Exhibitions available to travel

Ancient Masters in Modern Styles
Chinese Ink Paintings from the 16th-21st Centuries

		Attributed to Wu Li Chinese, 1632-1718 Untitled Fan Painting, 1681 Ink and gold on silk mounted on paper, 63⁄4 x 183⁄4 inches, 17.15 x 47.63 cm Gift of The Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, 1977.40.1

Organized by the University of Virginia Art Museum

The Chinese art of ink painting is an ancient and continuously practiced tradition transmitted and learned in part through the study of the works of past masters. Studying the styles of the greatest artists of the past was seen as the fundamental basis for learning the art of painting in China until the twentieth century. Nevertheless, Chinese painters were aware of the potentially limiting aspects of imitating the ancient masters too closely. As a result, they self-consciously evoked past masters’ style while simultaneously transforming and even subverting them.

This exhibition of Chinese ink paintings from the University of Virginia Art Museum and Lijin Collections examines the influence of this long tradition on later artists and how they sought to balance reverence for the art of old masters with their own requirements for artistic expression. It will explore this through an investigation of style, subject matter and the inscriptions on paintings from the early modern period up until the present, as well as the social and historical context of their production. The aim of the exhibition is to demonstrate the rich variety of ink painting in China over many centuries and the continuing relevance of tradition to Chinese artists today.