Worlds of Wonder
September 15 - October 15, 2001
Worlds of Wonder
September 15 – October 15, 2001
Kaikodo Journal XX (Autumn 2001)
The ultimate “world of wonders” is undoubtedly the actual natural physical environment in which we live, but this is not to deny the great fascination of alternative worlds that have been created at various times by men and women of talent, ambition, and vision. The paintings and objects in the present exhibition were chosen for their intrinsic merits but also to illustrate the often overlapping realms of history, art-history, aesthetics, religion, and society, all of which constitute worlds of wonder in themselves as well as contributing to the content of others. It is hoped that “Worlds of Wonders” will inspire and elicit, in keeping with the theme, awe, astonishment or surprise but at the least admiration for or enjoyment of our current offerings.
Bronzes and ceramic tomb sculptures in particular were obvious additions, given their oftentimes awesome manifestations of worlds unseen by the physical eye, and among the objects and paintings are a good number which document extraordinary worlds of imagination, religion, and aesthetics and also the wondrous world of the past as embodied and revealed in- works of art.
The exhibition was filled with wonders ranging from a bronze funerary carriage of the Han dynasty with its guardian snakes and tigers and numerous dangling bells to a large ivory carving of the “Three Yangs”—three goats representing three blessings—formerly in the Percival David collection in London. The paintings were a stunning gathering of numerous formats, subjects and styles, too many of them easily categorized as highlights to allow. mention here.
