Rocks, Mountains, Landscapes and Gardens: The Essence of East Asian Painting ('04)

Recognized for their special aesthetic qualities and appreciated in their own right as abstract works of art, rocks have served for centuries in China, Korea, and Japan as the building blocks of East Asian landscape paintings: magnified in scale, the rocks become mountains; embellished with rivers, trees, and winding paths, the mountains become complete landscapes. Large towering rocks appealed to the scholar’s love of mountains and, when placed in a garden, brought the mountain into an urban setting. Smaller rocks were often placed upon pedestals and given pride of place in the scholar’s studio. The rock represented a microcosm of the universe upon which one could meditate in one’s home or garden. The abstract, formal qualities of rocks also appealed to literati artists. Drawn mainly from the Museum’s permanent collection, this exhibition explores the place of rocks within the context of East Asian art and features a small selection of superb garden and scholar’s rocks and several newly acquired paintings depicting rocks in various settings.

Organized by Robert D. Mowry, Alan J. Dworsky Curator of Chinese Art.