| Amid the spacious and magnificently wooded | | | | the twisting and turning of images, lending |
| campus with old growth trees, we approached | | | | a softness to the works. These pieces had |
| the red brick, eclectic Victorian, late 19th | | | | such a naturalistic look with an uncanny |
| Century University Fine Arts Museum | | | | resemblance to early photographic negatives, |
| building, AKA, "Old Gym." We had | | | | with darks and lights being reversed. I |
| arrived--destination Vanderbilt University, | | | | bonded with a Western Han Dynasty bronze |
| Nashville TN, five millennia of Chinese art. | | | | tripod vessel used to cook meat. Heavy , |
| | | | substantial and well designed, I wondered |
| As avid University Museum buffs, this was a | | | | what kinds of meals it cooked in its time. |
| new "site." Joseph Mella, museum director, | | | | |
| kindly lead us through the exhibit --Beauty | | | | This exhibit included bronze vessels, |
| and Power: Chinese Art from the Vanderbilt | | | | carvings in jade, Buddhist images, lacquer |
| University Fine Arts Collection. | | | | pieces, ceramic ware, arts of the tomb, |
| | | | scholarly paintings and ancestral portraits. |
| The wood floored, high ceilinged gallery held | | | | Joseph Mella gave a very complete description |
| 66 pieces dating from within the Neolithic | | | | of the genesis of the present collection with |
| period (6000-2000 B.C.E.) to Qing Dynasty | | | | detailed accounts of many of the patrons who |
| pieces (1616-1911). | | | | made the collection possible through generous |
| | | | gifts over the past 35 years. One strikingly |
| Perched on a platform above eye level was a | | | | elegant piece was called Vessel with incised |
| life sized Buddhist sculpture. This | | | | Lilies. This Ding white porcelain vase was |
| Bodhisattva (a Buddhist designation for one | | | | made for the Royal Family from the Northern |
| who postpones Nirvana until all sentient | | | | Song Dynasty. It was donated in 1999 and, as |
| beings have been saved) was made of clay | | | | one of the collection highlights, is valued |
| with painted and gilded decoration. Gazing | | | | at $200,000. |
| with eyes from the 17th Century, its serene | | | | |
| face and meditative lotus pose captured our | | | | We returned the following day to spend more |
| attention and "held us." | | | | time encountering the beauty and the power of |
| | | | the pieces and felt awed to have been in |
| Pieces which let us travel further back in | | | | touch with "glimpses" of past Chinese life, |
| time were two jade ritual funerary objects | | | | through its art. The gallery offers a quiet |
| from Neolithic gravesites. A green "bi Disk" | | | | setting to experience works. This exhibit |
| was of flat circular form with a smaller | | | | closed September 22 and was in conjunction |
| concentric opening. A second piece was in the | | | | with a lecture on September 20, 2007 entitled |
| form of a four sided cylinder. Referred to | | | | Sino-Tibetan Tankas for the Ming Court, given |
| as a "cong" this object for the dead had an | | | | by Marsha Haufler, Professor of Art History |
| incised surface and a most perfectly formed | | | | at the University of Kansas. |
| hollow shaft interior. What was this tomb | | | | |
| piece used for? Suggestion was that it was a | | | | A new exhibit entitled More Than One: New |
| protective object, used in the afterlife. We | | | | Contemporary Prints and Multiples from the |
| mused on the significance of using jade. | | | | Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Collection |
| | | | will run from October 4 - December 7, 2007 |
| Eugene was inspired by a group of four Qing | | | | |
| dynasty scrolls. The free brush work of | | | | Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery is |
| paint on the long and narrow black paper | | | | located at 23rd and West End Avenues, |
| showed the use of "chiaroscuro " to shade out | | | | Nashville, Tn. |