Page 23 - China, 5000 years : innovation and transformation in the arts
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and technologically innovative art for a longer peri- ously and systematically until after the founding of
od of time, and at a higher level of sophistication, the People's Republic of China. During the nearly
than any other civilization in history. This exhibi- five decades since then, the pace of discovery has
tion, which is designed to confirm that assertion,
results from the timely convergence of two distinct quickened from a trickle to a deluge of new finds, a
factors: a wealth of newly excavated objects and logical outcome of the surging economic develop-
artifacts of stunning beauty and significance, and an ment that required the digging of foundations for
increased appreciation in China of cultural achieve- new factories, houses, office buildings, roads, air-
ments of the twentieth century. As a consequence, ports, and power facilities. China has now become
the juxtaposition of modern Chinese art with its the scene of more archaeological activity than any-
traditional counterpart in an exhibition mounted
where else in the world, and the discoveries have
by a major Western museum has been made possi- added immensely to our existing knowledge in
some areas, while opening entirely new chapters in
ble for the first time ever. others. The discovery, conservation, and analysis of
these objects and artifacts will, of course, continue,
The major exhibitions of art from Taiwan that have and a definitive cultural history remains to be writ-
been staged in recent years have encouraged a pop- ten. But China: 5,oooYears, which draws heavily on
ular perception that works of comparable quality these new resources and discusses them in a schol-
do not exist today in China. It is important to arly context within this exhibition catalogue, has
become an active participant in that process.
stress, first of all, that significant portions of the for-
The traditional section of China: 5,oooYears draws
mer imperial collection never left China but
remained in Beijing and elsewhere; the Palace its material from the cultural treasures held in
Museum in Beijing, for example, still holds some
ten thousand premodern paintings and pieces of museums throughout the People's Republic of
calligraphy. Second, major collections remained in China, as well as the discoveries that haw come to
private hands, and many of these works subsequent- light in the last fifty years, to present an expanded
vision of Chinese culture. Professor Sherman Lee is
ly entered public collections in Shanghai (where
approximately six thousand scrolls are located), the chief architect of this enterprise. 1 lis lifetime
Nanjing (about fifteen hundred scrolls), and other
commitment to the art of China, his extraordinary
large and small museums throughout the country.
—professional career which included twenty-six
Finally, large-scale artworks, such as stone sculpture,
which could not be readily removed, remained in years as Director of the Cleveland Museum of Ait.
numerous religious and secular contexts.
where he built one of the great collections oi
It has been noted that China's cultural legacy,
—Chinese antiquities and his reputation .is
unlike that of Greece or Rome, was preserved
America's leading scholar oi Chinese culture have
beneath rather than on the surface of the ground, given him a singular platform from which to for-
due to the long-standing practice of burying art- mulate an exquisite sensitivity toward and under-
works with the deceased. The clandestine opening standing of Chinese art history. Professoi 1 ee's
of tombs began as early as the time of Confucius, in insights, which are reflected in his selection >'t
the fifth century bce, and bronzes and jades so objects for this exhibition, include the dynamic
gathered formed part of the imperial collection in relationships that existed between the earl) Chinese
later centuries. But formal archaeological excava- and the spiritual, natural, and cosmological worlds
tions were virtually unknown in ('lima before the in which the) lived, lie also emphasizes an aggres-
present century, and were not conducted continu- sively innovative and transformative impulse
—rather than a reliance on tradition as the enduring
achievemeni of Chinese art, and he gives an
INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 21
