The Sarofim School of Fine Arts’ Department of Art and Art History presents an exhibit titled “Turning The Tradition: Transforming The Past In Chinese Landscape Painting” on display Tuesday November 3rd through Tuesday November 24th in Fine Arts Gallery.

The Chinese facsimile scrolls, from Southwestern’s permanent collection, date from the Five Dynasties Period (906-967) to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).  Students in Dr. Diana Tenckhoff’s  Chinese art history seminar planned, organized and curated this exhibit.

The students also wrote all the didactic material and each student researched one painting in the exhibit in an in-depth research paper.

This exhibition includes fourteen facsimile scrolls, exact reproductions of works from the Five Dynasties Period (191-967) through the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).  Twelve of these paintings are hanging scrolls and two are hand scrolls. Each artist was considered a leading master of his time.  As members of the educated elite class, they were familiar with Confucian, Buddhist and Daoist thought.  Each work in this exhibition is most representative of the artist’s style and is a pivotal example of its period.  These scrolls illustrate the evolution of landscape as a major theme in Chinese painting history.  A fundamental concept in the history of Chinese landscape painting is reverence for the past through the revival and transformation of ancient traditions.  During periods of political
discord, landscape inspired artists to retreat to the mountains in pursuit of harmony, serenity, self-cultivation and inner-reflection; therefore, the paintings included here represent the artist’s personal expression, study of antiquity and response to political upheaval.