| Exhibition Dates: |
August 9,2018–February 23, 2020 |
| Exhibition Location: |
The Met Fifth Avenue, Florence and Herbert Irving
Galleries for Chinese Decorative Arts, Galleries 220-22 |
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new exhibition Children to Immortals: Figural Representations in Chinese Art explores how Chinese artists captured the inner spirit (chuanshen) of the subjects they portrayed. Featuring more than 130 objects in various media created between the Song (960–1279) and the Qing (1644–1911) dynasties—including textiles, lacquer, jade, ceramics, wood, bamboo, metalwork, and more—the exhibition illuminates this central aspect of figural representation in Chinese art with works drawn primarily from The Met collection. Included are many masterpieces, such as the gilt-brass sculpture Daoist immortal Laozi, by Chen Yanqing (active 15th century), and rarely shown objects.
This exhibition is made possible by the Joseph Hotung Fund.
Rather than emphasize accurate anatomical renderings, Chinese artists sought to capture the “life energy” of their subjects. Organized thematically, the exhibition consists of three sections: Children at Play, with works depicting children, primarily boys, engaged in various activities, such as riding hobbyhorses, flying kites, and playing hide-and-seek; History, Legend, and Idealized Life, with works depicting grown-up, elegant men and women in idealized settings or taken from historical tales; and Land of the Immortals, with figures representing deities from Buddhism and Daoism.
The exhibition is featured on the Museum's website, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter using the hashtag #ChildrentoImmortals.
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August 23, 2018
Image:
明早期 陳彥清造鎏金銅老子像
Chen Yanqing, active 15th century
Daoist immortal Laozi
China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644), dated 1438
Gilt brass; lost-wax cast
H. 7 1/2 in. (19 cm); W. 4 3/4 in. (12 cm); D. 2 3/4 in. (7 cm)
1997.139
The Metropolitan Museum, Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gifts, 1997
Photo: Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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