NASHVILLE, TN - The Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery is pleased to announce its exhibition, Beauty and Power: Chinese Art from the Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Collection, in the Fine Arts Gallery. The show will be on view through September 22. The Fine Arts Gallery is located in the Fine Arts Building, also known as the Old Gym, at the corner of 23rd and West End Avenues. All events are free and open to the public. This exhibition aims to present select pieces in various media with a view toward understanding the larger context of Chinese art.

As one of the world’s oldest and largest civilizations, China has developed a distinctive range of art unique to its own multifaceted culture. Many types of objects produced by Chinese artists over the past five millennia are now easily recognizable to Western viewers, yet certain media and artifacts remain little known or mysterious to those who are not specialists studying Chinese history and culture.

Through generous gifts from private donors over the past 35 years, the Vanderbilt University historic art collection now includes 400 examples of calligraphy, painting, bronze, ceramic, jade, lacquer, and sculpture that range in date from the Neolithic period (6000–2000 B.C.E.) through the Qing dynasty (1616–1911 C.E.). Using 60 important pieces from this collection, Beauty and Power will present a concise overview of some of China’s most significant artistic contributions. This exhibition will be organized into six sections that represent funerary objects, ancestral portraits, Buddhist art, ceramic wares, scroll paintings, and artifacts from the literati studio.

The first section of this exhibition will feature items recovered from Chinese burials. Surviving descendents of the deceased interred jade, bronze, and ceramic objects with the dead, who could then use these tools in the afterlife. The funerary goods included in this exhibition will illustrate the evolution of animal motifs in Chinese mortuary art, with a clear development from abstractly rendered mythical beasts to more realistic, familiar animals and several examples of figurative earthenware sculpture.

Not only did the Chinese entomb offerings with the dead, they also offered sacrifices to deceased ancestors in public and private worship halls. The second section in this exhibition will present a pair of ancestral portraits that form the central elements of ancestor worship. The Chinese were attentive to the veneration of their ancestors, because they believed that they could obtain blessings from the deceased as rewards. On the anniversaries of ancestors’ birth and death dates, and on important festival days, memorial portraits of the deceased were hung in the ancestral hall for veneration. Descendents offered sacrifices on a furnished altar before the portraits.

Religion played a major role in ancient Chinese culture, and the third part of this presentation will focus on Buddhist art. In addition to the indigenous belief systems of Confucianism and Daoism, Buddhism was imported from India into China, where it flourished for centuries. Buddhist beliefs deeply influenced Chinese culture and artistic production. The period of Buddhist influence in China saw the construction of thousands of Buddhist temples and the casting and carving of countless Buddhist sculptures. When venerating these statues, believers communicated visually and mentally with the represented Buddhist deities. By viewing these statues and meditating before them, devotees could imagine the real presence of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, and ask these figures for salvation.

Growing urbanism and commercialism contributed to the thriving production of Chinese art. To meet the demands of growing foreign markets, the porcelain industry flourished in late imperial China. The fourth section of this exhibition will present vessels that range from popular wares to highly refined porcelains. This variety helps us understand the technical improvements and evolving aesthetic preferences in ceramic production from the ninth through the eighteenth centuries. Some wares, such as the revered and highly valued Ding ware, were created exclusively for use by the royal family.

The fifth section of the exhibition will focus on the virtuosity of late Chinese paintings, which reflect the thriving literati culture during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). These scroll paintings include compositions that range from detailed views to monumental panoramic scenes, from elaborate color renderings to minimalist monochrome images. Xie He (c. 500–c. 535 C.E.) was the author of Six Canons of Painting, the earliest treatise on painting and calligraphy and a work of fundamental importance to the theoretical development of painting in China. His guidelines profoundly influenced the subsequent history of Chinese painting and calligraphy. The six guidelines are: spirit resonance, or vitality; structural method in using the brush; fidelity to the object in portraying forms; conformity in applying colors; proper planning in the placing of elements; and transmission of experience of the past in making copies.

The sixth and final section of this show will present aspects or elements from the studio of a Chinese literati, who retreated into an idealized personal space to lead a reclusive, scholarly life. The interior setting, which featured paintings, examples of calligraphy, ancient artifacts, decorative objects, and artistic utensils, embodied the scholar’s elegant tastes and personal ideals. By immersing themselves in literary and artistic pursuits, the literati isolated themselves from the aspirations, vanities, and frustrations of the outside world.

The Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery in Nashville, Tennessee, is a leading collegiate art gallery. The permanent collection consists of more than 5,500 works, including Asian and African art; nineteenth and twentieth-century European and American paintings and sculpture; Egyptian, Greek, and Roman art; medieval sculpture; early Italian Renaissance paintings; and an extensive collection of historic and contemporary works on paper. The gallery is located on the first floor of the Fine Arts Building, also known as the Old Gym, at 23rd and West End Avenues, Nashville, Tennessee. For more information, please visit the gallery’s website at www.vanderbilt.edu/gallery or call 615-322-0605.