DOCSLIB.ORG

Note to Users

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Note to Users NOTE TO USERS This reproduction is the best copy available. ® UMI Building Nation and Self Through the Other: Two Exhibitions of Ch in ese Painting in Paris, 1933/1977. by Anik Micheline Fournier Department of Art History and Communications McGill University, Montreal October, 2004 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts. © Anik Micheline Fournier 2004 Library and Bibliothèque et 1+1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l'édition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada Your file Votre référence ISBN: 0-494-12718-X Our file Notre référence ISBN: 0-494-12718-X NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par l'Internet, prêter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans loan, distribute and sell th es es le monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, électronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. ln compliance with the Canadian Conformément à la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privée, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont été enlevés de cette thèse. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. ••• Canada Abstract This thesis investigates Western exhibition practices and the problems that arise when they involve cross-cultural encounters. Two exhibitions of Chinese painting in Paris that were co-planned by French curators and Chinese artists will serve as case studies in this regard. The first exhibition is Exposition de la peinture chinoise held at the Musée du leude Paume in 1933. The second show is Quatre artistes chinoises contemporaines held at the Musée Cernuschi in 1977. Using archivaI material, 1 will reconstruct the planning of the exhibitions and reveal diverging French and Chinese agendas. An examination of the press reviews of the two shows will demonstrate that location is key in the public reception of an exhibition. The analysis of the encounter of self and other underlying the two exhibitions willlead to a probing of Western exhibition practices and bring issues of power, authenticity and identity-making to the fore. Résumé Cette thèse interroge les pratiques d'exposition occidentale et les problèmes qu'elles soulèvent lorsqu'elles impliquent une rencontre interculturelle. Deux expositions à Paris, organisées par des conservateurs français en collaboration avec des artistes Chinois, vont nous servir de cas d'étude. La première exposition, Exposition de la peinture chinoise, s'est tenue au Musée du Jeu de Paume en 1933. La seconde, Quatre artistes chinoises contemporaines a été présentée au Musée Cernuschi en 1977. Une reconstruction de la planification des deux expositions à partir des matériaux d'archives exposera la divergence des agendas et stratégies chinois et français. L'examen des revues de presse des deux expositions va révéler que le lieu reste un facteur majeur pour ce qui concerne la réception de l'exposition. L'analyse de la rencontre du soi et de l'autre qui souligne les deux évènements va nous amener à mettre en perspective, les pratiques d'exposition occidentale, ainsi que les registres du pouvoir, d'authenticité et d'identité qui les sous-tendent. Acknowledgements 1 wouid like to ex tend my deep gratitude to the following people whose enthusiasm, support and help made the research and writing process a great experience and without whom 1 could not have brought this thesis to completion: Many thanks to the personnel at the Archives des Musée Nationaux in Paris for aIl their help in gathering the archivaI material for the Exposition de la peinture chinoise. Likewise 1 will never forget the generosity and patience of Ms. Frémaux at the Musée Cernuschi who retrieved the exhibition files of Quatre artistes chinoises contemporaines from a storage crate and who allowed me to work in the kitchen oftheir temporary location while the Museum edifice was under renovation. 1 would like to thank Le Fonds Québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies as well as the Department of East Asian Studies at McGill for providing me with funds to perform primary research in Paris and China. To Prof. Ting Chang, whose constant guidance and encouragement lead to job and academic opportunities that developed skills that were indispensable to my thesis research, thank you for all your help! A very big thank you to Kevin Bao and my brother Deryk in London, without whom 1 would not have any images for the Exposition de la peinture chinoise. To my support and revision dream-team consisting ofmy father, mother and brother Stefan, thank you so much for being there. My dear Samuel, thank you for making me feel at home in Paris and making me feel as if 1 were elsewhere here in Montreal. Most importantly, to Prof. Francesca DaI Lago: the very topic of my thesis would have completely escaped me had 1 not been taken in by your enthusiasm for your field during the last year of my undergraduate studies. Thank you for constantly realigning my scattered thoughts, for forcing me to reconsider how 1 think and write and for sticking in there with me until the very end. Thank you for being a great teacher. Table of Contents Introduction: Show and Tell." .................................................................. 5 Chapter One: Exposition de la peinture chinoise ........................................... 16 Chapter Two: Quatre artistes chinoises contemporaines ................................. 60 Chapter Three: Messages and Audiences: Agendas of Display and their Public Reception .......................................................................................... 100 Conclusion ................................................................... """"" .... , .. "... """ ... 111 Bibliography ....................................................................................... 116 List of Illustrations ............................................................................... 123 Introduction: Show and Tell Exposition is always also an argument. Therefore, in publicizing these views the subject objectifies, exposes himself as much as the object; this makes the exposition an exposure of the self. Such exposure is an act of producing meaning, a performance. 1 - Mieke Bal This thesis examines Western exhibition practices specific to art museums and the problems that emerge wh en the art on display is non-Western. 1 have chosen to look at two exhibitions of Chinese painting in Paris. The first exhibition is the Exposition de la peinture chinoise that was held at the Musée du Jeu de Paume in 1933. The second exhibition, titled Quatre artistes chinoises contemporaines, was held at the Musée Cernuschi in 1977. What is most important and interesting about these two exhibitions is that they were co-planned by French institutions and Chinese artists. A close investigation of the planning and reception of the two exhibitions reveals the dynamics and tensions that arise as a result of the confrontation of representing other and representing self via Western exhibition strategies. Show and tell ln Double Exposures, Mieke Bal explains that the Greek root of the noun exposition [exhibition] and its derivatives, exposing and exposure, conjures three interlaced meanings: This verb refers to the action of "making a public representation" or "publicly demonstrating". It can be combined with a noun meaning opinions or judgments and refer to the public presentation of someone's views; or it can refer to the performing of those deeds that de serve to be made public? The basic strategies underlying exhibition practices, as developed in the West since the late eighteenth century, involve the simultaneous action of showing and telling, that is to say, putting objects on public display and inscribing them within a narrative. 1 Mieke Bal, Double Exposures: The Subject of Cultural Analysis (London: Routledge, 1996) 2. 2 Bal 2. 5 Bal defines narrative as "a discursive mode that affects semiotic objects in variable degrees.,,3 In an exhibition, objects become inscribed as signs within a narrative of which the museum/curator is the author, and which is read by the visitor as she progresses through the exhibition spaces. In this manner, the object is silenced and cornes to mean something else; it is made complicit as visible sign in the statement about itself. However, whereas
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Walter Benjamin
    Walter Benjamin Pinturas chinesas na Bibliothèque Nationale1 Tradução e notas de Fernando Araújo Del Lama2 No último mês de outubro foi exposta na Bibliothèque Nationale uma coleção de pinturas chinesas3 pertencentes ao Sr. J. P. Dubosc4 que por seu interesse merece ser apontada. O público pôde ver as obras-primas que ele raramente encontra em seu caminho, e os conhecedores (connaisseurs), por sua vez, aproveitaram esta ocasião para se dar conta de um reagrupamento de valores que opera atualmente neste campo. Vale lembrar aqui a exposição feita em 1936, em Oslo pelo Dr. O. Sirén5, que 1 Tradução de: BENJAMIN, W. “Peintures chinoises à la Bibliothèque Nationale” in: _____. Gesammelte Schriften. Hrsg. von Rolf Tiedemann und Hermann Schweppenhäuser. Band IV – Kleine Prosa, Baudelaire-Übertragungen; hrsg. von Tillman Rexroth. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1991, pp. 601-5. A fim de buscar sempre a melhor solução, foram estudadas outras traduções disponíveis, para o inglês – BENJAMIN, W. “Chinese Paintings at the Bibliothèque Nationale” in: _____. The work of art in the age of its technological reproducibility, and other writings on media. Edited by Michael W. Jennings, Brigid Doherty, and Thomas Y. Levin; translated by Edmund Jephcott, Rodney Livingstone, Howard Eiland et al. Cambridge, MA; London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008, pp, 257-61 – e para o italiano – BENJAMIN, W. “Dipinti cinesi alla Bibliothèque Nationale” in: _____. Opere complete. Edizione italiana a cura di Enrico Ganni com la collaborazione di Hellmut Riediger. Volume VII – Scritti 1938-1940. Traduzioni: Margherita Botto. Torino: Giulio Einaudi editore, 2006, pp. 5-8. Optou-se por manter, tanto no título quanto no corpo do texto, o nome das instituições parisienses de amplo reconhecimento no idioma original, de modo a deixar claro ao leitor o contexto parisiense de tal texto.
    [Show full text]
  • Contemporary Asian Art and Exhibitions Connectivities and World-Making
    Contemporary Asian Art and Exhibitions Connectivities and World-making Contemporary Asian Art and Exhibitions Connectivities and World-making Michelle Antoinette and Caroline Turner ASIAN STUDIES SERIES MONOGRAPH 6 Published by ANU Press The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at http://press.anu.edu.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Author: Antoinette, Michelle, author. Title: Contemporary Asian art and exhibitions : connectivities and world-making / Michelle Antoinette and Caroline Turner. ISBN: 9781925021998 (paperback) 9781925022001 (ebook) Subjects: Art, Asian. Art, Modern--21st century. Intercultural communication in art. Exhibitions. Other Authors/Contributors: Turner, Caroline, 1947- author. Dewey Number: 709.5 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover illustration: N.S. Harsha, Ambitions and Dreams 2005; cloth pasted on rock, size of each shadow 6 m. Community project designed for TVS School, Tumkur, India. © N.S. Harsha; image courtesy of the artist; photograph: Sachidananda K.J. Cover design and layout by ANU Press Printed by Griffin Press This edition © 2014 ANU Press Contents Acknowledgements . vii Introduction Part 1 — Critical Themes, Geopolitical Change and Global Contexts in Contemporary Asian Art . 1 Caroline Turner Introduction Part 2 — Asia Present and Resonant: Themes of Connectivity and World-making in Contemporary Asian Art . 23 Michelle Antoinette 1 . Polytropic Philippine: Intimating the World in Pieces . 47 Patrick D. Flores 2 . The Worlding of the Asian Modern .
    [Show full text]
  • From Enemy Asset to National Showcase: France’S Seizure and Circulation of the Matsukata Collection (1944-1958) Léa Saint-Raymond, Maxime Georges Métraux
    From Enemy Asset to National Showcase: France’s Seizure and Circulation of the Matsukata Collection (1944-1958) Léa Saint-Raymond, Maxime Georges Métraux To cite this version: Léa Saint-Raymond, Maxime Georges Métraux. From Enemy Asset to National Showcase: France’s Seizure and Circulation of the Matsukata Collection (1944-1958). Artl@s Bulletin, École normale supérieure / CNRS, 2019, 8 (3), pp.21-43. hal-02985683 HAL Id: hal-02985683 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02985683 Submitted on 2 Nov 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Artl@s Bulletin Volume 8 Issue 3 Putting the Arts in their Place Article 2 2019 From Enemy Asset to National Showcase: France’s Seizure and Circulation of the Matsukata Collection (1944-1958) Léa Saint-Raymond École normale supérieure, [email protected] Maxime Georges Métraux Sorbonne Université, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/artlas Part of the Digital Humanities Commons, and the Diplomatic History Commons Recommended Citation Saint-Raymond, Léa and Maxime Georges Métraux. "From Enemy Asset to National Showcase: France’s Seizure and Circulation of the Matsukata Collection (1944-1958)." Artl@s Bulletin 8, no.
    [Show full text]
  • Contemporary Asian Art and Exhibitions Connectivities and World-Making
    Contemporary Asian Art and Exhibitions Connectivities and World-making Contemporary Asian Art and Exhibitions Connectivities and World-making Michelle Antoinette and Caroline Turner ASIAN STUDIES SERIES MONOGRAPH 6 Published by ANU Press The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at http://press.anu.edu.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Author: Antoinette, Michelle, author. Title: Contemporary Asian art and exhibitions : connectivities and world-making / Michelle Antoinette and Caroline Turner. ISBN: 9781925021998 (paperback) 9781925022001 (ebook) Subjects: Art, Asian. Art, Modern--21st century. Intercultural communication in art. Exhibitions. Other Authors/Contributors: Turner, Caroline, 1947- author. Dewey Number: 709.5 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover illustration: N.S. Harsha, Ambitions and Dreams 2005; cloth pasted on rock, size of each shadow 6 m. Community project designed for TVS School, Tumkur, India. © N.S. Harsha; image courtesy of the artist; photograph: Sachidananda K.J. Cover design and layout by ANU Press Printed by Griffin Press This edition © 2014 ANU Press Contents Acknowledgements . vii Introduction Part 1 — Critical Themes, Geopolitical Change and Global Contexts in Contemporary Asian Art . 1 Caroline Turner Introduction Part 2 — Asia Present and Resonant: Themes of Connectivity and World-making in Contemporary Asian Art . 23 Michelle Antoinette 1 . Polytropic Philippine: Intimating the World in Pieces . 47 Patrick D. Flores 2 . The Worlding of the Asian Modern .
    [Show full text]
  • A Transnational Feminist Study on the Woman's Historical Novel By
    University of Alberta Writing Back Through Our Mothers: A Transnational Feminist Study on the Woman’s Historical Novel by Tegan Zimmerman A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Comparative Literature ©Tegan Zimmerman Fall 2013 Edmonton, Alberta Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission. For my grandmother and my mother … ABSTRACT This transnational feminist study on the contemporary woman’s historical novel (post 1970) argues that the genre’s central theme and focus is the maternal. Analyzing the maternal, disclosed through a myriad of genealogies, voices, and figures, reveals that the historical novel is a feminist means for challenging historical erasures, silences, normative sexuality, political exclusion, divisions of labour, and so on within a historical-literary context. The novels surveyed in this work speak from the margins and spaces of silence within history and the genre. As much as the works contest masculinist master narratives, they also create and envision new genealogies.
    [Show full text]
  • UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Abstract Art in 1980s Shanghai / Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/16g2v1dm Author Jung, Ha Yoon Publication Date 2014 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Abstract Art in 1980s Shanghai A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Art History, Theory, and Criticism by Ha Yoon Jung Committee in charge: Professor Kuiyi Shen, Chair Professor Norman Bryson Professor Todd Henry Professor Paul Pickowicz Professor Mariana Wardwell 2014 The Dissertation of Ha Yoon Jung is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ Chair University of California, San Diego 2014 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page ………………………………………………………………....……. iii Table of Contents ………………………………………………………….…...……. iv List of Illustrations …………………………………………………………………... v Vita ……………………………………………………………………….……….… vii Abstract ……………………………………………………….………………..……. xi Chapter 1 Introduction ……………………………………………………….……………….. 1 Chapter 2 Abstract
    [Show full text]
  • Inventing Chinese Modernism: the Art and Design of Pang Xunqin
    INVENTING CHINESE MODERNISM: THE ART AND DESIGN OF PANG XUNQIN (HIUNKIN PANG), 1930s-1940s by YINXUE CHEN A THESIS Presented to the Department of the History of Art and Architecture and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts June 2019 THESIS APPROVAL PAGE Student: Yinxue Chen Title: Inventing Chinese Modernism: The Art and Design of Pang Xunqin (Hiunkin Pang), 1930s-1940s This thesis has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree in the Department of the History of Art and Architecture by: Jenny Lin Chairperson Joyce Cheng Member Akiko Walley Member and Janet Woodruff-Borden Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded June 2019 ii © 2019 Yinxue Chen This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (United States) License. iii THESIS ABSTRACT Yinxue Chen Master of Arts Department of the History of Art and Architecture June 2019 Title: Inventing Chinese Modernism: The Art and Design of Pang Xunqin (Hiunkin Pang), 1930s-1940s As one of the first Chinese modernist artists to study painting in Paris in the 1920s, Pang Xunqin’s art and design projects were profoundly influenced by both Western European and Chinese aesthetics. From the 1930s to 1940s, his output shifted from cosmopolitan Shanghai-based paintings to Guizhou Miao ethnic paintings to traditional Chinese and Art Deco-influenced industrial designs. Integrating historical context, Pang Xunqin’s biography, and stylistic analyses, this thesis interprets how the artist’s work transformed through particular social and political upheavals, including the Second Sino- Japanese War (1937-1945) and conflicts between vying political parties in China.
    [Show full text]
  • UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Dreams and disillusionment in the City of Light : Chinese writers and artists travel to Paris, 1920s-1940s Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/07g4g42m Authors Chau, Angie Christine Chau, Angie Christine Publication Date 2012 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Dreams and Disillusionment in the City of Light: Chinese Writers and Artists Travel to Paris, 1920s–1940s A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Literature by Angie Christine Chau Committee in charge: Professor Yingjin Zhang, Chair Professor Larissa Heinrich Professor Paul Pickowicz Professor Meg Wesling Professor Winnie Woodhull Professor Wai-lim Yip 2012 Signature Page The Dissertation of Angie Christine Chau is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: Chair University of California, San Diego 2012 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page ...................................................................................................................iii Table of Contents............................................................................................................... iv List of Illustrations.............................................................................................................. v Acknowledgements...........................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Goddesses, Priestesses, Queens and Dancers: Images of Women on Sasnian Silver Mary Olson '08 Illinois Wesleyan University
    Illinois Wesleyan University Digital Commons @ IWU Honors Projects History Department 2008 Goddesses, Priestesses, Queens and Dancers: Images of Women on Sasnian Silver Mary Olson '08 Illinois Wesleyan University Recommended Citation Olson '08, Mary, "Goddesses, Priestesses, Queens and Dancers: Images of Women on Sasnian Silver" (2008). Honors Projects. Paper 32. http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/history_honproj/32 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by The Ames Library, the Andrew W. Mellon Center for Curricular and Faculty Development, the Office of the Provost and the Office of the President. It has been accepted for inclusion in Digital Commons @ IWU by the faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ©Copyright is owned by the author of this document. GODDESSES, PRIESTESSES, QUEENS AND DANCERS: IMAGES OF WOMEN ON SASANIAN SILVER Mary Olson Honors Thesis Spring 2008 April 23, 2008 1 GoDDESSES, PRIESTESSES, QUEENS AND DANCERS: IMAGES OF WOMEN ON SASANIAN SILVER Slowly, through ancient trade and diplomacy, modem imperialism, and the dubious trade in antiquities, a silver vase made its way from a silversmith in late antique Persia to, of all places, Cleveland, Ohio. After its discovery in the 1800s, the vase remained in the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad until eventually making its way to the United States. The imagery boasts a Persian origin; four female figures are illustrated in motion, elegantly holding an object in each hand. Not just Persian, more specifically the figures emerged from Sasanian Iran. The Sasanian Empire spanned from 224-651 CE and covered what is modern day Iran and spread from the Greco-Roman west to India and China in the East.
    [Show full text]
  • Wang Zhibo 桬⛓⽈ INTRODUCTION
    Wang Zhibo 桬⛓⽈ INTRODUCTION Tropical sceneries finely coated by a delicate layer of dewy snow; glass cabinets housing an array of Several of Wang’s works, however, seem to contrarily hint at human presence; upon closer inspection anthropological items; the blurred vision of a seated mother and child; each are running explorations in though, one notes that each painting is crucially devoid of humanity or expression. ‘Mother and Son’ Wang Zhibo’s (b. 1981, China) practice that surveys the absurd spectrum of what is real - geographically, (2015), for example, presents a classically religious composition. Yet, the setting is distinctly tribal with historically, ethnographically, architecturally. A graduate from the China Academy of Art Oil Painting various skulls scattered upon the floor and both figures being adorned by bead-like wooden jewellry. Department, Wang creates oil on canvas paintings that confound our notions of time and space. More importantly, whilst the mother’s face is delineated, the child’s is unnervingly blurred to the extent Transcending traditionalism through the subject matter depicted, which is both curious and challenging, of resembling defacement. Such vigorous anonymity heightens our consciousness of how much is read Wang channels her painting to represent the variances of our visual experiences, similar to the reflection through facial features, expressions, the very characteristics that distinguish each and every one of us. on the surface of water: capable of capturing the multiple manifolds of a subject. This recognition is heightened by Wang’s recent series ‘The Archives’, which depicts, from a focused as Whilst always retaining a focus on our concepts of the real, Wang’s work has seen a sequence of periodic well as wide-angle view, museum glass cabinets housing an array of anthropological heads.
    [Show full text]
  • The Waterfall and the Fountain and The
    LEXS | I SAGGI DI 34 LEXIA I SAGGI DI LEXIA / 34 34 The Waterfall and the Fountain andtheFountain The Waterfall eographically and anthropologically distant cultures inspire awe and fasci- G nation: for centuries, Europe and China, the West and the East have fan- tasized about each other, longed for journeying toward each other, mutually projected onto each other their own alter egos. Modern innovation in the tran- THE WATERFALL sport of people, goods, and especially cultural contents in digital form has in- creasingly narrowed the distance between these two geographic and human po- AND THE FOUNTAIN les. Today, China is everywhere in the West, and viceversa. Yet, facility of access is not always tantamount to in–depth comprehension. Century–long differences, COMPARATIVE SEMIOTIC ESSAYS prejudices, and asymmetries still persist. Comprising the essays of several spe- ON CONTEMPORARY ARTS IN CHINA cialists in cultural theory and analysis, both from Europe and China, the volume seeks to uncover the semiotic formula underpinning the encounter, the dialogue, edited by M. Leone, B. Surace,J.Zeng edited byM.Leone,B. but also the clash between Western and Eastern aesthetics, especially in the ne- edited by glected field of popular culture and arts. The title hints at the Chinese fascina- tion for waterfalls and the natural flowing of the elements, compared with the Massimo Leone European attraction to fountains as exploitation of technological mastery over nature: each chapter in the volume focuses on many aesthetic dialectics, span- Bruno Surace ning from literature to painting, from videogames to food. Jun Zeng ontributions by Lei Han, Massimo Leone, Gabriele Marino, Jia Peng, Simona Stano, Bruno Surace, CMattia Thibault, Jia–Jun Wang, Gao Yan, Jun Zeng, Kuiying Zhao, Haitian Zhou.
    [Show full text]
  • Chauncey Jerome Hamlin (1881–1963) President of ICOM (1946-1953)
    Chauncey Jerome Hamlin (1881–1963) President of ICOM (1946-1953) ICOM, which has retained its original English acronym for half a century, was the brainchild of an American, Chauncey J. Hamlin, President of the Trustees of the Science Museum in Buffalo. This is how Hamlin remembered the circumstances in which the adventure began: "In 1945, when I met Georges Salles, who was then Director of French museums, I suggested to him that we set up an International Council of Museums. He was immediately enthusiastic and agreed to sign a circular inviting the world's most eminent museologists to an international meeting at the Louvre in November 1946. His backing helped me to secure the support of the Director of the British Museum in London." Chauncey J. Hamlin, founder and first President of ICOM was born in 1881 in Buffalo (USA). In 1912, he campaigned for the presidential candidate Theodore Roosevelt. Mobilised during the Great War he fought at Verdun (France). When he returned to the U.S., he was appointed Vice-President of the Buffalo Society of Natural Science and became its President in 1920 until 1948. His interest in museum activities led him to become President of The American Museum Association from 1923 to 1929. Throughout his lifetime Hamlin had a keen interest in music (he was President of the Buffalo Chamber Music Society and Director of the town's Philharmonic Society). Interestingly and coincidentally G.H. Rivière, who was to be his first collaborator at the head of ICOM, also had a well-known passion for music and was a gifted pianist.
    [Show full text]