Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Lingnan Masters: South Chinese Painting in Transition 1800–2000

(from 6th Aug 2013 until 23rd Feb 2014)

Discover the mastery of the Lingnan School of painting in China over the last 200 years.

Detail of ‘Lychees and cicada', by Chen Shuren, Hong Kong, 1928 (Museum no: EA2002.72)
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Introduction

‘I think we should not only take in elements of Western painting. If there are good points in Indian painting, Egyptian painting, Persian painting, or masterpieces of other countries, we should embrace all of them, too, as nourishment for our Chinese painting.’

Gao Jianfu (1879–1951)

The Lingnan region, literally ‘south of the Nanling Mountains’, traditionally refers to the Cantonese speaking area of south China, including present-day Guangdong province and Hong Kong. This region has long been the frontier between China and the outside world. The flourishing of the Lingnan School of painting in the early 20th century is associated with modernization and the experimental mixing of foreign styles and techniques. Meanwhile, some artists focused on preserving and developing traditional Chinese painting. This exhibition from the museum’s collection displays works by Lingnan masters of different tendencies, including Gao Jianfu, Deng Fen and Li Yanshan, as well as those by successive generations of their pupils. Paintings displayed here reveal the communication between Lingnan artists and transitions in Lingnan painting over the last 200 years.

Artists of the  Lingnan School. © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford Artists of the Lingnan School.

Eastern Art Online presents an online version of Lingnan Masters on special display in the Ashmolean's Chinese Paintings Gallery. It enables visitors to browse and search all exhibition objects and their high-quality zoomable images, and provide continued access to exhibition content after the display has ended.

Chinese Paintings Gallery - Lingnan Masters exhibition detail. © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford Chinese Paintings Gallery - Lingnan Masters exhibition detail.   Chinese Paintings Gallery - Lingnan Masters exhibition hanging scrolls case. Chinese Paintings Gallery - Lingnan Masters exhibition hanging scrolls case.   Chinese Paintings Gallery - Lingnan Masters exhibition case. © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford Chinese Paintings Gallery - Lingnan Masters exhibition case.

A companion exhibition to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and its links with Oxford is also currently on display at their Art Museum. This exhibition - Two Masters, Two Generations, and One Vision for Modern Chinese Painting: paintings by Gao Jianfu (1879-1951) and Lui Shou-kwan (1919-1975) in the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Oxford - includes another 25 Lingnan paintings from the Ashmolean's Collection and will be on display until 15th May 2014.

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Objects from past exhibitions may have now returned to our stores or a lender. Click into an individual object record to confirm whether or not an object is currently on display. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis, so please contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular Eastern Art object.

© 2013 University of Oxford - Ashmolean Museum