Kaikodo Journal XV Spring 2000

Realms of Faith

Corresponding to the exhibition held between March 18 and April 15, 2000. 41 Chinese and Japanese paintings; 34 Chinese objects (75 color plates). Preface by Howard Rogers. 357 pages.

Includes the essays:
John Rockwell:
    “Love, Death and Resurrection, in and
    of The Peony Pavilion”
Steven D. Owyoung:
    “The Connoisseurship of Tea—A Translation
    and Commentary on the ‘P’in-ch’a’
    Section of the Record of Superlative
    Things by Wen Chen-heng (1585-1645)”
Howard Rogers:
    “Lives of the Painters: Hsia Kuei (1145?-1225?)”   

Essays were contributed by Dr. John 
Rockwell, at the time of the journals publication the editor of the Sunday “Arts and Leisure” 
section of The New York Times, and by Dr. 
Steven D. Owyoung, former Curator of Asian Arts at 
The St. Louis Art Museum. Following a 
twenty-two year career with The Times, mainly 
as a music critic based in New York but also, from 
1992-1994, as their Paris-based European cultural 
correspondent, John then became Director of 
the Lincoln Center Festival (1994-1998) and 
conceived the audacious plan of staging for the 
first time in four-hundred years a complete, 
18-hour production of the 1598 Chinese opera 
The Peony Pavilion. Although the initial project 
was aborted, and the opera not seen at that time, 
the life-cycle of that undertaking constitutes a 
drama in itself. John’s essay takes us backstage, 
as it were, and introduces us to the organizers, 
director, artists, and officials who played 
significant roles in that unscripted piece of 
theater. His essay also acquaints us with the 
artistic and political issues that confronted the 
major players and precipitated a crisis that 
illumines the differing attitudes between East 
and West toward artistic independence and 
integrity, and on how best to preserve and 
nourish a cultural tradition without embalming 
it. Steven Owyoung’s essay concerns just such a 
tradition, that of the Chinese cult of tea as it 
evolved from the 8th to the 17th century, down 
to the very time, place, and social circle within 
which The Peony Pavilion was created. With his 
translation of Wen Zhenheng’s (Wen Chen-heng) early 17th 
century Pincha (P’in-ch’a) or “Connoisseurship of Tea” as 
an organizing framework, Steve’s essay provides 
a revealing glimpse into the intimate lives of the 
late Ming literati from a very special viewpoint, 
one associated with an activity that was of great 
moment to the participants but which is very 
seldom mentioned by any save those, like Steve 
himself, who are personally and aesthetically as 
well as intellectually involved with this 
particular art. Howard Rogers’ essay on the Song master Xia Gui (Hsia Kuei ) (11451-1225?) aims to present what little is 
known about his life and career and to define the 
salient characteristics of Xia’s style, which was 
highly influential in both China and Japan.