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‘Alternative Dreams: 17th-Century Chinese Paintings from the Tsao Family Collection’ at the LACMA

Fu Shan (1602–1683): Horsemouth Cliff

Fu Shan (1602–1683): Horsemouth Cliff, from the album, Landscapes
Qing dynasty, ca. 1659, album leaf; ink on paper
The Tsao Family Collection, L.2012.32.42, photo by Michael Tropea

Chinese paintings from the Tsao Collection at LACMA The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) presents ‘Alternative Dreams: 17th-Century Chinese Paintings from the Tsao Family Collection’. August 7–December 4, 2016.]]>

Source: LACMA

The Tsao Family Collection is one of the finest existing collections of Chinese paintings in the United States, formed over a period of 50 years by the late San Francisco Bay Area collector and dealer Jung Ying Tsao (1923–2011).

The 17th century witnessed the fall of the Chinese-ruled Ming dynasty (1368–1644), the founding of the Manchu-ruled Qing dynasty (1644–1911), and was one of the most turbulent and creative eras in the history of Chinese art. Comprising over 120 paintings, the exhibition explores ways in which artists of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties used painting, calligraphy, and poetry to create new identities as a means of negotiating the social disruptions that accompanied the fall of the Ming dynasty. “Alternative Dreams” presents work by over 80 artists, many of whom are the most famous painters of this period—including scholars, officials, and Buddhist monks.

About the Exhibition
“Alternative Dreams” is divided into nine sections arranged both chronologically and geographically: Dong Qichang and Painting in Songjiang; the Nine Friends of Painting; Painting in Suzhou and Hangzhou; Painting in Fujian and Jiangxi; Painting in Nanjing; The Anhui School; The Orthodox School; Buddhist Monks; and Flower and Bird Painting.

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'Alternative Dreams: 17th-Century Chinese Paintings from the Tsao Family Collection' at the LACMA