Flowers on a River: The Art of Chinese Flower and Bird Painting, 1368-1911

The largest survey of its kind outside of China and the first in the U.S., Flowers on a River: The Art of Chinese Flower-and-Bird Painting, 1368-1911, Masterworks from Tianjin Museum and Changzhou Museum will showcase masterpieces of Chinese painting across five centuries. The exhibition will be on view through June 25, 2023. The exhibition marks the first showing of masterpieces traveling from China to the U.S. since the onset of the pandemic.

More than 100 masterworks by 59 artists will present some of the most important examples in the history of Chinese flower-and-bird painting. Spanning 500 years during the Ming and Qing dynasties, Flowers on a River will highlight the academic, literati, and individual styles of the artists. The Chinese concept of “humanity in harmony with nature” will be examined as well as the use of a special language of coded imagery to communicate meaning, which is central to Chinese art and culture. Flower-and-bird painting is one of three major genres of Chinese painting—alongside landscape and figure painting.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a richly illustrated bilingual catalogue featuring newly commissioned scholarly essays and detailed exhibition entries. A series of events are planned at China Institute Gallery including lectures, an international symposium, and other programs.

Flowers on a River is curated by Willow Weilan Hai, Lead Curator of the exhibition, Director and Chief Curator of China Institute Gallery, and guest co-curators Chen Zhuo, former Director of Tianjin Museum; Lin Jian, Director, Changzhou Museum; and David Ake Sensabaugh, former Ruth and Bruce Dayton Curator of Asian Art, Yale University Art Gallery; and organized by the China Institute Gallery, Tianjin Museum and Changzhou Museum.