he gave a charming speech.
He told us that it was really necessary to visit the Forbidden City itself to feel the true ambience of the Ming Dynasty, and he was probably right, which brings me to my one criticism of the exhibit, which is that the three rooms for touring exhibitions at the Asian Art Museum are woefully inadequate for a big show like this.
1 comment:
Isn't this a gorgeous exhibit? I went today and will be posting my review later on my blog. China's artistic creativity is simply mind boggling as is their long history. Chinese haven't had their eras of violence and civil unrest but they sure created a lot of beauty as well.
Post a Comment