Whiling Away the Summer
Image and calligraphy: 12 × 53 inches (30.48 × 134.62 cm)
Mount: 12 × 134 inches (30.48 × 340.36 cm)
Overall: 12 × 268 inches (30.48 × 680.72 cm)
Chinese Art Under the Mongols, Yale University Art Gallery, 1968-1969. Traveled to Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, New York; Cleveland Museum of Art, October 1-November 24, 1968; Asia House Gallery, New York.
Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting, Nelson-Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, November 7, 1980 – January 4, 1981; The Cleveland Museum of Art, February 7 – April 5, 1981; The Asia Society, December 3, 1981 – February 28, 1982; Tokyo National Museum, October 4 – November 17, 1982, no. 92.
Senses and Sensibilities in Chinese Painting, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, December 14, 2008- February 15, 2009.
The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty, Metropolitan Museum of Art, September 20, 2010- Janurary 2, 2001, no. 234.
Masterpieces of Early Chinese Painting and Calligraphy in American Collections, Shanghai Museum, October 16, 2012- January 17, 2013, no. 23.1.
The reclining gentleman unwinds to escape a hot, humid summer day, with an ice bucket at his side. This partially clothed man occupies significant space in the room, surrounded by many antiques and books that signify his cultural achievements. In contrast, the two women conversing are background figures, whose dresses cover their bodies. They carry a large fan and a wrapped parcel, waiting to give their attention to the man. The background behind the women is nearly empty, except for banana trees, a warm climate plant often associated with femininity in Chinese art and literature.
Liu Guandao often depicted figures from the court or upper-class families. Although the identity of this family is unknown, we can guess that the women may be the man’s consort and a maid.
Chang Heng;
With C. C. Wang (1907-2003), Shanghai, by 1948;
Purchased from C. C. Wang by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1948.
NOTES:
[1] Wang Jiqian (Chi-Cheng, called C. C. Wang) was an artist, collector and dealer who was known especially for his expertise in Chinese paintings. He emigrated to the United States from China in 1949.
Gao Shiqi, Jiangcun xiao xia lu (Paintings and calligraphy seen by the author, 1690-93). (Hong Kong: 1968), sec. 3.
Wu Xiu 呉修, Qingxiaguan lun hua jue ju 青霞館論畫絶句( preface 1824) MSTS ed. ( Shanghai: 1947 reprint), II/6, p. 199.
Osvald Siren, “Chinese Painting: Leading masters and Principles (New York: 1956-1958), IV: 15, VI: pl. 45.
Li dai ren wu hua xuan ji (Shanghai: 1959) pl. 29.
Antiques Journal, (April, 1961) cover, and p. 7.
Margaret Medley, “Chinese Furniture”, World Furniture, H. Hayward, ed. (London:1965), 275.
Sherman E. Lee, and Wai-kam Ho, “Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yuan Dynasty ( 1279-1368) Exh. Cat., Cleveland Museum of Art, ( Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1968), no. 198.
James Cahill, Hills Beyond a River, Chinese Paintings of the Yuan Dynasty (1976), 153, pl. 68-69.
Ellen Johnson Iaing, “ Six Late Yuan Dynasty Figure Paintings”, Oriental Art, vol. XX, no. 3, pp. 312-313, fig. 10– 11; text pp. 305-316.
Michel Beurdeley, Chinese Furniture (Tokyo, 1979), 38.
Wai-Kam Ho, et al., Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting: The Collections of the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and The Cleveland Museum of Art. (The Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, c1980), 112-113, no. 92.
Marsha Smith Weidner, “Painting and Patronage at the Mongol Court of China, 1260-1368,” Ph. D. Diss., (University of California Berkeley, 1982), 92-112, pl. 35-39.
K.P. Kim, “Two stylistic trends in mid-15th century Korean Painting” Oriental art, (1983-1984), vol. 29, 373, no. 4.
John Hay, Kernels of Energy Bones of Earth The Rock in Chinese Art, (New York: China House Gallery, China Institute in America, 1985).80, pl. 45, fig. 18,.
John Blofield, The Chinese art of Tea (Boston: 1985), pl. 13.
Archives of Asian Art, vol. 39 (1986) 14, fig. 5.
Curtis Evarts : The Development of the Waisted Form and Variations in Its Joinery”, Journal of the classical Chinese Furniture Society, vol. 1, no. 3, Summer Quarter 1991, pp. 41-42, fig. 16.
Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 320.
Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 348, fig. 198.
James C.Y. Watt, The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York: Yale University Press, 2010), 218, fig.234.
Shanghai bo wu guan, Masterpieces of Early Chinese Painting and Calligraphy in American Collections, Shanghai Museum, (Beijing shi: Beijing da xue chu ban she, 2012), 442-443, no. 23.1.
