C. C. Wang: Lines of Abstraction, a major retrospective of the renowned Chinese collector, artist, and connoisseur C. C. Wang (1907–2003) will open Thursday at Hunter College. The exhibition is curated by Wen-shing Chou, associate professor of Art History at Hunter College and Daniel M. Greenberg, assistant professor of Asian Art at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, with Hans Hofmann Graduate Curatorial Fellow Margaret Liu Clinton. FQM is delighted to have contributed to the exhibition by providing five paintings on loan. In conjunction with the show, the Hunter College Art Galleries are producing a new catalogue, the first retrospective monograph on C. C. Wang, which features texts by Wen-shing Chou, Daniel M. Greenberg, Joseph Scheier-Dolberg, and Arnold Chang.
C. C. Wang, no title (Mountain Valley at Night), 1989. Ink on paper, 18 ¾ x 25 inches (47.6 x 63.5 cm). Private Collection, New York and Fu Qiumeng Fine Art, New York. Image copyright the Estate of C.C. Wang. Photo: Stan Narten.
About the exhibition:
Born to a family of scholar-officials at the twilight of the Qing dynasty, C. C. Wang (Wang Chi-ch’ien 王己千, 1907–2003) mastered the traditional ink and brush techniques in Republican Shanghai and immigrated to New York City in 1949. There he sought to preserve the tradition of classical Chinese painting through engagement with new ideas, materials, and forms. Drawing inspiration from past masters in the history of Chinese painting, as well as New York’s artistic climate in the wake of World War II, Wang advanced breakthrough transformations in ink painting.
C. C. Wang, no title (Blue Forest), undated. Ink and color on paper, 5 ¾ x 13 ¾ in inches (14.6 × 34.9 cm). Private Collection, New York and Fu Qiumeng Fine Art, New York. Image copyright the Estate of C.C. Wang. Photo: Stan Narten.
C. C. Wang, Leaf from Splendid Views of Rivers and Mountains, 1995–1998. Album in 19 parts, 16 painted leaves and 3 colophons; ink and color on paper, approximately 12 × 18 ½ inches each (30.5 x 47 cm). Collection of Pao Yung Chao. Image copyright the Estate of C.C. Wang. Photo: Stan Narten.
C. C. Wang is best known as a preeminent twentieth-century connoisseur and collector of pre-modern Chinese art, a reputation that often overshadows his own art. Held twenty years after the artist’s death, C. C. Wang: Lines of Abstraction recenters Wang’s extraordinary career on his own artistic practice to reveal an original quest for tradition and innovation in the global twentieth century. Spanning seven decades, the exhibition focuses on the artist’s distinctive synthesis of Chinese ink painting and American postwar abstraction.
C. C. Wang, no title (Mark Rothko’s Carriage House), 1994. Hanging scroll, ink and color on paper, 14 ½ x 18 ½ inches (36.8 × 47 cm). Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Chang. Image copyright the Estate of C.C. Wang. Photo: Stan Narten
February 2–April 29, 2023
Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 12–5 pm
Opening Reception: February 2, 7–9 pm
Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Gallery, 132 East 68th Street, New York, NY 10065
Entrance between Lexington and Park Avenues
