So much attention is paid to contemporary art in China that I thought it might be a good idea to highlight two exhibitions, on opposite sides of the country, that focus on modern, but historical Chinese art.

Since Oct. 30, the Denver Museum of Art has been showcasing the work of Xu Beihong (1895-1953). His name may not ring a bell, but it should. The Denver museum calls Xu “the father of modern Chinese painting.” Xu, who was one of the first Chinese artists to study in Europe — Paris, in his case — was an advocate for incorporating Western techniques into traditional Chinese painting. Over the course of his career, he became a prominent teacher and global ambassador for Chinese art, making a difference both in China, where he helped revolutionize the arts institutions, and abroad, where he helped reshape international perceptions of Chinese painting. 

This show will include 61 paintings, most borrowed from the Xu Beihong Memorial Museum, most of which never before been on view in the United States. Read more here about the exhibition and here about the man. The exhibition will end on Jan. 29.

In New York, meanwhile, the China Institute has been displaying Blooming in the Shadows: Unofficial Chinese Art, 1974-1985, since Sept. 15. But as the description notes, few exhibitions have asked the question, how did internationally oriented art appear, given the background of 35 years of socialist realism?

This exhibition does, “focus[ing] on paintings and sculpture from three unofficial groups of artists, the No Names, the Stars, and the Grass Society, which pushed beyond Maoism in the early post-Cultural Revolution era. Each group pursued creatively diverse paths to artistic freedoms under the harsh political strictures and against the accepted aesthetic norms of the time. The work they produced opened the door for the avant-garde movement to emerge in China and paved the way for Chinese artists working today.”

It runs until Dec. 11.

Photo Credits: Six Galloping Horses, Courtesy of the Xu Beihong Memorial Museum (top), and Wang Keping’s Silent, Courtesy of the China Institute (bottom)

Technology is changing all around us, and the issues for museums, it seems to me, are quite challenging. Choices are not inconsequential, and they are not (usually) easy to pull off. In an era of limited resources, where should time and money be spent?

All of that is a preface to my praise for what the British Library is doing with its Royal Manuscripts exhibition, which opened on Nov. 11. Subtitled “The Genius of Illumination,” it looks from afar to be a real occasion — a must-see exhibit if you are in London. And, combined with the once-in-a-lifetime Leonardo exhibition at the National Gallery, it maybe even worth a trip there. Here’s the billing from the press release:

Royal Manuscripts: The Genius of Illumination is the British Library’s first major exhibition to bring together the Library’s Royal collection, a treasure trove of illuminated manuscripts collected by the kings and queens of England between the 9th and 16th centuries. Launching on 11 November this dazzling exhibition will debunk the myth that these were ‘the Dark Ages’ by showcasing beautiful artistic artifacts.

That’s Henry V as a young prince, Thomas Hoccleve, c. 1430-38, at left, drawn from the exhibition.

Henry V as a young prince, Thomas Hoccleve, Regement of Princes, England, c. 1430-38

What’s also interesting is that you don’t have to go to England… the show comes with an app, available worldwide for iPad, iPhone and Android device. It includes more than 500 images and six videos by royal experts. The cost is £2.49 for iPhone and Android, £3.99 iPad, and before the exhibition opened, there was an introductory offer of £1.49 for iPhone and £2.49 for iPad.

Here’s a description of what’s in it.

OK, it’s not really a substitute for the real things, but… it’s pretty good.  

It will be interesting to see how many people buy the app during — and after — the exhibition. Will the takeup rate be higher than for catalogues (usually less than 5% of visitors)? I’d guess yes, given the lower price for an app. Will it have an afterlife, when the exhibition closes?

It will also be interesting to see how, and when, buyers use the app — while they’re at the British Library, before, after, or all three? Will having the app discourage or encourage people from going to see the exhibit in person?

We’re still in the early stages of this revolution. Museums, and libraries, will – I hope — be sharing information about development and usage. And when I see an app worth noting, I’ll list it, too. If you have suggestions, please share them with RCA readers in the comment section below.  

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the British Library

The National Gallery’s great Leonardo exhibition, entitled Leonardo da Vinci:Painter at the Court of Milan, opened last week, and what an occasion it was. For the first time in 500 years, nine of his paintings are being shown together, along with many drawings. There are 90 works in all.

And here’s another first, I believe: People who could not get into the opening — which means almost everyone, because this ticket was hotter than tickets to the Super Bowl — were able to watch it at the cinema. That’s right, an art opening — not the Metropolitan Opera — merited live coverage, transmitted to movie theaters. How extraordinary.

I couldn’t get to London either, so I searched for coverage in the UK, and found several stories, with videos, on the BBC website, which I am happy to share here:

1) About the opening/live coverage, courtesy of SkyArts here.

2) An overview of the exhibition here.

3) “How long do you need to look at a Leonardo?” here, which is really about Leonardo’s technique and achievement. There are two videos on this link, though one is the same as the overview in #2.

4) Oxford University professor Martin Kemp describes why Da Vinci’s works are so engaging here, and chooses not the greatest but the painting he’d like to live with (which coincides with my favorite).

5) A slideshow of the paintings here.

6) A Q&A about the staging of the exhibition here.

Each video is less than four minutes, and well worth watching.

NG Curator Luke Syson deserves congratulations for pulling this off, with lots of help of you. But he dreamed big — and let’s have more of tha when he moves to the Metropolitan Museum in January, replacing Ian Wardropper, who is now director of the Frick Collection. Syson will be of European sculpture and decorative arts. He also deserves credit for, despite the demand to see these paintings, rationing tickets to only the number of people who can reasonably expect to see the works.

Unfortunately, the word is that the exhibit is now sold out through the end of the year. It closes on Feb. 5.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of AFP

The Cloisters branch of the Metropolitan Museum rarely receives the attention it deserves. But now a little special exhibition there could — should — bring flocks of people.

It’s a show of the Lewis Chessmen, 34 of which have been borrowed from the British Museum for The Game of Kings: Medieval Ivory Chessmen from the Isle of Lewis, which begins on Tuesday and runs through April 22. I took the occasion to write a short article about the chessman for the Wall Street Journal’s Saturday Icons page (of which I am a fan).

A grouping of some of them is at right.

The BM has never lent this many chessmen before. A different group of them, drawn from the collection of both the BM and the National Museum of Scotland, has been on tour in Scotland this past year, and visitors seemed to love them.

The Met will supplement the Lewis chessmen, which will be shown in an endgame of a famous chess match, with chess pieces from its permanent collection (more details here). It has many, according to its online catalogue — though not all are illustrated. One that was, at left, is a 13th century piece given by J. Pierpont Morgan in 1917. It’s similar to the Lewis chessmen, the Met asserts, though obviously much later.

Photo Credits: Courtesy of the British Museum (top) and the Metropolitan Museum (bottom).