Gems of Chinese painting: a voyage along the Yangzi River

Exhibition at the British Museum focusing on art from the area of the Yanzi River in China.

I know very little about Chinese art but the more I see of it the more intriguing and beautiful I find it. I come at it with a fresh and open eye as the work has no strict time table in my head. I am often struck at how early an amazingly fresh and new looking piece of work is. The earliest I spotted was by an artist active between 1131 and 1162 and we know their name, Ma Hezhi. How many names of Western artists of that date do we know?

I loved a picture of a pig and piglets by Wang Su and also a bustling picture of an Imperial Inspection of the region which was full of life and crowds.

I loved the humanity of the work in this display and I want to see more and learn more.

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