“Where the land ends and the sea begins,” said the Portuguese poet, Luís Vaz de Camões (?-1580). These two lines described how the edge of the land was precisely the starting point of the sea. The context of his words bore witness to the desire for venturing overseas, which pervaded Europe during the 16th century, while encapsulating the encounters among people from different parts of the world.

“Small World,” the theme of the Taipei Biennial 2023, suggests both a promise and a threat: a promise of greater control over one’s own life, and a threat of isolation from a larger community. Our world can become smaller as we grow closer to one another, but also as we grow apart, and “Small World” takes place within such a suspended state. 

Traditional imperial living spaces were meticulously planned and constructed. The institutions involved in the planning had well-defined roles, including surveying and measurement, drawing and design, materials estimation, construction execution, and final inspection. The scale of involvement was vast, requiring significant human and material resources.

To meet the need for recording information and ideas, unique forms of calligraphy (the art of writing) have been part of the Chinese cultural tradition through the ages.

The history of Chinese painting can be compared to a symphony. The styles and traditions in figure, landscape, and bird-and-flower painting have formed themes that continue to blend to this day into a single piece of music.

Since 2011, the National Palace Museum initiated a series of high-resolution long scroll painting animations.

It is difficult to fathom “laboring at study by a cold window,” an idiom known to many Chinese that reflects, both then and now, the life of a student who perseveres in the pursuit of knowledge. But for the Manchu imperial sons who were brought up in the palace and literally “born with a silver spoon in their mouths,” training in both academic and military skills were just as rigorous, if not more. Their student life was not nearly as easy-going as many people nowadays might think or imagine.

Before the invention of writing, oral and pictorial traditions were the main means of conveying information. But after the development of writing, texts and images could be combined to not only form a more complete system of communication but also to enrich the artistic nature of the written text.

Since 2011, the National Palace Museum initiated a series of six high-resolution long scroll painting animations. Using the latest technology, several high-resolution 1080 HD projectors seamlessly unfold sceneries from classical long scroll paintings on the wall. The painting animation series reproduces nine popular paintings and calligraphy, including Up the River During Qingming (Qing court artists), Spring Morning in the Han Palace (Qiu Ying), Imitating Zhao Bosu's Latter Ode on the Red Cliff (Wen Zhengming), Syzygy of the Sun, Moon, and Five Planets (Xu Yang), Departure Herald (Anonymous), Return Clearing (Anonymous) and Activities of the Twelve Lunar Months (Qing court artists), One Hundred Horses (Giuseppe Castligione), The Cold Food Observance (Su Shi), Poem in Seven-character Verse (Huang Tingjian). Inspired by historical material related to the artworks, the animations faithfully present the true spirit of the original paintings and their most attractive parts. A fascinating feature of the long scroll painting is its ability to simultaneously manifest chronological continuity and segmentation. As a result of the unique painting scale and traditional right to left reading direction, painting compositions unfurl accordingly and emphasize horizontal relationships. Oftentimes, scenes occurring at different points in time were depicted on a single scroll.

To meet the need for recording information and ideas, unique forms of calligraphy (the art of writing) have been part of the Chinese cultural tradition through the ages. Naturally finding applications in daily life, calligraphy still serves as a continuous link between the past and the present. The development of calligraphy, long a subject of interest in Chinese culture, is the theme of this exhibit, which presents to the public selections from the National Palace Museum collection arranged in chronological order for a general overview.

This exhibition will focus on the narratives surroundings the museum’s cultural relics, and extend them into two interesting branches: the “Trail of Master Painter,” which revolved around Giuseppe Castiglione's artistic relics, and the “Journey through the Four Seasons” based on the museum’s collections of landscape paintings.

The Three Taoist Officials Making an Inspection Tour

The history of Chinese painting can be compared to a symphony. The styles and traditions in figure, landscape, and bird-and-flower painting have formed themes that continue to blend to this day into a single piece of music. Painters through the ages have made up this "orchestra," composing and performing many movements and variations within this tradition.

Exhibit List

Copy of Gu Kaizhi's “Goddess of the Luo River” Ding Guanpeng (fl. 1708-1771), Qing dynasty

Lifting the Alms Bowl, Zhu Fu (fl. 1368-1398), Ming dynasty

Raising the Alms Bowl Attributed to Qiu Ying (ca. 1482-1559), Ming dynasty

“Text on Dispelling the Ghost of Weariness” and a Landscape, Huang Yingchen (fl. 1644-1722), Qing dynasty

After a Tang Painting on “Yü the Great Controlling Floods” Xie Sui (fl. 1736-1795), Qing dynasty

Zhou Wenju’s “Yü the Great Controlling Floods” with an Imperial Inscription Anonymous, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)

Tapestry of the Buddhist Pure Land with an Imperial Eulogy of Praise Anonymous, Qing dynasty (1644-1911)

The fourth edition of Taipei Dangdai Art & Ideas will showcase the best of the world’s galleries with a strong emphasis on new and exciting voices from Asia. Taipei Dangdai presents a vital opportunity for collectors and visitors to engage with the rich Taiwanese and wider Asian art scene through exceptional quality artworks and programming. As one of the most significant contemporary art fairs in Asia, Taipei Dangdai, presented by UBS, takes place from 12-14 May, 2023, at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center.

The National Palace Museum collection includes nearly 700,000 priceless cultural artifacts. Deeply aware of the importance of preservation and conservation, the Museum has established the only independent department of conservation in Taiwan. It includes four divisions for the conservation of calligraphy and painting, rare books and historical documents, objects, and textiles, as well as a science laboratory for the preventive preservation and conservation, the research on the history of crafts, and the collection of cultural relics.

The history of Chinese painting can be compared to a symphony. The styles and traditions in figure, landscape, and bird-and-flower painting have formed themes that continue to blend to this day into a single piece of music. Painters through the ages have made up this "orchestra," composing and performing many movements and variations within this tradition.

"Up the River During Qingming" is a masterpiece of genre painting, with many replications done over the centuries. This version, completed in 1736, the first year of the Qianlong Emperor's reign, was the collaborative effort of five Qing court artists—Chen Mei, Sun Hu, Jin Kun, Dai Hong, and Cheng Zhidao. Known as the "Qing court version," the hand scroll is richly detailed and faithful to the styles and contents of previous versions. Notable features are bright coloring, mature brushwork, ruled-line architectural representation, and the fine and exact rendering of the figures. Although it departs from the old Song dynasty prototype, it is still an invaluable source of study for Ming and Qing society and customs.

To meet the need for recording information and ideas, unique forms of calligraphy (the art of writing) have been part of the Chinese cultural tradition through the ages. Naturally finding applications in daily life, calligraphy still serves as a continuous link between the past and the present. The development of calligraphy, long a subject of interest in Chinese culture, is the theme of this exhibit, which presents to the public selections from the National Palace Museum collection arranged in chronological order for a general overview.

The Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana is the library of the popes. Inaugurated in the mid-15th century, it was conceived as an institution “for the common convenience of learned men (pro communi doctorum vivorum commodo),” one “of all manuscripts in both Latin and Greek that is worthy of the dignity of the Pope and the Apostolic See (liborum omnium tum latinorum tum grecorum bibliotecam condecentem pontificis et sedis apostolicae dignitati).”

Imitating Zhao Bosu's Illustration of the Latter Red Cliff
Wen Zhengming (1470 - 1559), Ming dynasty
Handscroll, ink and color on silk, 31.5 × 541.6 cm

Wang Shizhen (1526-1590), an important historian and litterateur of the Ming dynasty, has many works to his name. Also a devoted member of the arts, he took part in almost all of the major cultural realms of his day. Of particular note was the fact that he astutely observed the flourishing of society in the sixteenth century during the later part of the Ming dynasty. This special exhibition examines the fascinating life of Wang Shizhen and his endeavors, offering a glimpse at the cultural efflorescence of the late Ming that bore witness to exceptional creativity and diverse competition in cultural life at the time. And through the eyes and under the brush of Wang Shizhen as a historian, it offers a unique perspective on the cultural underpinnings of this flourishing age.

The exhibition shows that porcelains with painted enamels of the three reigns of the Qing dynasty, Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong (1662-1795), are the most iconic porcelain wares in the 18th century. Also, it elaborates these three stages of styles were established with the invention and development of the pigments as well as the different requests for the official wares from the Emperors.