Exhibition Dates: February 3–June 16, 2024
Location: The Met Fifth Avenue, Galleries 210–16, Douglas Dillon Galleries, Floor 2
(New York, November 29, 2023)—On February 3, 2024, The Metropolitan Museum of Art will present Vision and Verse: The Poetry of Chinese Painting. Thematically organized in five sections, the exhibition will explore the connections between poetry and painting in Chinese culture through 90 works, mostly drawn from The Met collection. Featuring a rich selection of painting, calligraphy, and decorative arts, the exhibition will unlock layers of meaning in the works through discussing how Chinese painters engaged with poetry.
The exhibition is made possible by the Joseph Hotung Fund.
Each of the exhibition’s five themes will examine Chinese poetry from a different time period—from China’s ancient poems to poetry of the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties—to show the many ways in which these companion arts intersect.
Highlights will include Ma Hezhi’s 12th-century Odes of the State of Bin (1973.121.3), a politically charged rendering of some of China’s earliest poems; Mending Robes by Daylight (2022.97), a recently acquired Chan (Japanese: Zen) Buddhist ink painting inscribed by the prominent abbot Chijue Daochong (1169–1250)¬ in the 1240s; Enjoying the Wilderness in an Autumn Grove, an early work by the celebrated Yuan-dynasty literati painter-poet Ni Zan (1306–1374); and the recently acquired Portrait of a gentleman gathering chrysanthemums by Hua Guan, in which the sitter inhabits the role of the 4th-century poet Tao Yuanming (2023.299).
Credits and Related Content
Vision and Verse: The Poetry of Chinese Painting is curated by Joseph Scheier-Dolberg, the Oscar Tang and Agnes Hsu-Tang Curator of Chinese Paintings in the Department of Asian Art.
The exhibition will be featured on The Met website as well as on social media using the hashtag #MetChineseArt.
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November 29, 2023
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