Author Description

"At the end of the sixteenth century, Tung Ch'i-ch'ang (1555-1636), painter, calligrapher, connoisseur, art historian and theoretician, and quintessential scholar-official, revolutionized Chinese painting and calligraphy. He brought to these arts a new vision and historical perspective, and established the direction both would follow for centuries to come. Indeed, he is generally recognized as the most important and influential figure in Chinese art to have appeared since the fourteenth century. The Century of Tung Ch'i-ch'ang, the first major exhibition and publication of Tung's painting and calligraphy, reappraises this unparalleled artist in light of modern scholarship. Not only are his most important works included in this study, but examples of the works of more than forty major seventeenth century artists who were influenced by his genius have also been assembled to demonstrate his enormous impact on both the Orthodox and Individualist movements of later Chinese painting. This international project, organized by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri, has been realized through the unprecedented cooperation of China's two preeminent museums, the Beijing Palace Museum and the Shanghai Museum. One hundred of the one hundred and seventy-one works in the exhibition are on loan from these two renowned collections. The material is rare, and hitherto unknown masterpieces are made available for the first time to scholars and the general public alike. The remaining works have been gathered from the most important public and private collections in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Europe, Australia, and North America. This two-volume scholarly catalogue, featuring more than seven hundred illustrations and including extensive biographical, chronological, and critical material, is the work of a venerable team of international scholars who have made major contributions to the study of Tung Ch'i-ch'ang and his extraordinary influence on the history and evolution of C