Video: 'Artful Recluse' Showcases Chinese Painting and Poetry of a Turbulent Time
If you step into Asia Society Museum's latest exhibition and start to feel a sense of serenity and seclusion, don't be surprised. The Artful Recluse, as it is aptly named, is the first exhibition to explore the concept of reclusion in Chinese painting and calligraphy within the broader context of political and social changes in China during the 17th century.
The subject of a glowing recommendation from Holland Cotter in the New York Times, the exhibition was organized by the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. It was curated by Peter C. Sturman, Professor of History of Art and Architecture at the University of California, Santa Barbara and Susan Tai, Elizabeth Atkins Curator of Asia Art at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.
In the video above, Asia Society Museum Director Melissa Chiu introduces audiences to the variety of artwork featured in the exhibition. Adriana Proser, Asia Society's John H. Foster Senior Curator for Traditional Asian Art, gives viewers a closer look at one of its most distinctive pieces, Self-Portrait in Red Landscape (1644) by Xiang Shengmo (1597-1658).
The Artful Recluse is on view through June 2, 2013 at Asia Society Museum in New York City.