Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, 14 June 2011
From 11 June to 11 September 2011, the Milwaukee Art Museum will be hosting five exhibitions on Chinese art and architecture. The event marks the ten-year anniversary of the Santiago Calatrava, also known as the Quadracci Pavilion. This ambitious exhibition will trace three thousand years of Chinese art history and mayor Tom Barret has announced that this will be Milwaukee’s “Chinese Summer”.
The opening exhibition will focus on “The Emperor’s Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City.” The museum is one of only three in the world to exhibit almost ninety ceremonial and everyday objects from the Qianlong Garden and the Forbidden City in Beijing. These objects have never been seen by the public.
The Qianlong Garden, situated inside the Forbidden City, is two hectares large and renowned for its remarkable collection of southern and northern Chinese interior and garden elements. Built at the end of the eighteenth century as a haven of tranquility for the Qianlong Emperor, the garden complex was soon decked out with rooms, theaters and libraries, all constructed with natural materials. The emperor escaped to the garden from the stresses of court life, retiring into secluded spots to write poetry, read the classics and contemplate his beautiful surroundings.
The garden was abandoned after the reign of Emperor PuYi in 1924. In 2001, the Palace Museum and World Monuments Fund (WMF) undertook the restoration of the garden’s twenty-seven buildings, pavilions and exterior elements, including trees and ancient rocks. Diverse objects such as paintings, decorations and objects from the garden left their peaceful abode for the first time to feature in exhibitions at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA; the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and finally the Milwaukee Museum of Art.
While these objects are exhibited in the United States, the Palace Museum and the WMF will restore the Qianlong Garden. The restoration project should be completed by 2019.
The exhibitions presented at the “Chinese summer” are:
“The Emperor’s Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City”; “Warriors, Beasts, and Spirits: Early Chinese Art from the James Conley Collection”; “Emerald Mountains: Modern Chinese Ink Painting from the Chu-tsing Li Collection”; “On Site: Zhan Wang”; “Way of the Dragon: The Chinoiserie Style, 1710–1830”.