Masterpieces of Ming Art at the Metropolitan Museum

Drawn from one of the finest and most comprehensive private assemblages of the art of the Ming-Qing transition, the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York (USA) holds an exhibition that showcases more than sixty landscape paintings and calligraphies that highlight the intensely personal styles created by the leading artists of that time. Particularly noteworthy are the clusters of exceptional works by Huang Daozhou, Hongren, Bada Shanren (Zhu Da), and Shitao.
     
The collapse of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and subsequent conquest of China by semi-nomadic Manchu tribesmen comprised some of the most traumatic events in Chinese history. This wrenching era also spurred an enormous outpouring of creative energy as many former Ming subjects turned to the arts to express their loyalty to the Ming restoration.

In order to provide an appropriate aesthetic and intellectual context for the material, the exhibition will be organized into five thematic or regional groupings: Ming Martyrs; The Yellow Mountain and Nanjing Regional Schools; Guangdong Artists; Monk Painters; and Jiangsu and Zhejiang Artists.


Date: until January 2, 2011.
Place: 1000 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street, New York, New York 10028-0198. USA.
Hours: from Tuesday to Thursday from 9.30am to 5.30pm. Fridays and Saturdays from 9.30am to 9pm. Sundays from 9.30am to 5.30pm.

See some of the works below: