By Eddie Pistorino
Overview: For my exhibition I will show five different paintings from the Chu-Griffis collection of Asian Art at Connecticut College. The collection was started by Professor Charles Chu and New L:ondon Attorney Hughes Griffis. It was started in 1985 and since then over 250 people have contributed to the collection. As a student at Connecticut College it is a very accessible way to view some great works of art. For my exhibition I have chosen some paintings that depict animals, families, and people. I think a way to view it is by observing how different colors compare and contrast and what sticks out to the viewer. I place certain pictures together so that you can see the differences and similarities between paintings. I also place images to be able to view unique ways of paintings that you may not have seen before in other traditional Chinese paintings.
Title: Eagle
Artist: Chen Hai-shao
Date: ?
Size:?
Medium: Watercolor
Repository: Chu-Griffis Art Collection
Material: Scroll
Title: Tiger
Artist: Chen Hai-Shao
Date:?
Size:?
Repository: Chu Griffis Art Collection
Material: Scroll
Summary: For these two images they are both watercolor pictures of animals. They are both from the Chu-Griffis repository at Connecticut College. I paired them together for two reasons, the first being the obvious that they are watercolor painting of animals, but also because of the way the contrast of colors between the animals and the paintings background are. In both paintings the color of the animals is much more prominent than the colors that are in the background. Another distinct visual characteristic they both share is the amount of detail when painting the animals faces. You can fully see all the details in each of their faces.
Title: Portrait of Shih Lu
Artist: Yang Zhi-guang
Date: ?
Size:?
Medium: Watercolor
Repository: Chu-Griffis Art Collection
Material: Scroll
Summary: I chose to include this picture in my exhibition because it is a painting which I found very unique to other Chinese paintings I had seen in the Chu-Griffis collection. First off the detail in the mans face is very detailed down to every feature. This way of painting a persons face is something I hadn’t seen yet when viewing Chinese paintings. I found it interesting as this isn’t the traditional way of Chinese painting from what I have seen so far.
Title: Mother and Children
Artist: Tu-ling Nei-she
Date: 1534
Size: 42×19 in.
Medium: Framed
Repository: Chu-Griffis Art Collection
Material:?
Title:Woman and Child
Artist:Unidentified Artist
Date: 1980s
Size:?
Repository:Chu-Griffis Art Collection
Material: Print
Summary: I paired these two images together because they both depict a mother and her child or children. Aside from what the paintings both depict, the way the colors stand out is interesting as well. In the first one the different shades of green the artist uses to show the grass, bushes, and tree leaves is very interesting and it contrasts well with the rest of the painting. Also, not one outfit is the same on any of the children which offers a lot of variety in colors on the painting as well. In the second one the colors stood out to me. They are very vibrant and stick out right away.
Bibliography:
Hai-shao, Chen. n.d. Eagle. Scroll. Connecticut College. Chu-Griffis Art Collection. https://oak.conncoll.edu/visual/asian-art/Chu-Griffis/animals/content/chu075_l arge.html
Zhi-guang, Yang. n.d. Portrait of Shih Lu. Scroll. Connecticut College. Chu-Griffis Art Collection. https://oak.conncoll.edu/visual/asian-art/Chu-Griffis/human-figures/content/chu 041_large.html
Rogers, Brian. 2009. Review of Chu-Griffis Collection of Asian Art. Linda Lear Center for Special Collections and Archives. Connecticut College. 2009. https://moodle.conncoll.edu/moodle/pluginfile.php/198135/mod_resource/cont ent/1/Chu%20reading%20combined.pdf
Thorp, Robert L., and Richard Vinograd. Chinese Art & Culture. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2006.
Linda Lear Center for Special Collections and Archives
Chu-Griffis Art Collection at Connecticut College
