“Some women are like clouds…”

The museum’s collection of classical Chinese paintings comprises over 350 works by painters from the 16th century to the beginning of the 20th century and includes all existing genres. The ancient scrolls of Chinese masters, inimitable in the methods of their artistic expression, materials and technique, depict a panorama of people’s lives, natural landscapes, and unique phenomena. Women’s beauty has been a leading theme in paintings from the dawn of its invention to modern times. The woman’s image has become the personification of complex religious and philosophical ideals. These comprise Confucian ideas on the morality of virtue, modesty, discretion, and inner beauty, reflected in exquisite behavior; the Taoist ideals of supernatural physical beauty and harmony, embodied in the image of the heaven fairy; the Buddhists’ ideas on the female nature, which gives life to one’s reincarnations on the way toward nirvana. Regardless of the ideas behind the paintings, the methods of their artistic expression are unique. Lines hold a dominant position. The brilliant artists are able to transmit the character, behavior and emotional state of a person with a stroke of the brush. In classical painting an important role is attributed to the symbolic content of any picture; not without reason do the Chinese say “read a painting.” The laconic personages and objects around them contain versatile semantic and symbolic meanings. The Chinese paintings allows us to penetrate a world of myths, historical epics, to enter the family mansions where ordinary women lived and raised their children, organized family holidays, had fun, played music, and painted.

The exhibit presents paintings that allow one to get an idea about the creative work of such talented female painters as Tong Shi (approximately 923-956), Guan Daosheng (1262-1319), Yun Bing (1650-1735) whose names went down in history together with the names of the most prominent male painters. The museum also exhibits the works by the following famous painters: Tang Yin (1470-1523), Qiu Ying (1494-1522), Zhang Zhong (18th century), Yu Ji (1737-1823), Fei Dangxiu (approximately 1802-50), Wang Shu (1800 – date of death is unknown) — all known for the images of women that they created.

The exhibit will be open till April 17.