         
|
|
||
|
1st appeared 28 June 2000 NINA'S ARTS NOTES
Stupendous Show at the Asian Arts Museum The largest show ever mounted at SF’s Asian Arts Museum is an enthralling voyage through The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology.
The 234 artifacts beautifully displayed in the ground floor galleries constitute the most extraordinary collection of art objects ever to come from the People’s Republic. In some cases, such as that of a 500-pound bronze vessel and a stand of 26 bronze bells dating from 400 BCE, the crating, shipping, and careful placing of the artworks are also extraordinary feats, considering that they came from China to the National Gallery in Washington DC, where 200,000 people saw them, and then to 80,000 viewers at the Houston Art Museum before their safe arrival in San Francisco. You’ll see delicate jade carvings, finelywrought gold and silver, a wonderful giltbronze striding dragon, fantastical creatures of many kinds, Neolithic pottery, elephant tusks from a time when the great beasts roamed over China, a centuries-old fragile piece of embroidered silk, and two lifesize men’s burial suits made from thousands of little jade squares sewn together with original gold wire, as well as examples of the terracotta warriors from the second century BCE whose discovery at Xi’an in the 1970s aroused so much worldwide attention.
Spanning 57 centuries, these magnificent objects from ancient tombs and temples all across China -- many of them never before seen in America -- have been excavated mainly during the last 25 years and have cast new light on the entire history of Chinese art and civilization. The Asian has installed very clear and informative wall signs, not too many, and there is also a recorded audio tour. For the convenience of Bay Area visitors, the Museum has scheduled special extended hours for this show. The 584-page catalogue has articles by 23 experts and scholars from many countries and over 200 color illustrations: it’s a treasure to keep and a bargain at $50. It is available in the special Museum shop, which also, among many other things, has exact replicas of the terracotta warriors in various sizes. This is a fabulous exhibition you will want to see many times. The Asian is convenient to UCSF employees at the Parnassus campus and unquestionably worth booking ahead for everyone. The great pity would be to wait too long and miss it. The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology, now to September 11, 2000. Asian Art Museum, adjacent to the De Young, Golden Gate Park (entrance from 8th Ave. & Kennedy Drive, across from the Music Concourse). Closed Mondays. Tues, through Sun. 9.30 to 5 with evening hours Thurs, Fri, Sat until 9 p.m. Regular Museum admission plus a $6 per person surcharge. Members free. Order tickets, 800/965-4827 or online. A San Francisco resident for 20 years, Nina Beckwith is a longtime arts writer and music critic and a former Time magazine overseas correspondent. She was founding editor of the UC Berkeley Library newsletter Bene Legere and worked for six years with the late Dr. Peter Ostwald, Director of the UCSF Health Program for Performing Artists. |
|||
|
DAYBREAK
| ARCHIVES
| CALENDAR
| CAMPUS
NOTES Copyright ©1999 Regents
of the University of California. All rights reserved. |
|||
A
huge startling bronze two-sided mask seems to remind one of pre-Columbian
features, except that this one dates from 1200-1050 BCE and has "revised
our understanding of the archaeological context of an entire region,"
according to one of the scholars.