CBS 2 At The Met

CBS 2 At The Met: Chinese Paintings, Calligraphy

NEW YORK (CBS) ― Class is in session at this new exhibition in the Met's galleries for Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy. Spanning 1,000 years of Chinese Art History, from the 8th to the 17th century, Curator Mike Hearn focuses on thirty-six works. The idea is for visitors to get to know what makes up style and composition in Chinese Art with the help of large scale photographs.

This kind of art is Curator Hearn's passion, and he wants to share that passion and knowledge with Western audiences. He explains to CBS 2's Dana Tyler, "It's called "An Anatomy of A Masterpiece: How to Read Chinese Paintings" and that really comes out of the Chinese themselves.

"'Du-hua' or 'reading paintings' is an expression on how to look carefully, how to really exercise one's connoisseurship. I've done for the first time is to take photographic enlargements of many of our greatest works and put them next to the works of art themselves to really try to show people what makes a masterpiece."

Front and center in the first gallery visitors can't miss the horse, from "Night-Shining White." In the display case, the animal is on the small size in the original handscroll. But Curator Hearn says if you step up to the big-scale picture you can practically feel the horse's energy coming through.

He explained, "This is one of the rarest paintings in the Met. It goes back to the year 740 AD, so it's almost 1200 year old and it's an extraordinary masterpiece, but it's hard to see. The original is only about a foot square. So I made this big enlargement to really get people to look at it. It's a portrait of an Imperial steed, one of the horses in the Emperor's stable.

The way the mane stands up on end or the big bulging eye that's tinted red and I love the Maybelline eyelashes, the spiral pattern of the hair out of the nostril. So, not only is there a sense that this horse is a real animal, but you get a sense of the spirit of the animal as well. It's a symbol of China itself, of its military might and an emperor's ability to command that might."

Landscapes star in another room. Curator Hearn explains the connection between humans and nature in a handscroll called "Twin Pines, Level Distance" from 1300. He said, "Landscape in China has always had a metaphorical component. These are not just pine trees. But the pine tree in traditional China was a symbol of a gentleman because it remained green in the winter; it was about survival because it arms, its bows outstretched and protected the smaller trees in the forest it was likened to the emperor or the noble gentleman. So when you see a painting of a pine tree, you have to see what the context is."

Humor is on display here too. Hearn said, "What I love about this scroll is that all of these figures are almost cartoon-like. They're sort of grotesque. So you look at this fellow with the wrinkled skin, he looks like Prune Face out of Dick Tracy! He is someone who is almost pig-like. Some of these figures' limbs are rubbery. And I love this man being carried in a chair with his long finger nails and toe nails. I think that artist's point, painting in the 16th century, the artist's point is really that we will never be able to recognize what a truly spiritual individual may look like."

Everyday interpretations of ancient artistry: "Anatomy of a Masterpiece" is on display until August 10th.

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