6
Monday, April 21, 1975
University Daily Kansan
Exhibition traces
By CLAUDI A B. JONES
and ROBERT D. MOWRY Guest Reviewers
(Kitler's) Note: The Chinese Exhibition at the Nelson Gallery, 6th and Oak, Kansas City, USA. Monday, Friday, and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. It is closed Monday. Fees are 50 cents for adults and 25 cents for children. All exhibitions are closed without charge. There is no charge on Sundays. No photography will be allowed. James and Maryve are dental students in the department.
After months of preparation the "Chinese Exhibition: Archaeological Finds of the People's Republic of China" opened at the Nelson Gallery on Sunday afternoon. It is unquestionably the most important exhibition ever held at the oldest archaean certain rarities was one of the most important exhibits of the century.
The 385 works in the exhibition, all unearthed during the past 25 years, span an awesomely long period, from China's continuous development from the very dawn of civilization to the high level of culture encountered by Marco Polo during his visit to
The primary goal of the exhibition is to present selected treasures recently excavated under scientifically controlled conditions of Chinese art little known in the West.
The pieces in the exhibition, including bronze vessels, ceramic wares, jade ritual objects, and gold and silver utensils, not only delight the eye, but illustrate the development of Indian craftsmanship in China and its insults into the lives and beliefs of the people who created them.
The gallery staff has made impressive use of wall color, carpeting and lighting to highlight the individual objects and to organize them into meaningful groups.
The installation of the unit on Primitive Society is especially effective in its use of deep brown wall color and richly textured fabrics of neutral tones to underscore the unifying early qualities of neolithic pottery, while at the same time, juxtaposing
the diversity of Yang-shao and Lung-shan ceramics
The progression is unlinear and chronological, and viewers should be prepared to follow one-way paths through a trackway or walkways where no backtracking is allowed.
The jade barial suit of Princess Tou Wan, dating to 113 B.C. and the bronze Flying Horse from an A.D. 2nd century tomb, two of the most important objects in the exhibition, are displayed in the most dramatic of surroundings. The princess' body was placed in the jade suit because the Chinese believe jade would prevent deterioration and could be placed in tombs because the Chinese believed the horses would turn into dragons and lead the spirits of the deceased into the next world.
Less publicized objects, however, also provided unexpected visual delights. Among these surprises are the huge bronze sculpture of a female figure delightfully naturalistic pottery figure of a kneeling woman found near the tomb of Ch'in shu Huang-ti (late 3rd century B.C.), and the diminutive but lively inlaid bronze figure from the tomb of Prince Lu Sheng (113 B.C.).
It is, of course, entirely appropriate that the Nelson Gallery, with its rich collections of Chinese art, should have been one of the first to receive the exhibition of Chinese Exhibition. The visitor to the
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exhibition has the rare opportunity to study one of the great Western collections of Chinese art in relation to these recently excavated treasures.
Chinese history
The two displays are complementary, each contributing to the understanding of the other. The objects in the Chinese Exhibition, for example, attest to the uniformly high level of quality of the Nelson's permanent collection. Further, the works from the Nelson site by archaeological evidence confirm the authenticity and dating of similar works in the Nelson and other Western collections.
On the other hand, the Nelson's rich collection of Chinese ink painting and Buddhist sculpture illuminates aspects of art that can be outsidethe scope of the Chinese Exhibition.
On another level, the two displays in concert provide insights into the development of Chinese art that wouldn't be gained from a casual examination of either display or exhibition. The exhibition of the Chinese Exhibition, has captured the imagination of people the world over. Yet
anyone familiar with the pair of Late Chong bronze horses (3rd century B.C.) in the Nelson Gallery shouldn't have been surprised that a work so striking as the Flying Horse could have been produced only five centuries later. Although the Nelson horses differed from their predecessors in their interest in naturalism so apparent in the soft modelling of the bodies of the Nelson horses anticipates the full-blow naturalism and vitality of the Flying Horse.
Again, the elegant linearity and the graceful rhythms that characterize the old church building in the early 8th century relief from the Lang-men Buddhist cave-temples, now in the Nelson collection, foreshadow the style of the wall paint at D. T. 706).
The beauty of the objects themselves and the importance of their documentation have captured the public imagination as did the Egyptian discoveries of another great period of archaeological history. One can only hope this extinction will be a cultural treasures between the People's Republic of China and the United States.
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to Lawrence for the first time since 1967. The conference, which began Sunday and last week, will focus on common problems faced by various officials of Big Eight schools and cities, Glenn West, executive vice president of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce, said last week.
Each of the eight cities in the Big Eight has been host for this annual meeting.
Big 8 cities meet in Lawrence
The Big Eight Citys Conference returned to Lawrence for the first time since 1967.
The Big Eight Cities Conference is an annual meeting of the cities' public school superintendents, university representatives, news media representatives, city officials and Chamber of Commerce officials.
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