Exhibition at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Nov. 22 through Feb. 15

Sunday, February 15, 2004
11:00 AM - 5:00 PM
CA

This is the first major exhibition devoted to Chinese "ancestor portraits," which are meticulously rendered, formal portraits created as ritual foci for use in family ceremonies to venerate the forbearers and seek blessings from them. The earliest portrait in the exhibition dates to 1451, but the majority were created in the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), including a large number of paintings depicting members by birth or marriage of the imperial family. These compelling, almost-life-size images show individuals in sumptuous court clothing and headgear; many are seated on lacquer chairs positioned in the center of a richly decorated, colorful carpet. Other examples of ancestor portraits feature a seated individual painted against a solid void background to help focus all attention on the sitter.

The paintings, in addition to their visual appeal, provide a rich resource to study the history of portraiture, Chinese ritual practices associated with ancestor worship--a cornerstone of Chinese religion for millennia--and material culture. The exhibition will also examine how the images were created, since the majority of them are posthumous portraits. Thirty-four paintings from the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery's outstanding collection of commemorative portraits will be included in the exhibition; a small number of the paintings will be casual life studies that by their contrasting style will help illustrate the iconic nature of ancestor portraits. The exhibition is accompanied by a fully-illustrated scholarly catalog co-authored by Jan Stuart, the Sackler Gallery's Assisant Curator of Chinese Art and Professor Evelyn Rawski, a China historian, with a contribution by the Sackler Gallery's research scholar Stephen Allee.

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Santa Barbara Museum of Art
1130 State Street
Santa Barbara CA 93101-2746
Telephone: (805) 963-4364
Fax: (805) 966-6840     

Museum Hours
Tuesday-Saturday 11AM to 5PM
Sunday NOON to 5PM
Friday 11AM to 9PM
Monday closed

Admission
Members free
Non-members:
Adults $7
Seniors (age 65+) $5
Students with ID $4
Ages 6-17 $4
Under 6 free
Admission free each Thursday and the first Sunday of each month.
 

www.sbmuseart.org/exhibition/upcoming.html