In October 2018, Stephen Little, Head of Chinese, Korean, and South & Southeast Asian Departments at LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art), Yin Jinan, Dean of School of Humanities at CAFA, Professor Ye Jianqing of Department of Mural Painting, CAFA and American artist Michael Cherney gathered at CAFA Art Museum for a symposium titled “Traditionality and Contemporaneity of Chinese Art”, sharing insights on the theme from the perspectives of curator, scholar and artist.
The discussions began with Mr. Little’s speech. Growing up in Indonesia, Cambodia and Burma, Mr. Little is closely connected to Southeast and South Asian art, which are strongly influenced by Indian and Chinese cultures; he officially became interested in studying Chinese art in college, when he saw Southern Song Dynasty painter Muqi Fachang’s work in a Japanese art course. Mr. Little has been working at LACMA since 2011, and curated several exhibitions on ancient or contemporary Chinese art since then, including an exhibition of Chinese art collected in Japan (2014); an exhibition that focuses on Wu Bin’s Ten Views of a Lingbi Stone, one of the best Chinese paintings Mr. Little claimed to have ever seen. LACMA is also preparing for the largest overseas exhibition of Ming Dynasty painter Qiu Ying to date, which will open in 2020.
Stephen Little, Head of Chinese, Korean, and South & Southeast Asian Departments at LACMA; Florence and Harry Sloan Curator of Chinese Art
Mr. Little pointed out critically that US art museums lack collections of Chinese art created around 19th century to early 20th century, namely modern Chinese art. It is a bridge that connects ancient and contemporary Chinese art, and an important transitional phase to study in order to understand Chinese art, thus LACMA is striving to collect works from this time period. With a donation of around 400 contemporary Chinese artworks, including over 300 ink and wash paintings, from a Geneva-based French collector in 2017-2018, LACMA became the biggest collection of contemporary Chinese art in the US overnight. LACMA has cooperated with Yuz Museum in Shanghai on one of Los Angeles’ largest contemporary Chinese art exhibitions scheduled to open in June 2019. It also plans to hold an exhibition on Buddhist art in China, which is based on their established collection of Buddhist art around Asia.
LACMA’s goal is to build closer relationship with China, and raise a great number of questions that could inspire further studies. Mr. Little values the act of asking questions, even more than answering them, as they stand for the discovery of usually neglected knowledge and information.
Following Mr. Little’s speech, Professor Yin Jinan shared his perspectives on the construction of Chinese art history. Drawing inspirations from his past as a student of the Department of Archaeology at Peking University, he discovered two routes of Chinese art: one resembles archaeological research, updating itself according to new materials and issues in art; the other is generated from traditional painting and calligraphy history, which seems to have grown out of line from the early art history.
Yin Jinan, Dean of School of Humanities at CAFA; renowned art history scholar, contemporary art critic and ancient Chinese painting and calligraphy connoisseur
The structure of Chinese art history was basically completed in the Republic of China period. After Reform and Opening Up in 1979, more individual case studies emerged, with methodologies of western tradition largely applied. It was after the New Millennium that Chinese academic world began to create their own methods, and gradually have the ability to exchange ideas with western scholars.
On the difference between Chinese and westerners in how to see Chinese art, Mr. Little further highlighted the decisive difference in cultural background - China has a writing system that continued for over 2,000 years, and the Chinese are good at writing biographies - it would be very challenging for Americans to view history and time in the same way as Chinese people.
The difficulties of exhibiting traditional art and contemporary art together
Presenter: Dai Yifan, CEO of Wonderka Art Management, New York
Answering the question of “what are the difficulties of exhibiting traditional art and contemporary art in the same space”, Prof. Yin said a bad exhibition would look like the Panjiayuan Antique Market, yet a good exhibition would resemble a theater, because “theater is a modern soul in ancient dress, going through ancient settings and props”. “I find it acceptable to make it an interesting theater that is neither ancient nor modern…even this is difficult.”
Mr. Little agreed that it’s quite a challenging work, especially for researchers and curators who are unfamiliar with Chinese contemporary art due to the distance, despite their talent. Yet they are aware that it’s important to keep up with while keeping a certain distance from the trends. As a museum researcher, a key to his/her work is to know what to communicate with visitors essentially, and why putting contemporary artworks in an exhibition.
Art practices under globalization
The third part of the symposium is centered around artists’ practices in a globalizing world. Upon facing an increasingly diversified audience group, should the artists stick to their original pursuits, or change according to the trend?
Michael Cherney, American photographer and artist
Michael Cherney, an American artist whose photography usually record Chinese landscape in a style of ancient Chinese painting, disapproved paying too much attention to the audience, as the market could hugely impact artists’ perspectives and practices. He emphasized the importance of patience in studying cultures with a long history. The utterly important and challenging thing is for people after many generations to understand the context of the work.
Ye Jianqing, Associate Professor at Department of Mural Painting, CAFA
Associate Prof. Ye Jianqing, whose work created with a contemporary art approach usually express the atmosphere of ancient painting and calligraphy, said that modern China is a photographic world, with life environment and knowledge structure greatly westernized. In an age that images are increasingly convenient, simple and crude, and cheap, we might consider applying traditional Chinese art approaches, such as the “Qi” in Chinese painting, to make the simple images more complex.
Time: October 9, 2018
Venue: Lecture Hall, CAFA Art Museum
Presenter: Dai Yifan, CEO of Wonderka Art Management, New York
Speakers: Stephen Little, Head of Chinese, Korean, and South & Southeast Asian Departments at LACMA; Florence and Harry Sloan Curator of Chinese Art
Yin Jinan, Dean of School of Humanities at CAFA; renowned art history scholar, contemporary art critic and ancient Chinese painting and calligraphy connoisseur
Guests:
Ye Jianqing, Associate Professor at Department of Mural Painting, CAFA
Michael Cherney, American photographer and artist
Lecture Photos
Written by Lu Yufan based on the symposium’s Chinese record
