“A Year of Chinese Art” is a series of public events at Colgate that will feature lectures, exhibitions, and a film screening.
The series will explore 20th century Chinese art in both historical and contemporary contexts, including exhibitions of modern Chinese woodblock print art, installation art, and film; two scholarly catalogues; lectures by visiting artists; performances; and curricular programming.
“These events offer an unprecedented opportunity for the campus community and for area residents to experience China’s burgeoning contemporary art scene and explore its traditions,” said art professor DeWitt Godfrey, director of the university’s Institute for the Creative and Performing Arts.
The series, supported through the generosity of Robert H. N. Ho ’56 in honor of Theodore Herman, professor of geography emeritus, will draw upon the university’s resources, contributions by contemporary Chinese artists, and scholars of Chinese arts and culture at Colgate and neighboring institutions.
“The range of resources and the diversity of offerings is really exciting to see come together,” said Godfrey. “We hope people from not only our campus community but from the region will take advantage of these free events.”
Hu Jianbing and Li Liqun
Sunday, Sept. 21, 3:30 p.m., Memorial Chapel
Works from the Chinese folk and classical literature performed on traditional instruments
Nian hua: Art of the Chinese Farmer
Sept. 1 – Oct. 17, Longyear Museum, Alumni Hall (exhibition continues at Lawrence Hall)
Opening reception: Sept. 21, 5 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Nian hua are brilliantly-colored woodblock prints made in great quantities to adorn the doors and gates of Chinese households and farms during New Year celebrations. The exhibition was organized by the Blair-Murrah organization.
Lecture by Xu Bing
Monday, Nov. 10, 4:30 p.m., Golden Auditorium, Little Hall
Xu Bing, an internationally renowned printmaker and installation artist talks about his work and is included in the exhibition “Woodcuts in Modern China, 1937-2008: Towards a Universal Pictorial Language” at the Picker Art Gallery
Jerome Silbergeld, Eric Ryan Memorial Lecture
Wednesday, Nov. 12, 4:30 pm, Golden Auditorium, Little Hall
“Curatorial Strategy, Bull Marketry, and the Defining of Contemporary Chinese Art” Jerome Silbergeld is the P.Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Professor of Chinese Art History and director of the Tang Center for East Asian Art at Princeton University.
Film Screening, Shijie (2004)
Thursday, Nov. 13, 7:00 pm, Golden Auditorium, Little Hall
Written and directed by Zhang Ke Jia
An exploration on the impact of urbanization and globalization on a traditional culture, this film will be introduced by Jerome Silbergeld.
“Mission and Madness: The Graphic Imagination of Shanghai’s “Modern Sketch” (1934-1937)”
Dec. 1 – March 3, 2009, Loesch Special Collections and Archives, Case Library and Geyer Center for Information Technology
The three-year run of Modern Sketch (Shidai manhua) defined the golden era of Shanghai’s comic art during the mid-1930’s. The illustrations displayed for the exhibit are drawn from the nearly complete set of over thirty issues of Modern Sketch now housed in Case-Geyer Library’s Loesch Special Collections.
Exhibition: “Woodcuts in Modern China, 1937-2008: Towards a Universal Pictorial Language”
Dec. 2, 2008 – April 26, 2009, Picker Art Gallery
Opening reception, Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2008, 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.,
Spring reception, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 4:30-7 p.m.
Exhibition showcases 60 woodblock prints that illustrate key moments in the development of the medium in 20th century China.
Exhibition: “Reading Space: The Art of Xu Bing”
Jan. 19 – March 5, 2009, Clifford Gallery
Opening reception, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 4:30 – 7 p.m.
Gao Minglu
Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2009, 4:30 p.m., Golden Auditorium, Little Hall
Professor in the Department of Art History and Architecture, University of Pittsburgh, Gao Minglu has been an active critic, curator, and scholar of contemporary Chinese art since the mid-1980s in both the United States and China. His work explores the relationship between Chinese tradition and international art movements.
Zhang Minjie
TBD March 2009
Zhang Minjie is the director of the Chinese National Academy of Fine Arts in Hangzhou, and one of China’s most influential contemporary printmakers. His woodblock reduction prints are featured in the exhibition “Woodcuts in Modern China, 1937-2008.”