Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Primeval Chaos
Ren Jian Chinese
Not on view
Measuring nearly five feet tall and one hundred feet long when fully unrolled, Ren’s cosmic vision of an amorphous world follows the format and medium of traditional painting, but the scale, subject matter, and the industrial material on which it was painted owe nothing to earlier Chinese art forms. The scroll blends Eastern and Western imagery—cosmic spheroids and mandala-like drawings; swirling vortices and hovering clouds—in a succession of crescendos as it unrolls from left to right, a departure from the right-left orientation of traditional handscrolls. Further distancing the work from Chinese precedents is the use of Western-style chiaroscuro to describe the clouds, hills, and other landscape elements.
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This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
