Philadelphia, PA (June 8, 2021)— The Philadelphia Museum of art announced today that it will display in its American galleries The Arch of Nero, a masterpiece by the great 19th-century American landscape painter Thomas Cole (1801–1848), as a long-term loan from the Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen PhD Foundation. Purchased by the Foundation at Sotheby’s American art auction in New York on May 19, 2021, this painting was one of a number of works of art sold by the Newark Museum of Art in Newark, New Jersey, to raise funds for the direct care of its collection. The Arch of Nero was widely considered to be the most important of the works sold by the museum. The Jacobsen Foundation, an organization dedicated to sharing its collection of American art with museums across the country, purchased The Arch of Nero intending to keep this important painting in the public domain. It will be placed on view in Gallery 208 of the Philadelphia Museum of Art beginning July 2, 2021.

Cole painted The Arch of Nero at the height of his powers in 1846, drawing upon his memory and sketches made in Italy in 1832. A boldly composed image with Cole’s typically expressive handling, the subject focuses on a monumental arch, ravaged by the passage of time and seen against green hills and a bright blue sky with gathering clouds. Known as the “Arch of Nero” in Cole’s day, the subject of this painting was actually part of an ancient Roman aqueduct near Tivoli. To Cole, this ruin served as a meditation on the transitory glory of empires and the cycle of rise and fall of civilizations repeated throughout world history. The aura of emperor Nero’s violent and decadent rule (54–68 CE) hangs over this painting, representing in Cole’s vision an era when the Roman republic had devolved into a corrupt and tyrannical empire. Painted in the year that the United States invaded Mexico in a thinly veiled land grab, The Arch of Nero calls to mind the similarly greedy expansion of the Roman empire and its ultimate ruin. As the Cole scholar William L. Coleman has noted, the artist’s lesson on the fate of tyrants, his concern over the erosion of republican values in this country, and his critique of the nation’s expansion of colonial (and slaveholding) territories—implicit in his choice of the subject of this painting and its red, white, and blue-clad figures—remains pertinent today.

Revered in his lifetime, Cole was recognized as the leader of a group of New York-based landscape artists known as the Hudson River School. His legacy can be seen in the galleries of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the work of artists who were inspired by his example, such as Asher B. Durand, Frederic E. Church, Albert Bierstadt, Sanford Gifford, Martin Johnson Heade, and George Inness. The museum owns two early paintings by Cole, but no painting that represents his finest and most mature work. “We are thrilled to have this great painting in our galleries,” said Kathleen A. Foster, the museum’s Robert L. McNeil Jr. Senior Curator of American Art, “and we are grateful to the Jacobsen Foundation for ensuring that it will continue to be seen by the public for years to come.”

At the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Arch of Nero will be presented in context with works by Cole’s Hudson River School peers and other important examples of mid-late 19th-century American landscapes that capture the romanticism of the age.

About The Thomas H. and Diane DeMell Jacobsen PhD Foundation

The mission of the Jacobsen Foundation is “to carefully research and obtain American masterpieces, provide restoration, if necessary, and facilitate long-term loans to accredited major museums and traveling exhibitions.” This unique program allows curators to affordably complement works in their museum galleries and to build enriched education programs. The Foundation Collection, coupled with the founder’s personal collection, is composed of 400 works of art, featuring paintings, sculptures, works on paper, silver, glass, ceramics, and furniture. Since its inception in 2011, the Foundation has offered loans to over 30 major museums, as well as a traveling exhibition drawn from the collection, “The Art of Seating,” that appeared in twenty-eight venues throughout North America.

Another major oil painting recently acquired by the Jacobsen Foundation, Mary Cassatt’s Baby Charles Looking over his Mother’s Shoulder (No. 3) of 1900, was sold by the Brooklyn Museum. Like the Cole, it will continue to be enjoyed by the public, as it will be placed on loan this summer to The Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina.

About the Philadelphia Museum of Art

We are Philadelphia’s art museum. A world-renowned collection. A landmark building. A place that welcomes everyone. We bring the arts to life, inspiring visitors—through scholarly study and creative play—to discover the spirit of imagination that lies in everyone. We connect people with the arts in rich and varied ways, making the experience of the Museum surprising, lively, and always memorable. We are committed to inviting visitors to see the world—and themselves—anew through the beauty and expressive power of the arts.

Social Media @philamuseum

For additional information, contact the Communications Department of the Philadelphia Museum of Art at pressroom@philamuseum.org. The Museum is located on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26th Street. For general information, call 215-763-8100.

The reinstallation of the American galleries will be broad-ranging and inclusive, inviting visitors to confront the interaction and competition between different cultures and placing an emphasis on the contributions of individuals and groups that have long been underrepresented in presentations of American art. The exceptional strength of the museum’s collection is in the arts produced in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in and around Philadelphia, which by the 1750s had become one of the largest English-speaking cities outside the British Isles. Additionally, the reinstallation will offer a nuanced picture of the many different cultural and economic forces—not only from Great Britain and Europe, but also from the Caribbean, Central and South America, Asia, and Africa—that shaped artistic development in the Atlantic seaboard colonies. The reinstallation will examine issues related to the encounters between colonists and Indigenous peoples and the role of enslavement in the financing and production of art. It will also highlight lesser-known or overlooked stories of the work of Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and women artists, presenting visitors with fresh thinking about how different cultures intersected with each other in a new environment from which emerged the diverse art forms that we define today as uniquely American.

American Encounters

This first of the museum’s new galleries of American art will encourage visitors to think broadly about art, history, and geography as it presents the work of the many groups—Indigenous, European, and African—that came into contact and often conflict with each other in North, Central, and South America, creating new cultures that developed through colonization, often by force. The interpretive perspectives presented in this installation are grounded in the Philadelphia area, which was known as Lenapehoking, the ancestral home of the Lenape people. Lenape artists will be represented by works on loan from the Board of Trustees of the Atwater Kent Museum (Philadelphia History Museum), the Historical Society of Pennsylvania Collection, and the City of Philadelphia. Works include a legendary wampum belt said to have been presented as a gift to William Penn in 1682 at the Treaty of Shackamaxon to symbolize an ill-fated promise of peaceful coexistence. Portraits made a half-century later by the Swedish-born Gustavus Hesselius, also to be on loan from the city, depict Lapowinsa and Tishcohan, the Lenape leaders who met with Penn’s sons to resolve a land dispute and were subsequently betrayed by the infamous “Walking Treaty.” These dignified and sympathetic portraits are among the finest and earliest painted representations of Indigenous Americans to have been made by Europeans in the colonies. From the same period, fine furniture in the sober Quaker taste will express the plain but elegant aesthetics of Pennsylvania’s English Protestant community in the early 18^th century.

This gallery will also introduce the presence of Africans in North American colonies, represented by ironwork made with enslaved labor at local foundries, and silver from a workshop where a silversmith was enslaved. It will include an unusual portrait, today called Young Archer with Parrot, which conveys an especially provocative representation of an unknown African boy, probably enslaved, clad in European finery, with a Brazilian parrot and an Indigenous North American bow and arrow. Perhaps painted by a Dutch artist, the painting is a product of the complex transatlantic networks of European colonization.

Among the works created in Central and South America, which often reflect a Catholic drama and grandeur rarely seen in the Protestant northern colonies, will be a pair of “castas”, or caste paintings, documenting the elaborate system of racial categorization developed under Spanish rule. Examples of a genre that emerged in Mexico during in the mid-1700s, these paintings depict parents of different racial backgrounds (Spanish, African, Indigenous) with their children, labeled with a specific linguistic term (e.g., “mestizo”) to describe the child’s heritage. Intended to document the emerging multi-ethnic societies of this hemisphere, large sets of castas were produced for audiences in Spain concerned about defining and maintaining social hierarchies.

Global Connections

A network of global exchange connected the early American colonies with a wider world of luxury goods, materials, and stylistic innovation. In this gallery visitors will encounter works created in the European colonies that demonstrate patterns of trade and satisfied a growing demand for luxury goods. An opulent Japanned High Chest from Boston, made about 1733-37, will show how eighteenth-century Americans coveted Asian works of art, and how artists imitated their styles and materials for a local market.

Another section of this gallery will highlight the long journeys that raw materials and finished goods took to and from the colonies of British North America. A splendid silver tankard produced in New York, for example, made from coins minted in Europe that were in turn made from precious metal mined with forced labor in Spanish colonies in Mexico and South America, will serve to illustrate how people in the Americas imported and exported goods, materials, and ideas, as well as people. The section will note that enslaved people worked to procure valuable materials, such as mahogany and silver, and often cared for the fine objects made from them. The money with which the wealthy classes bought these goods was often intrinsically connected with the system of slavery. Even those who were not enslavers could profit through investment in the slave trade and its products, or by selling food and clothing for the enslaved.

Loyalty and Independence

Conflicting notions of dependence and independence in the era of the American Revolution were reflected by the artists working during this period. Many, especially those trained in European visual and craft traditions, were torn between the limited opportunities they faced in the colonies and the possibility of achieving greater success abroad. These include Benjamin West, who will be represented by the trend-setting neoclassical painting, Agrippina Returning with the Ashes of Germanicus, and John Singleton Copley, whose complex portrait of a revolutionary couple Thomas and Sarah Mifflin will greet visitors entering the gallery. Both painters would enjoy success in London, inspiring Benjamin Franklin to lament, “All our geniuses go to Europe.” Their paintings will be shown together with superb works by those who stayed in the colonies and backed the revolution, such as Paul Revere’s silver teapot, and Charles Willson Peale’s portrait of the Revolutionary War general John Cadwalader standing with his wife, Elizabeth Lloyd, the heiress of a wealthy planter, and their child, seated on elegant furniture made in Philadelphia in the highest rococo style. Together the works displayed in this section of the new installation will examine how, during a time when the pressure to take sides in the conflict between Great Britain and its North American colonies grew increasingly fierce, artists and artisans created fine original work while keeping a keen eye on popular styles overseas.

Pennsylvania Crossroads

A large gallery will highlight the sophisticated German and British immigrant cultures that developed side by side in Pennsylvania during the 1700s while speaking different languages and drawing upon dramatically different visual traditions. A monumental, sulfur-inlaid walnut wardrobe, or Kleiderschrank, of 1779 is one of finest examples of Pennsylvania German artistry. It also serves as a counterpoint to the Fox and the Grapes High Chest of Drawers, 1765-75, which is itself one of the greatest examples of carving and cabinetmaking in British North America during this period. Dishes of glazed earthenware in all different sizes, a glass wine bottle, an iron stove plate depicting a religious scene of Cain and Abel, miniatures, needlework, and metalwork will populate this gallery to convey the two distinct visual languages—one British and the other German—that gave rise to hybrid American forms as the communities mingled in southeastern Pennsylvania.

A Family of Artists

The museum’s collection of the work of Philadelphia’s Peale family—the most comprehensive in the country—includes a series of family portraits and representative works by generations of this one family, among whom were several of the new nation’s earliest professional women painters. Some of the highlights of this section are Portrait of Yarrow Mamout (Mamoud Yarrow), depicting a formerly enslaved Black Muslim, painted by Charles Willson Peale in 1819; the artist’s much beloved and newly-conserved double portrait of his sons in The Staircase Group (Portrait of Raphaelle Peale and Titian Ramsay Peale I), 1795; and Self-Portrait in the Museum, 1822. It will also examine the story of the Peale Museum, the country’s first public collection of art and natural history, through portraits and still-life paintings, and with cut silhouettes made by Moses Williams, an artist enslaved and then freed by the Peales. Women artists in the Peale family will be spotlighted as pioneers at a time when few women pursued careers in the arts; included will be still life paintings by Mary Jane and Margaretta, and a portrait by Sarah Miriam.

Splendor in the New Nation

In the decades following the American Revolution, Philadelphia led the country politically and artistically. The nation’s political capital from 1790 until 1800, the city was recognized as a center of an emerging artistic style in painting, sculpture, architecture, and the decorative arts inspired by Greek and Roman aesthetics, one that reflected its position as the “Athens of America.” An extraordinary set of furniture, which was designed for the William and Mary Wilcocks Waln residence at Seventh and Chestnut Streets in 1808 and has been recently conserved, will show how Mary Waln worked with the British-born architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe to create a masterful set of modern furniture in the Grecian style for her new home. This was a time when political figures from across the world would be drawn to the glamour of Philadelphia. Joseph Bonaparte, the King of Spain and elder brother of Napoleon, settled in at Second and Market Streets following his abdication in 1813, and his presence is represented by the elaborately appointed and newly-restored bedstead from Point Breeze, the grand villa that he built in nearby Bordentown, New Jersey, for his life in exile. Another resident in exile was the Empress of Mexico, who fled to Philadelphia in the 1830s following her husband’s execution. The Portrait of Anna Maria Iturbide, Empress of Mexico and the Portrait of Augustín de Iturbide, Emperor of Mexico (1822) represent the ill-fated couple during their moment in power. A recent restoration of these paintings has revealed earlier portraits of King Charles IV of Spain and his wife Maria Luisa of Parma in paint layers below the surface.

Presidential China

The most comprehensive collection of American Presidential China outside of Washington D.C. was given to the museum by Robert L. McNeil, Jr. It consists of more than 450 tablewares owned by the nation's First Families, from George and Martha Washington to Ronald and Nancy Reagan. National symbols including eagles, shields, and native flora and fauna embellish the plates used by presidents and visiting dignitaries. Notable examples will include Martha Washington’s caudle cup with cover and plates from Abraham Lincoln’s service. Large platters exuberantly decorated with turkeys, fish, and ducks from the Presidency of Rutherford B. Hayes convey an unabashed spirit of Manifest Destiny. The installation will also feature an interactive digital guide to this remarkable collection, offering visitors an opportunity to learn more about the presidencies in Philadelphia and Washington, the roles of individuals who maintained and worked with these tablewares, and the changing role of the First Ladies in selecting presidential china.

Art & Ambition

Growth, rising ambitions, and the assertion of an emerging national identity were fully manifested in American art during the first half of the nineteenth century. The beauty, awe, and grandeur of the American landscape were depicted in the pioneering works of Thomas Doughty and Thomas Cole, who together shaped a new national appreciation for this genre, which now took on patriotic overtones. Doughty will be highlighted as the country’s first native-born landscape artist, and his rendering of the Delaware Water Gap combines on-the-spot observation with a romantic vision of harmony between humankind and nature. Nearby, a case displaying porcelains made locally at the Tucker Factory in the mid-1800s will illustrate the level of excellence seen in American manufacturing, as local entrepreneurs began to respond to the growing demand for luxury goods and sought to make them accessible to a wider market. The Philadelphia Waterworks, a marvel of modern engineering, was a popular subject, and often appeared on pitchers, teacups and saucers. The section will also include silver in the late Neoclassical style, with the striking, ornate Maxwell Vase by Thomas Fletcher serving as a masterpiece of Philadelphia silversmithing in the early 1800s.

Another section will focus on Philadelphia artists, makers, and entrepreneurs of African descent, a subject of scholarly interest that has yielded much new information and enabled us to identify individual makers. A Double Chest made of mahogany, tulip poplar and yellow pine created by Thomas Gross, Jr. around 1805-1810, will be on view, the only surviving piece of furniture that documents the city’s thriving community of free Black artists in this period; the artist’s signature appears on the underside of the bottom drawer. Nearby the Portraits of Hiram Charles Montier and Elizabeth Brown Montier, also members of the Philadelphia’s free Black community—the largest in the north—will call attention to a new and more democratic access to portraiture, showing that by 1850 the family portrait had come within reach of the growing middle class.

Traditions on the Move

The art and influence of Pennsylvania Germans in the early 1800s and the domestic traditions they established in the counties to the north and west of Philadelphia will be the focus of this gallery. Fraktur, from the Latin word for “fracture,” refers to a style of writing with separated letters that Pennsylvania Germans used to commemorate births, baptisms, and marriages. Colorful fraktur and needlework samplers will be placed on view along with earthenware by David Spinner (1758-1811) and others, demonstrating the transit of visual motifs across paper, textiles, and ceramics. A brief video on the making of such earthenware will be installed nearby. Iron hardware in the form of toasters, roasting forks, skillets, and spatulas will be on display, showing the artistry expressed in these staples of everyday life in Pennsylvania in the nineteenth century. This section will further document the role of enslaved and free African Americans in making iron goods, perhaps drawing upon their own ironmaking traditions from Western and West Central Africa and suggesting that Pennsylvania German culture reflects a larger story of hybridity and migration. Another highlight of this section will be a version of the much-loved series of paintings entitled Peaceable Kingdom by Edward Hicks (1780-1849) that depicts Penn’s treaty with the Lenape on the banks of the Delaware River. Echoing the stories of peaceful coexistence and bitter betrayal in the first gallery, it will be placed near a beaded bag made by a Lenape artist, who had likely been displaced from Pennsylvania to the midwest in the early 1800s.

Kathleen A. Foster, Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Curator of American Art and Director, Center for American Art, notes the intensive work her curatorial team has done in preparation for this ambitious reinstallation: “We’ve spent the last decade thinking about all the ways we can understand the meaning and history of the works in this collection to tell a deeper and truer story about who participates in the creation of an ‘American’ culture. We hope that visitors will discover for themselves that there is no single, unified ‘American art’ but instead, it contains many changing traditions that are a source of endless discovery and fascination.”

Curatorial Team:

Kathleen A. Foster, The Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Senior Curator of American Art and Director, Center for American Art; David Barquist, The H. Richard Dietrich, Jr., Curator of American Decorative Arts; Alexandra Kirtley, The Montgomery-Garvan Curator of American Decorative Arts; Carol Soltis, Project Associate Curator; John Vick, Collections Project Manager; Rosalie Hooper, Interim Head of Interpretation and Project Curatorial Assistant.

Academic Advisors

The following individuals offered advice on the planning of the new Early American Art galleries, supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Zara Anishanslin, Associate Professor of History and Art History, Director, History of American Civilization Program, University of Delaware; Dennis Carr, Virginia Steele Scott Chief Curator of American Art, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens; Deirdre Cooper Owens, The Charles and Linda Wilson Professor in the History of Medicine, Director of the Humanities in Medicine Program, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Director, Program in African American History, The Library Company of Philadelphia; John Demos, Samuel Knight Professor Emeritus of History, Yale University; Leslie M. Harris, Professor of History, Northwestern University; Kelli Morgan, Ph.D., Independent Curator; Jami Powell, Ph.D., Associate Curator of Native American Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College; Daniel K. Richter, Richard S. Dunn Director of the McNeil Center for Early American Studies, University of Pennsylvania; Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, Class of 1940 Bicentennial Term Chair and Associate Professor, Department of the History of Art University of Pennsylvania; Page Talbott, Ph.D., Director of Museum Outreach, Lenfest Center for Cultural Partnerships, Drexel University; Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, 300th Anniversary University Professor, Emerita, Harvard University; Denise L. Valentine, Professional Storyteller, Educator, and Historian.

Support

The installation of the new Early American Art galleries has been made possible with lead support from the Henry Luce Foundation, and by The Mr. and Mrs. Raymond J. Horowitz Foundation for the Arts, The Richard C. von Hess Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy Demands Wisdom, an anonymous donor, The Davenport Family Foundation, Edward and Gwen Asplundh, Dr. and Mrs. Robert E. Booth, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. James L. Alexandre, The Americana Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. S. Matthews V. Hamilton, Jr., The McLean Contributionship, Lyn M. and George M. Ross, Dr. Salvatore M. Valenti, the Wunsch Family, Donald and Gay Kimelman, Boo and Morris Stroud, Mr. and Mrs. Ronald C. Anderson, Matz Family Charitable Fund, Marsha and Richard Rothman, and other generous donors.

Additional support for the museum’s building project, including the construction of the new Early American Art galleries, was provided by Robert L. McNeil, Jr., Leslie Miller and Richard Worley, Laura and William C. Buck, Kathy and Ted Fernberger, Joan and Victor Johnson, John and Christel Nyheim, Lyn M. and George M. Ross, National Endowment for the Humanities, Marsha and Richard Rothman, and other generous donors.

Ongoing support for American Art initiatives and programs is provided by the Center for American Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, established by Robert L. McNeil, Jr.

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We are Philadelphia’s art museum. A world-renowned collection. A landmark building. A place that welcomes everyone. We bring the arts to life, inspiring visitors—through scholarly study and creative play—to discover the spirit of imagination that lies in everyone. We connect people with the arts in rich and varied ways, making the experience of the Museum surprising, lively, and always memorable. We are committed to inviting visitors to see the world—and themselves—anew through the beauty and expressive power of the arts.

For additional information, contact the Communications Department of the Philadelphia Museum of Art by phone at 215-684-7860, by fax at 215-235-0050, or by e-mail at pressroom@philamuseum.org. The Museum is located on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26th Street. For general information, call 215-763-8100.

On February 3, 2019, the Philadelphia Museum of Art will open to the public its new galleries of Chinese art following a comprehensive ten-month, $2 million renovation and reinstallation project. The first in more than 40 years for this renowned collection, it represents the next step in an ongoing series of reinstallations that began with the Rodin Museum in 2012 and continued with the renovation of the galleries of South Asian art in 2016. The museum’s rich holdings of Chinese art span more than 4,000 years of artistic achievement, and this new presentation brings it to life in fresh and revealing ways. Opening with a family festival celebrating the Lunar New Year—the Year of the Pig—it benefits from a multi-year study of interpretation strategies, including the development of new learning resources, workshops for training teachers, and tours for schoolchildren.

Among the improvements are new gallery furniture and the creation of far better sight lines through the sequence of galleries. Antiquated lighting has been replaced with flexible energy-efficient LED lighting, while new purpose-built display cases, some equipped with internal lighting that dramatically improve viewing clarity, provide exceptional flexibility for display. Honey-toned oak flooring has replaced painted concrete, adding warmth to the installation throughout. Overall the changes will give curators the opportunity to regularly refresh the installations and to offer returning visitors new works to experience over time. Many of the works on display have been sensitively treated by the museum’s teams of highly skilled specialists in the department of Conservation.

Timothy Rub, the George D. Widener Director and Chief Executive Officer, said: “This once-in-a-generation project will transform the experience of one of the most important parts of our collection. It will foster a greater appreciation of Chinese culture and underscore the relevance of these works to China today. Because this project is proceeding in tandem with many other ambitious changes occurring during the implementation of our Facilities Master Plan, visitors will find many surprises awaiting them whenever they visit the museum in the months ahead.”

Reinstallation

The project is led by Hiromi Kinoshita, The Hannah L. and J. Welles Henderson Associate Curator of Chinese Art. Her reinstallation embraces Chinese art in all media, including paintings, sculpture, porcelains, ceramics, carvings, metalwork, costume and textiles, furniture, and contemporary works of art. The museum has used historical graphics in key wall locations to provide a richer context for the collection and to create an experience that is evocative of both time and place. While some of the windows in these galleries have been enclosed to allow for the display of light-sensitive textiles and paintings, in other places they have been revealed to offer views to the museum’s East Terrace and its monumental portico.

The first two galleries, dedicated to The Afterlife: Tombs and Immortality, highlight the collection’s strength in Chinese funerary art of the Han (206 BCE – 220 CE) to Tang (618–907) dynasties and explore ideas of afterlife and reverence for ancestors. The installation illuminates the belief that the human spirit continued following death, including works that reveal the purpose of tombs as underground dwellings furnished with objects for protection, nourishment, and entertainment. Among the highlights is a set of sarcophagus panels that have not been on view in many decades. Of a type seldom found in collections outside of China, they convey aspects of everyday life of the elite of more a thousand years ago. Other works made for the tomb show how the interchange of ideas, religion, and trade along the Silk Road influenced Chinese culture and art of 8^th-century China. Buddhism, which arrived from India through the Silk Road, also shaped Chinese ideas of life after death as seen in works made for temples and tombs.

The next gallery, entitled Looking Inwards: Nature and Self-Cultivation, focuses on works that were made, used, or collected by Chinese scholars and artists, from the Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE) onwards. These reflect artistic traditions and practices that were informed by ideas of the human relationship to the cosmos and the pursuit of harmony with the natural world. Works inspired by nature from the Song dynasty (960–1279) onwards will also be displayed in this gallery. Flowers often symbolized human virtues—the painted orchid representing purity, resilience, and loyalty—or could be used to denote the seasons. Natural materials were especially appreciated for their simple beauty: a seemingly plain wooden box is made up of slender strips of wood veneer. Jade was appreciated for its smoothness, solidity, and translucency, the embodiment of virtues considered to be gentlemanly, and offered qualities of simplicity and modesty. Artistic activities such as painting, tea and wine-drinking, and viewing antiques were carried out in nature and gardens in the pursuit of higher ideals.

A gallery focused on the 16^th century to the present explores the theme of Looking Outwards: China and the West. It encourages visitors to understand the abiding interest of the West in Chinese art and highlights the evolution of the export market, which created a frenzy for collecting porcelain in Europe. The ceramics on display illustrate how certain aspects of Chinese porcelain—such as “blue-and-white”—inspired European artisans. At the same time, the Chinese adopted European techniques and materials, including enameling, glass-making and engraving, representing a remarkable example of cultural exchange.

Another gallery is dedicated to Ordering the Universe: The Imperial Court. Featuring works collected and used by the court, it emphasizes the highly symbolic nature of Chinese art, with designs and colors conveying rank, authority, and prestige. Auspicious motifs found in silk robes, porcelain, and other art suggest the formal side of court life (ruling) in contrast with the informal, private side.

Architectural Interiors

This new presentation of the collection makes direct interpretive connections to the museum’s three celebrated Chinese architectural interiors in adjacent galleries, all from Beijing and newly reinstalled. The 17^th century Palace Reception Hall is resplendent with imperial-related themed works and with auspicious messages, all complementing the motifs of luck and good fortune that decorate the room’s imposing wooden beams high overhead. Once part of an official residence, the Reception Hall has been equipped with new lighting, revealing the remarkable, colorful painted decoration adorning the structure. Many of the works in this gallery are richly spotlighted, including a spectacular dog cage, fully decorated in cloisonné enamel, which likely would have been made for a Pekingese, a favored pet among ladies of the Qing court.

The 18^th century Scholar’s Study, serene and contemplative, features implements associated with the life and activities of a scholar-official. The Ceiling from the Hall of Wisdom Transformed from the

Zhihuasi Temple, an early Ming Dynasty Buddhist monastery in Beijing, contains an elaborately carved 15^th-century temple ceiling, from one of the earliest and best-preserved examples of Chinese monastic architecture. A recently developed digital interactive greatly enhances the opportunity for visitors to understand more fully the imagery and iconography of this remarkable ceiling, and rotating displays from the museum’s rich collection of over 600 textile sutra covers are planned for this space.

Dr. Kinoshita stated: “Updating these galleries will have a significant impact on our visitors’ experience of this part of our collection. We hope that the more visually engaging displays and new thematic arrangements will enable them to connect with the works, whatever their interests. It is a pleasure also to introduce works held in other departments—for example, Costume and Textiles, Print, Drawings and Photography, and Contemporary Art—and to integrate them with the collections for which I am responsible, to show the breadth and richness of the art of China.”

Publication

Coinciding with the reopening of its galleries of Chinese art, the museum has published Art of China: Highlights from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in association with Yale University Press (256 pp.) This lavishly illustrated book features nearly one hundred highlights ranging from antiquity to the present day. It includes an introductory essay by Dr. Kinoshita about the collection’s formation, illuminating its unique character and importance. The volume ($45) is now available for purchase in the Museum Store or online via philamuseum.org.

Paper over board
256 pages
9 x 11 inches
Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2018
ISBN-10: 0300237103
ISBN-13: 978-0300237108

Support

The reinstallation of the museum’s galleries of Chinese Art was made possible by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation Hannah L. Henderson, Marguerite Lenfest, Maxine de S. Lewis, June and Simon K.C. Li, Joan F. Thalheimer, Andrea Baldeck, M.D., Sueyun and Gene Locks, Peter A. Benoliel and Willo Carey, Barbara B. and Theodore R. Aronson, The Women’s Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Cynthia L. Johnson, Frank S. Bayley, Suzanne F. Boda and George W. Grindahl, Dr. Alan M. and Deena Gu Laties, Peggy Wachs, two anonymous donors, and other generous donors.

About the Collection of Chinese Art

The Philadelphia Museum of Art houses one of the country’s earliest Chinese art collections, initially established through purchases made at the Centennial International Exhibition held in Philadelphia in 1876. Today it includes more than 7000 works in a wide range of media spanning more than 4000 years. Strengths include Tang dynasty (618–907) tomb figures, Song dynasty (960–1127) ceramics as well as Ming (1368–1644) and Qing dynasty (1644–1911) imperial art and Buddhist sculpture. The collection includes more than 500 paintings, dating from the 12th to the 20th centuries, as well as costumes and textiles, furniture, jades, lacquer wares, and cloisonné. It also features three remarkable architectural interiors: an early 15th century coffered ceiling from an imperial Buddhist temple, a 17th century painted wood reception hall, and an 18th century scholar’s study that provide context for the collection and an exceptional immersive experience.

Related Programs

Family Festival: Lunar New Year
Sunday, February 3, 2019
10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Great Stair Hall Balcony
Free after Pay What You Wish admission

Squeal with delight as we ring in the Year of the Pig.

• Balcony Studio
  10:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.
  Create a lunar calendar with teaching artist Ash Limés Castellana, known for her prints inspired by the moon.

• Mini-Tours
  11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.
  (Tours depart at the top of the hour)

• Dance Performances
  11:30 a.m. & 1:30 p.m.
  Enjoy performances inspired by ancient Chinese legends from the Nai-Ni Chen dance company.

Final Fridays: Celestial Bodies
Friday, February 22, 2019
5:00 p.m. - 8:45 p.m.
Free after admission

Explore the cosmos with telescopes from the Franklin Institute, and enjoy astrology and astronomy-inspired workshops with Alice Sparkly Kat, as well as performances by the Kun-Yang Lin Dancers. Presented in conjunction with the reopening of the Chinese Galleries

Museum Studio: Pop-Up Cards
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
6:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Meet in Great Stair HallPaid tickets required

$40 ($32 members); includes Museum admission

Search for auspicious symbols in our new Chinese galleries and then make your own pop-up cards with artist Colette Fu.

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We are Philadelphia’s art museum. A world-renowned collection. A landmark building. A place that welcomes everyone. We bring the arts to life, inspiring visitors—through scholarly study and creative play—to discover the spirit of imagination that lies in everyone. We connect people with the arts in rich and varied ways, making the experience of the Museum surprising, lively, and always memorable. We are committed to inviting visitors to see the world—and themselves—anew through the beauty and expressive power of the arts.

For additional information, contact the Communications Department of the Philadelphia Museum of Art by phone at 215-684-7860, by fax at 215-235-0050, or by e-mail at pressroom@philamuseum.org. The Museum is located on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26th Street. For general information, call 215-763-8100.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art will soon begin the first comprehensive renovation and reinstallation of its galleries of Chinese art in many decades. This initiative will enable its staff to reimagine the presentation of this important part of the Museum’s collection and interpret it in new ways for the benefit of visitors. This represents the next step in an ongoing series of reinstallations of the Museum’s collection that began with the Rodin Museum in 2012 and continued with the renovation of its galleries of South Asian art in 2016. Beginning April 11, 2018, six galleries in the wing of the Museum devoted to Asian art will close for approximately ten months and then re-open to the public February 3, 2019.

Timothy Rub, The George D. Widener Director and Chief Executive Officer, said: “This once-in-a-generation project follows the success of our new galleries of South Asian art, and is proceeding in tandem with the implementation of the next phase of our Facilities Master Plan. It will transform the experience of one of the most important, but still underappreciated parts of our collection. In addition to renovating these galleries, a step that is long overdue, this project will enable us to re-present and reinterpret our extensive holdings of Chinese art for the benefit of our visitors and will also serve as the basis for a new, purpose-built curriculum taught by our educators. These efforts will create relevance, deepen understanding, and renew our visitors’ appreciation for different cultures and artistic traditions around the world.”

Scope of work

A $2 million initiative, this project on the second floor of the main building will promote improved visitor engagement with Chinese art through the implementation of significant physical improvements, including new gallery furniture and the creation of better sight lines. Select windows will be enclosed, improving conditions for the display of light-sensitive textiles and paintings not previously exhibitable in these galleries, while new lighting will enhance the viewing experience. The Museum’s exhibition team is designing purpose-built casework, some equipped with internal lighting that will dramatically improve viewing clarity. These changes will allow for greater flexibility in the rotations of works of art, giving curators the opportunity to regularly refresh the installations and offering returning visitors new works to experience. The project will also benefit from a multi-year study of interpretation strategies, including the development of new learning resources and training, for teacher workshops and new school visits.

Reinstallation

The reinstallation is led by project director Dr. Hiromi Kinoshita, The Hannah L. and J. Welles Henderson Associate Curator of Chinese Art, supported by staff specialized in Exhibition Design, Education, and Publishing. Dr. Kinoshita’s interpretive plan is arranged around key themes through which four thousand years of art can be understood. It will present a new comprehensive display of Chinese art in all media, including paintings, sculpture, porcelains, ceramics, carvings, metalwork, costume and textiles, furniture, and contemporary works.

The galleries will focus on key concepts in Chinese culture, and groupings will be arranged thematically and chronologically. The first two galleries dedicated to The Afterlife: Tombs and Immortality will highlight the collection’s strength in Chinese funerary art to explore ideas of life after death and filial piety. The next gallery will focus on Fascination with Nature: Expressing the Self Through Art, with works having been made, used, or collected by Chinese scholars and artists, from the Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE) onwards. A gallery will focus on Exchange and Globalization: China and the West from the 16th century to the present, encouraging visitors to think about the enduring Western interest in the materials and techniques of Chinese art and highlighting the evolution of the export market. Another gallery will be dedicated to the importance of Ordering the Universe: The Imperial Court, which will feature works of art collected and used by the imperial court emphasizing the highly symbolic nature of Chinese art. Colors, auspicious symbols about in silk robes, porcelain, and other art will be displayed as the formal side of court life (ruling), contrasted with the informal, private side.

This new installation will also make direct interpretive connections to the Museum’s three celebrated Chinese architectural interiors in adjacent galleries, all from Beijing. These include a 17th-century Chinese Reception Hall from an official residence, an 18th-century Scholar’s Study, and the Ceiling from the Hall of Wisdom Transformed at the Zhuhai Temple, an early Ming Dynasty Buddhist monastery. The Museum has recently completed an innovative, digital interpretive resource for this remarkable 15th-century temple ceiling. It greatly enhances the opportunity for visitors to understand more fully the imagery and iconography of this elaborately carved work from one of the earliest and best-preserved examples of Chinese monastic architecture. Conservation and analysis of the paint surface of a Seated Luohan (enlightened monk) displayed in this gallery has provided more information about later Buddhist wood sculpture, a relatively understudied area. Rotating displays from the Museum’s rich collection of textile sutra covers are also planned for this space.

When the renovated galleries devoted to Chinese art reopen next year, the Museum will host a family and community festival, along with Final Fridays performances and a classical music series in the Reception Hall. New in-gallery demonstration kits will also be available for visitors, offering tactile experiences of porcelain, ink painting, and lacquer ware to help deepen their understanding of the creative process. These kits will encourage social engagement and will be available to school and tour groups and to visitors during Pay-What-You-Wish hours and events.

Dr. Kinoshita stated: “Updating these galleries will make a significant impact on our visitors’ experience of this part of our collection, allowing them to fully appreciate the breadth and richness of Chinese art. This will also provide us with a great opportunity to introduce works of Chinese art held in other departments—for example, Costume and Textiles and Contemporary Art—and integrate them with the collections for which I am responsible.”

Publication

Coinciding with the reopening of its galleries of Chinese art, the Museum will publish Chinese Art: Highlights from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in association with Yale University Press (256 pp.) This lavishly illustrated book will feature one hundred highlights ranging from antiquity to the present day. It will include an introductory essay by Dr. Kinoshita about the collection’s formation, illuminating its unique character and importance. The volume will be available for purchase in the Museum Store or online via philamuseum.org.

Support

The reinstallation of the Museum’s galleries of East Asian Art was made possible by Hannah L. Henderson, Marguerite and Gerry Lenfest, Maxine de S. Lewis, June and Simon K. C. Li, Joan Thalheimer, Sueyen and Gene Locks, Peter A. Benoliel and Willo Carey, E. Rhoades and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, Cynthia L. Johnson, Frank S. Bayley, and other generous donors.

(Credit as of February 16, 2018)

About the Collection of Chinese Art

The Philadelphia Museum of Art houses one of the country’s earliest Chinese art collections, initially established through purchases made at the Centennial International Exhibition held in Philadelphia in 1876. Today it includes more than 7000 works in a wide range of media spanning more than 4000 years. Strengths include Tang dynasty (618–907) tomb figures, Song dynasty (960–1127) ceramics as well as Ming (1368–1644) and Qing dynasty (1644–1911) imperial art and Buddhist sculpture. The collection includes more than 500 paintings, dating from the 12^th to the 20^th centuries, as well as costumes and textiles, furniture, jades, lacquer wares, and cloisonné. It also features three remarkable architectural interiors: an early 15^th century coffered ceiling from an imperial Buddhist temple, a 17^th century painted wood reception hall, and an 18^th century scholar’s study that provide context for the collection and an exceptional immersive experience.

Social Media @philamuseum

We are Philadelphia’s art museum. A world-renowned collection. A landmark building. A place that welcomes everyone. We bring the arts to life, inspiring visitors—through scholarly study and creative play—to discover the spirit of imagination that lies in everyone. We connect people with the arts in rich and varied ways, making the experience of the Museum surprising, lively, and always memorable. We are committed to inviting visitors to see the world—and themselves—anew through the beauty and expressive power of the arts.

For additional information, contact the Communications Department of the Philadelphia Museum of Art by phone at 215-684-7860, by fax at 215-235-0050, or by e-mail at pressroom@philamuseum.org. The Museum is located on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26th Street. For general information, call 215-763-8100.