Open Parameters-Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century’s Chinese Calligraphy and Paintings from the Zhou Cezong Donation

Abstract

Open Parameters—late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s Chinese calligraphy and paintings from the Zhou Cezong donation explores the diversity of late nineteenth and early twentieth century Chinese calligraphy and painting, which has long been denigrated as a reflection of cultural stagnation. However, here is demonstrated its resilience and splendor, bringing the overlooked subjects to the forefront of twenty-first-century scholarship. This exhibition also challenges the long-established terms of “traditionality” and “modernity” used to define Chinese fin de siècle art: instead of seeing them as mutually exclusive concepts with fixed characteristics, this exhibition redefines them as fluid categories influenced by the late Ming literati and Western modernization.