The works presented in ‘Painting Apart from the World : Monks and Scholars of the Ming and Qing Dynasties' were created at a pivotal moment in Chinese history, between the mid-fifteenth and the early eighteenth centuries, a period of significant historic rupture that resulted in a dynastic shift. During these three centuries, sages and poets, withdrew from the world to live in the forests and mountains.

The landscape genre has played a major role in the history of Chinese painting since the Song dynasty (960-1279). Under the Ming Dynasty landscapes and gardens were invested with different meanings, reflecting both collective practices, as well as very personal aspirations. Some of these renowned painters include Shen Zhou (1427-1509) and Wen Zhengming (1470-1559).

Despite sometimes leading lives mainly occupied by duties of bureaucratic positions, these painters depicted nature often in the form of vast landscapes unfolding over long scrolls, resembling stages of journeys undertaken in dreams. Painters Shitao (1642-1707) and Badashanren (1626-1705), members of the deposed imperial family, had even become monks, making the temples their refuge and the mountains the source of inspiration.
 

The Hong Kong Museum of Art holds more than seven thousand Chinese paintings and calligraphies, among which the most valuable are the works from the Chih Lo Lou Collection, donated by the philanthropist Ho lu-kwong who collected the major part in the 1950s.

His collection joined the public collection of the Hong Kong Museum of Art where they were presented for the reopening of the museum in 2019.

A choice has been selected to travel to Paris.

The Paris Museum of Asian Art  7, Avenue Vélasquez, 75008 Paris
Subway line no 2, Villiers or line no 3, Monceau - Bus : 30, 84, 93
 Tel.: +33(0)153962150 - www.cernuschi.fr/en
 
Open from Tuesday to Sunday, 10 am – 6pm. Booking recommended, masks required with social distancing. Full rate : 9€, with reductions available, free entrance to the permanent collections.

 

 

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