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Expert says Chinese art enriches culture globally
2:14 p.m., Oct. 12, 2006--The growing trend of collecting Chinese art and artifacts can only enrich art collections while building and strengthening cultural links for Chinese around the world, Wen-hsin Yeh, Morrison Professor of 20th Century Chinese History at the University of California at Berkeley, said recently at the University of Delaware. Yeh delivered the keynote speech during a two-day conference, “Collecting 'China': Objects, Materiality, and Multicultural Collectors,” hosted by UD's Department of Art History and Winterthur Museum and Country Estate from Sept. 29-30. “I would say that collecting 'China' the way that we are thinking of it today would probably make much better sense in California than in China, especially at a place such as San Francisco,” Yeh said. “On the one hand, it would give the San Francisco cultural elite who are not of Chinese descent a wonderful opportunity to display our cosmopolitan capacity to reach across the Pacific Ocean.” Likewise, Yeh said, elite collectors in China today earn their status by collecting art and artifacts from around the world. “Even more so for the diasporic Chinese community in California-- many of them are of affluence as well as aspiring status in San Francisco--collecting China is a wonderful way to perform 'Chineseness.' This collecting China in order to perform 'Chineseness' is not for the purpose of becoming Chinese, it's actually the best strategy for the diasporic China to be American,” Yeh said.
The interdisciplinary conference brought archaeologists, art historians, historians and museum curators to UD's Newark campus and the Winterthur Museum and Country Estate. It was the first major event on Chinese art and Chinese studies ever held by both institutions. Through lectures, roundtable discussions and workshops, conference participants examined how objects--such as Shang-Dynasty oracle bones, Neolithic jades, prehistoric potteries and exported ceramics, paintings and wallpapers--have played roles in establishing what the word “Chinese” connotes in modern perceptions, and how these interpretations vary in different social and cultural contexts. The conference, which included optional preconference workshops and tours and postconference tours of the Winterthur collection, consisted of three main sessions: “China and the Discourse of Things,” “The World and its Collection of China,” and “On Different Grounds: Collecting Practices and Private Collectors.” The conference also featured a roundtable discussion on methods and collecting practices. “'Collecting 'China'” demonstrates the reciprocity and dynamism of the University of Delaware and Winterthur Museum as intellectual and academic partners,” Vimalin Rujivacharakul, UD assistant professor of art history who organized the conference, said. “Our invited speakers were tremendously impressed by the collaborative culture of our faculty, administrative staff and students. Our first event in East Asian art was a great success. I am certain that the field of East Asian studies in this country and abroad is now looking forward to future opportunities with the University of Delaware and Winterthur Museum.” Since 1952, Winterthur and the University of Delaware have jointly sponsored the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture, which provides a multidisciplinary approach to the study of American material life with special emphasis on decorative arts and household furnishings. Graduates receive a master of arts degree and many of them pursue careers in museums and academia. Article by Martin Mbugua
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