“Qing Chao – Late Qing Life in Exported Art” special exhibition launched in Chengdu

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Chengdu, April 13 ,

The special exhibition “Qing Chao – Late Qing Life in Exported Art” hosted by Mumu Art Museum was launched in Chengdu on the afternoon of the 13th. The exhibition uses nearly 200 Qing Dynasty export paintings collected by Mumu Art Museum, combined with Qing Dynasty clothing, ceramics, snuff bottles, furniture, etc., to bring visitors a “panoramic view of Chinese social life from the 18th to 19th centuries.” picture”.

It is understood that export paintings are commercial paintings that are specially painted for Western customers and sold overseas. The subject matter of export paintings is extremely broad, showing various aspects of Chinese social life, natural scenery and other aspects, which greatly satisfies Western society’s curiosity about China. Most of them are made by professional folk painters and painters. According to the aesthetic needs of Westerners, they combine traditional Chinese painting techniques and Western perspective techniques, presenting an artistic style of “Chinese and Western”.

　Before the invention and popularization of photography, export paintings were deeply loved by missionaries, envoys and businessmen in China. As travel souvenirs, they were purchased in large quantities and brought back to their home countries as gifts to relatives and friends. As an intuitive source of visual history, it complements and corroborates written records, and is called “history painting” by scholars.

　　Many of the export paintings on display in the special exhibition “Qing Chao – Late Qing Life in Export Art” were exhibited in mainland China for the first time. The exhibition is divided into nine parts: business, leisure, etiquette, festivals, and funeral customs. It provides rich image data for today’s study of the social style of the late Qing Dynasty, especially the customs that have disappeared.

Source: Chinanews