Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 8 : Pressclippings, 1977-1981

• ID antiquity i(USTRALIA is host this year to a magnificent collec– tion of Chinese paintings of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the 14th to 20th centuries. The exhibition will be seen at the Queensland Art Gallery, 160 Ann Street, Brllb • ne, from June 2 to July 19. It Is the first exhibition of classical p • latlnp to be held abroad since the establishment of the People's Repub– lic aad ls the first major International cultural exchanae manaaed by the l • ternatlonal Cultural Corporation of A•tralla. THE origins or Chinese painting arc rounded in antiquity. It is a tradition with a long historr and its own outstanding characteristics, with works or immortal stature and a vivid national style. Peaks or achievement and high points or art have constantly appeared in the course or its develoyment. In Chinese painting o the Ming and Qing dynasties, many artists created their own individual styles and formed numerous schools, basing themselves on the traditions or earlier painters. Many or the works in this exhibition arc representative ones by outstanding masters or the Ming and Qing dynasties. Their breadth or themes and richness or content form a marvellous tapestry. Among the aspects or the world or nature depicted arc landscapes, animals, flowers, birds, insects and fish, famous mountains and great rivers, mists and groves or bamboo, magnificent palaces and cottage scenes. All or these arc included in the paintings. The many facets or social activity arc also portrayed m detail - from the lishc, man casting his net, the herdboy tendin~ his cattle and the peasant ploughing, to genteel maidens in quiet elegance and literati and scholars drinking and writing poems. The styles or the artists include , realistic paintings, characterised by line brushwork and close attention to detail where each stroke, executed with precision, carries weight. There are also freehand paintings with rcw strokes or the brush and scattered ink dots. No matter which brush technique is employed, each work expresses the deep love or the artists for nature and for lifo, so that even with a fow brush strokes outstanding artists have been able to impress their inner feelings and individual personalities upon their work. This exhibition brings togct her gems or the collections from the museums of twelve Chinese provinces and cities including Beijing, Shanghai. Tianjin. Nanjing, Liaoning. Shandong. Guang– dong, Zhejiang and Jiangxi, totalling 100 paintings by more than 80 artists. ABOVE: "Portrait of Hu Erzao", dated 1627 by Zeng Jing ( 1568 1650). The austere and scholar– ly figure of Hu Erzao, about whom nothing Is unfortunately known, sits on a rock beneath gnarled pines beside a tumbling stream. The precision of the drawing of the figure and the delicate lines of the features contrast with the more robust and expressive style of the landscape. LEFT: "Myriad Peaks and Cliffs", dated 1601, by Wu Bin (active c. 1568-1621). The viewer Is invited to enter the landscape from the bottom left corner and wander within it in imagination, climbing the as– cenillng path which winds around a succession of rising peaks and disappears Into the misty clouds. One is then brought down by the undulating flow of a stream. A recluse's cottage Is half-hidden among the foreground trees anil rocks. Siinday Mail COLN MAAA&ffll CONTENTS ChineN Painting• 2-8 Our Strange PHI 10 Your Star • 18 What do you Know? 18 Care of Pet1 18 DHign for Living 19-20 Gardening 21-22 Cooking 23 The Catholic Enquiry Centre offm • clur out– line of the t11chlng1 of th• Catholic Church. Those who • re not C • tholics • re invited to writ, for • frH 20-bookllt course. We 11u • r1nt11: • STRICT CONFIDENCE. NO ONE CALLS. • QUESTIONS ASKED ARE ANSWERED PERSON· ALLY BY MAIL. • PLAIN SEALED ENVELOPES ARE USED. • BOOKLETS ARE ABSOLUTELY FREE. We believe these booklets will dispel much mis• understanding and help promote Christian Unity. ••• • •• • SENDCOUPON NOW I ••• •• • • • • • • : Pleas, send me, wltho~t obllgatlon, your free series • · of booklets. I am not a Rom.an Catholic. • : Mr./Mrs.Mlss••.••• • .. • • . • : Address, • ••• •• • •••••••••••••••• •• ••• • • , . .. ... , ••• .. , •••.•... , • • PoslcOde •••• : 8S24581 ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Sunday Mall Co/or, May 24, 1981 · 3