In Chapter 32 of Flowers in the Mirror, a Qing Dynasty Chinese novel, the protagonist Tang Ao and his crew arrive at the Country of Women during their journey. This foreign land, appearing in the fantasy and reality, is just like a mirror, in which women govern the country and can do just about anything they desire, and the travelers feel they enter into an illusionary world. Over the same period, Chinese reverse glass paintings also came into view of Westerners, arousing their imagination and yearning for the foreign parts, and forming a "Country of Women" full of Oriental atmosphere.
Reverse glass painting is an art form consisting of applying oil paints and gouache on the backside of glass (mirror) by painting in reverse order, which was introduced into China during the reign of Emperor Kangxi in Qing Dynasty. Compared with porcelain, ivory ware, ricepaper plant pith painting and oil painting on canvas that were popular around the same time, reverse glass painting, with its light and luxuriant, crystal and smooth texture, brought a new sensory experience and favored by the upper class both in the East and the West. A subtle intimate relationship was also taking form between glass painting and women. Because of its mirror effect, painting on glass renders an exquisite and refined style even more in the performance of female subjects. When the viewer takes a stroll down and catches the woman's eye in the picture, it seems like an encounter beyond time and space.
CAFA Art Museum collected a batch of reverse glass paintings of the Qing Dynasty about women and and related oil paintings on canvas in the 1960s. Starting with these works and by combing the history of glass painting techniques, this exhibition aims to focus on the shaping of female images in the glass paintings of Guangzhou in the 18th and 19th centuries. They reflect a shift in glass painting from "Chinoisierie" to local taste, witness the rise and decline of Chinese export art, and demonstrate the exchange and collision between China and the West in material, cultural and ideological aspects. Due to the COVID-19 in 2020, the originally planned exhibition will be presented online. This unexpected change, however, opens up new possibilities for the exhibition, as the "fantasy" created by the virtual show, to some extent, echoes the world of glass painting, between reality and imagination.
The exhibition is held with the support of the Museum of Chinese Women and Children, Guangdong Museum, Guangzhou Thirteen Hongs Museum, MOCA Yinchuan and other organizations. This also testifies that a number of farsighted institutions have already paid attention to the unique art history and historic value of reverse glass paintings, and gradually started to collect and study them. CAFA Art Museum is honored to be able to join in this research circle and takes a small step forward. Let us look forward to their achievements in the research and presentation of Chinese reverse glass paintings.
In Chapter 32 of Flowers in the Mirror, a Qing Dynasty Chinese novel, the protagonist Tang Ao and his crew arrive at the Country of Women during their journey. This foreign land, appearing in the fantasy and reality, is just like a mirror, in which women govern the country and can do just about anything they desire, and the travelers feel they enter into an illusionary world. Over the same period, Chinese reverse glass paintings also came into view of Westerners, arousing their imagination and yearning for the foreign parts, and forming a "Country of Women" full of Oriental atmosphere.
Reverse glass painting is an art form consisting of applying oil paints and gouache on the backside of glass (mirror) by painting in reverse order, which was introduced into China during the reign of Emperor Kangxi in Qing Dynasty. Compared with porcelain, ivory ware, ricepaper plant pith painting and oil painting on canvas that were popular around the same time, reverse glass painting, with its light and luxuriant, crystal and smooth texture, brought a new sensory experience and favored by the upper class both in the East and the West. A subtle intimate relationship was also taking form between glass painting and women. Because of its mirror effect, painting on glass renders an exquisite and refined style even more in the performance of female subjects. When the viewer takes a stroll down and catches the woman's eye in the picture, it seems like an encounter beyond time and space.
CAFA Art Museum collected a batch of reverse glass paintings of the Qing Dynasty about women and and related oil paintings on canvas in the 1960s. Starting with these works and by combing the history of glass painting techniques, this exhibition aims to focus on the shaping of female images in the glass paintings of Guangzhou in the 18th and 19th centuries. They reflect a shift in glass painting from "Chinoisierie" to local taste, witness the rise and decline of Chinese export art, and demonstrate the exchange and collision between China and the West in material, cultural and ideological aspects. Due to the COVID-19 in 2020, the originally planned exhibition will be presented online. This unexpected change, however, opens up new possibilities for the exhibition, as the "fantasy" created by the virtual show, to some extent, echoes the world of glass painting, between reality and imagination.
The exhibition is held with the support of the Museum of Chinese Women and Children, Guangdong Museum, Guangzhou Thirteen Hongs Museum, MOCA Yinchuan and other organizations. This also testifies that a number of farsighted institutions have already paid attention to the unique art history and historic value of reverse glass paintings, and gradually started to collect and study them. CAFA Art Museum is honored to be able to join in this research circle and takes a small step forward. Let us look forward to their achievements in the research and presentation of Chinese reverse glass paintings.
