Streams and Mountains without End: Landscape Traditions of China
At The Met Fifth Avenue
August 26, 2017–August 4, 2019
From the standpoint of splendid scenery, painting cannot equal [real] landscape. But when it comes to the wonders of brush and ink, [real] landscape is no match for painting!
—Dong Qichang (1555–1636)
About a thousand years ago, the Chinese landscape painter Guo Xi posed the question, "In what does a gentleman's love of landscape consist?" This question is at the heart of the exhibition, which explores the many uses of landscape in the Chinese visual arts.
This exhibition, which showcases more than 120 Chinese landscape paintings in four rotations, offers insights into the tradition, revealing distinctions between types of landscape that might not be obvious at first glance. What appears to be a simple mountain dwelling, for example, turns out to be the villa of the painter's friend, encoding a wish for his happy retirement. Similarly, what seems at first to be a simple study in dry brushwork turns out to be an homage to an old master, an expression of reverence for what has come before.
Drawn primarily from The Met's holdings and supplemented by a dozen private loans, the presentation is augmented by decorative art objects with landscape themes.
Rotation 1: August 25, 2017–January 6, 2018
Rotation 2: January 19–August 12, 2018
Rotation 3: August 25, 2018–January 6, 2019
Rotation 4: January 26, 2019–August 4, 2019
"Unmissable" —The New York Times
The exhibition is made possible by the Joseph Hotung Fund.
Wang Jian (Chinese, 1609–1677 or 1688). Landscapes in the styles of old masters, 1668. Qing dynasty (1644–1911). One leaf from an album of ten leaves. Ink and color on paper, each leaf 10 1/8 x 6 1/2 in. (25.7 x 16.5 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Purchase, The Dillon Fund Gift, 1979 (1979.439a–o)
