The PEM may be the second most important museum in Massachusetts as far as influence is concerned. Every exhibit tends to be revealing, very educational, and sometimes downright controversial. They work very hard (perhaps too hard) to bring cultural and social issues to their audiences, and by in large, they very much succeed. The photography of China in the late 19th and early 20th. centuries is an engaging attempt to show the Western powers' despicable practice are forcing opium down the throats of China in order to pay for the luxury goods being imported (and the PEM has some of the most elegant and priceless of those imports!). When I visited the Summer Palace in Beijing, which had been burned to the ground by British forces, and then reconstructed, the scars of the opium wars still are a part of present China, as is our Civil War.
Mark Slawson, my very willing partner in museum visits, and I were very impressed by the photo exhibit, but the following exhibition was extraordinary. Tsherin Sherpa was taught traditional Tibetan art by his father in Nepal, but when he moved to California, he changed his approach to bring many Western themes into the mix. Although there is a bit of sameness to the many images (that may be my Western eyes), each image was spectacular. It was a very large, and rewarding exhibition to walk through. I hope my pictures can do it justice.
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| (In the lobby of the museum) |
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| One panel of a six-part photo montage showing the British fleet |
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Felice Beato
Interior of Pehtang fort showing magazine and wooden(!) guns
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Felice Beato, photographer
Arch in the Lama Temple, Beijing
Beato traveled with the British forces. |
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| A ceramic panarama, in 3D |
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| detail of above |
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One of those great treasures the Opium Wars brought to the West
Solid Ivory |
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| detail |
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| Incense burner in the shape of a Western steamer |
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| View of Canton harbor |
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| detail |
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Felice Beato
Treasury Street of Canton April 1860 |
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Charles Leander Weed, photographer
from Canton Views (detail) |
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Tingqua (Guan Lianchang) or his studio
Houqua's Garden |
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John Thomson, photographer
Curio Shop, 1868 |
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Spoilum (active 1785-1810)
A painter copying an engraving
from a set of 100 Chinese Occupations |
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Lamqua
Mouqua, about 1985 |
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Tinqua
Shop of Tin-qua the Painter |
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| detail |
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John Thompson
The Island Pagoda |
Willaim Saunders, photographer
Chinese Prisoners
According to the PEM descriptions, photographs of Chinese prisoners, trials, and punishments were very popular with Western buyers, because they reinforced the believed ideas of the cruelty of Chinese people in general, and therefore, their inferiority. In fact, many of the photos were staged.
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Gao Lian
Mr. and Mrs. Chen, 1926
A combination of photography and watercolor |
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Jiao Dongzi
Muslim Schoolgirl 28-008 |
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Oyun
Nukong Buir-Mongolian Scattered Traces
Oyun's body of photographer centers on the displacement of ethnic minorities |
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And the entrance to the Tsherin Sherpa exhibition
This is Skippers (Kneedeep) 2019 |
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| Lucid Dream (red) |
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| Lucid Dream (blue) |
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| (detail) |
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| OMG |
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| (detail) |
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| Spirit |
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(detail)
This was Sherpa's first Spirit work. The body consists of hundreds of tiny photos of Tibetans who have fled their homeland |
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| (closer detail) |
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| Baby Spiret 2 |
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| (detail) |
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| (detail) |
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| Blue Spiritg No. 2: "It's all good, man!" |
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| (detail) |
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| Oh My God-ness! |
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(detail)
The next three are by Robert Beer, a pin and ink artist, who has documented many of the
Tibetan symbols in numerous books. He shared in the Sherpa exhibition |
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| Green Tara, Bodhisattva of Compassion |
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| Skulls |
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| Construction Grid for Thousand-Armed Avaloliseshvara |
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| Mark Slawson |
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| Conquerer (Gangman Style) |
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Tara Gaga
(based on a photo of Lady Gaga at the
2013 MTV Video Music Awards, see below) |
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| (detail) |
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| Lady Gaga |
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| Spiritual Warrior |
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| Tiger Milkweed |
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| Painted Lady |
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| Hawk |
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| Red Admiral |
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| Spirits (Metamorphosis) |
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| (detail) |
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| (detail) |
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| If you're Happy and You Know It...Clap Your Hands |
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| (detail) |
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| (detail) |
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And my own guardian demon, hanging above my head as I type this out.
I hope you enjoyed this, it was quite a day. And always great to share it with Mark.
Thanks |
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