A catalogue to accompany an exhibition of Ming and Qing figure paintings from the collection of the Shanghai Museum (March 24 to June 10, 2001).
This exhibition presents fifty carefully selected works from the collection of the Shanghai Museum including works by literati and court painters, as well as professional painters. Subjects are likewise varied, including historical accounts, myths and legends, religious figures, immortals, beauties, children and scholar-gentlemen. There are also depictions of seasonal practices, customs and habits. In addition, these paintings display a rich variety of skills and painting styles, encompassing the work of a number of artists who are less known and relatively obscure. Together they present a general overview of the development of figure painting over this six hundred year period, and show clearly that it was not an age of decline.
