CHINA #1

FOUGARO is hosting in its BLUE2 space a show dedicated to Chinese culture, with paintings and artefacts infused with the history and aura of this ancient civilization. The exhibits belong to the FKPCOLLECTION, and are complemented by items belonging to D. Xanthoulis

The idea behind the exhibition was to bring into view neglected aspects of Chinese daily life from around the turn of the 19th century: CHINA #1 focuses on female portraits (known as meiren hua) of the Qing dynasty, reverse glass and mirror paintings in oil displayed here for the first time. These stylized portraits, with a tendency for latent or sometimes more overt eroticism, depict idealized female beauty, and were highly popular in both China and the West. They were produced in workshops in Canton Province (Guangzhou), the location of China’s principal commercial port for exports to Europe and the USA in the wake of the Opium Wars.

Two rare realistic landscapes depicting industrial buildings and trains date to the same period. The aerial perspective of Chinese landscape painting serves here to render scenes from a world that was rapidly changing due to industrialization, at the time of transition from imperial to modern China. These works are interspersed with objects, wooden cages and boxes intended for various uses, small furniture items, stools and chairs. Two exquisite armoires of lacquered elm and fir wood from Zhejiang Province, a hand-carved console table from southern China, two hanging lanterns and a Ming-era ceramic horse (1368–1644) stand out for their artistry.

The exhibition also includes a series of clay vessels of various sizes used in the kitchen or for transporting and storing commodities. The oldest of these items is a vase of light-colored clay from the period of the Tang dynasty (618–907), and two larger Shizhou pots for transporting wine, with monochrome decoration from the Qing era (1636–1912).

The exhibition is rounded off by two contemporary works from the FKPCOLLECTION: a photograph by Marina Abramović with a drawing by her titled The lovers: the great China walk III, from the time (1998) when she walked the Great Wall of China with her partner Ulay, plus an emblematic portrait on canvas by the Spanish artist Manuel Rodriquez of Wanrong (1906–1946), the tragic wife and empress consort of Puyi, the last Emperor of China.