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News Release - Chinese Garden’s New Art Gallery Will Make its Debut with an Inaugural Exhibition Featuring Contemporary Calligraphy
![Lo Ch’ing 羅青 [Lo Ch’ing-che 羅青哲] (born 1948, Qingdao, Shandong Province, China; active Taiwan). Corridor of Water and Clouds 水雲廊, 2007. Handscroll, ink on paper; calligraphy written in seal script. Image: 16 3/4 x 36 1/4 in. (42.5 x 92 in); Mount: 16 x 52 in. (40.6 x 133 cm); Roller: 1 3/4 in. (4.5 cm). The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.huntington.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fstyles%2Fimage_slider%2Fpublic%2Fpress-room%2Fimages%2Fgarden-words_2.jpg%3Fitok%3D-fi_uDjB&w=3840&q=75)
![Lo Ch’ing 羅青 [Lo Ch’ing-che 羅青哲] (born 1948, Qingdao, Shandong Province, China; active Taiwan). Strolling in the Moonlight 步月, 2007. Hanging scroll; ink on paper; calligraphy written in running script. Image: 27 x 12 ½ in (68.5 x 32 cm). The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.huntington.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fstyles%2Fimage_slider%2Fpublic%2Fpress-room%2Fimages%2Fgarden-words_5.jpg%3Fitok%3DcRY4UiOs&w=3840&q=75)
![Terry Yuan [Yuan Zhizhong 袁志鍾] (born 1954, Shanghai; active United States). Terrace that Invites the Mountains 邀山臺, 2007. Hanging scroll; ink on paper; calligraphy written in running script. Image: 27 x 14 in. (68.5 x 35 cm). The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.huntington.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fstyles%2Fimage_slider%2Fpublic%2Fpress-room%2Fimages%2Fgarden-words_6.jpg%3Fitok%3DDWrU24-Z&w=3840&q=75)
![Grace Chu [Chu Chang-fang 朱彰芳] (born 1959, Taipei, Taiwan; active United States ). Seeing the Large in the Small 小中見大, 2018. Handscroll, ink on paper; calligraphy written in seal script. Image: 13 3/4 x 40 3/8 in. (35 x 102.6 cm). The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcms.huntington.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fstyles%2Fimage_slider%2Fpublic%2Fpress-room%2Fimages%2Fgarden-words_7.jpg%3Fitok%3DtaAIhtKy&w=3840&q=75)
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Posted on Thu., June 3, 2021
“A Garden of Words: The Calligraphy of Liu Fang Yuan” Opens Aug. 28
SAN MARINO, Calif.—Postponed for more than a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the highly anticipated opening of the Chinese Garden’s new art gallery is now scheduled to take place this summer at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, with an exhibition of Chinese calligraphy as its inaugural installation. “A Garden of Words: The Calligraphy of Liu Fang Yuan” 書苑——流芳園典藏書法作品 opens Aug. 28, 2021, in the Studio for Lodging the Mind 寓意齋. The exhibition will be presented in two rotations of 20 works each; the first installation continues through Dec. 13, 2021, and the second runs from Jan. 29 through May 16, 2022.
Words are everywhere in the Chinese Garden—known as Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance. Names for the garden’s various features adorn rocks and buildings; poetic couplets frame entryways and vistas. Their purpose is to enhance the visitor’s experience of the garden through the lenses of literature and art. Since 2007, The Huntington has commissioned contemporary artists to create the original works of calligraphy—artful brush writings in ink on paper—that served as the models for these inscriptions. It is a selection of these that will be exhibited.
The work of 21 contemporary ink artists will be featured, including Bai Qianshen, Michael Cherney, Grace Chu, Fu Shen, Lo Ch’ing, Tang Qingnian, Wang Mansheng, Wan-go Weng, Zhu Chengjun, and Terry Yuan, among others.
“Calligraphy is fundamental to a Chinese garden, but it is a feature that often goes overlooked by visitors, especially those who do not read Chinese,” said Phillip E. Bloom, the June and Simon K.C. Li Curator of the Chinese Garden and Director of the Center for East Asian Garden Studies. “This exhibition fosters deeper appreciation for the artistry behind these inscriptions by introducing the content, materials, forms, and futures of calligraphy.”
The new Studio for Lodging the Mind, located at the north end of the garden, is a 1,720-sq.-ft., light- and climate-controlled gallery space suitable for the display of works of art on paper or silk. An adjacent pavilion, known as the Flowery Brush Library 筆花書房, is designed in the style of a 17th-century Chinese scholar’s studio—a garden retreat traditionally used for painting, poetry, and calligraphy. Its name is inspired by the tale of a scholar who dreamed that a flower grew from the tip of his writing brush, a metaphor for literary and artistic talent. Calligraphy demonstrations are planned for this latter space; including a presentation by Terry Yuan on Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021, at 2:30 p.m., and a demonstration by Tang Qingnian on Saturday, April 9, 2022, at 2:30 p.m. Both programs are free with Huntington admission.
