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Seated in the leafless cedarwood forest of Kengo Kuma’s imagination at Sake no Hana on St James Street, the bare wooden geometry was like a balm to the bustling city outside. I was waiting for Hongxing Zhang, curator of this seasons most anticipated show – Masterpieces of Chinese Painting 700-1900, opening in October at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
It was no coincidence that I had picked this venue for our rendezvous. A number of the artworks curated, and all of those from the Zen Buddhist period, came from Japanese museums, such as Two Chan Patriarchs Harmonising Their Minds attributed to Shi Ke in the 10th century from the Tokyo National Museum. This work is marked by a powerfully expressive style of brushwork and an absence of colour. The simplicity ofblack ink on white paper, while unappealing to Chinese scholars at the time, made them highly desirable to Japanese collectors with a penchant for the aesthetic of solitude.
Studying Sake no Hana’s monochrome menu that offers a wealth of ingredients corseted in the strictest selection of dishes, Hongxing appeared quietly at the table, as if out of the woodwork. With characteristic graciousness he announced, “I love Japanese food for its simplicity”.
The comment initiated a discussion about the point of departure for such an ambitious retrospective, the first of its kind in the UK. How does a curator pick enough pieces without loosing the atmosphere of each – how does he create a symphony and not a cacophony?
“It was always my dream, my ambition, to have a Chinese Painting show, since I first came to this country in 1993 as a visitor and then returned as a PHD student.” Zhang, who did his BA in Western Art and painting practice, was deeply influenced by art historians like Ernst Gombrich. “I found that this approach was really lacking in Chinese art – from a humanistic point of view, from a cultural historical point of view, to see art not just as a practice but as an important part of the entire culture of society.”
Following on this theme of cross cultural pollination, Zhang’s PhD focused on a set of military paintings commissioned in late 19th century by the infamous Empress Dowager Cixi.This set of 78 portraits painted in the European artistic tradition illustrated her infamous decision that China would “learn from Western powers and import knowledge and technology”.
As a student here he relished his trips to the National Gallery, The Tate, Royal Academy (and the V&A). “As students we would do field trips to Northwest China – and to the Buddhist Caves and to exhibitions in city of Nanjing – I felt an atmosphere there back in China – I really missed that and then the works.”
For Zhang, Gombrich’s Story of Art highlighted the fact that there was not something comparable for Chinese art. With characteristic humility he admitted, “I can’t aspire to do something of that quality but I felt we needed something of that scope. We needed to tell the story of Chinese painting: how it developed, how it changed and how it continued.” Mindful of his audience this exhibition will feed back to China and like-minded people there such as Xu Bing whose installation in the V&A’s John Madejski Garden to coincide with the exhibition.
One of the main characteristics of many Chinese masterpieces is their fragility, because the works were not made for permanent display. “As a student, there was a rush to get to those exhibitions. I remember vividly when I went to Gong Xian (the 17th century artist’s humble villa – we have his piece in our exhibition – when I saw the works they felt so close to me – those Autumn leaves – it was an unforgettable experience.” This particular quality, the intimacy of Chinese paintings, is heightened bytheir fleeting exposure and the fact that what they portray has long been displaced and nearly forgotten. They capture an essence of the place that they were made – a place that no longer exists. Something about the atmosphere of his native paintings gave him a deep sense of nostalgia, as if he missed the place through their portrayal of them.
It is significant that this retrospective stops short of the 20th century, and any reference to the Cultural Revolution. “Perhaps because of this break with tradition we all felt that we really needed to learn from existing skills and tradition. These works are so unknown both internationally and for the Chinese. They are so precious: they are only hung on temporary display and there are very few good reproductions.”
At the heart of Masterpieces of Chinese Painting 700-1900 is the displaying period – it is so restrictive. Negotiating for works from 21 museums in total, from Kansas to Stockholm, Tokyo to Paris, he had to match his wish list to their strict and rigid system of rotation. It meant that for his show to run for three months, there are a number of artworks that will be rotated half way through. Within the academic community this date was more important than the opening dates – so they could plan their visit to London around it. Ever gracious, Zhang designed his symposium for international scholars around the rotation dates December 5 and 6.
His highly collaborative and inclusive nature also informed his decision only to curate from public galleries, while it simplified the process, it also brought together the specialist curators who look after these precious works and instigated a healthy dialogue. In this sense the book is an authoritative guide rather than just a curated one – a collection of scholarship.
Interrupted with our main course of blackened cod with star fruit, we paused to take in the exquisite culinary details. “I had a trip to the Suntory Museum in Tokyo for a Laquer exhibition. It is also designed by Kengo Kuma, he softens the light through this variegated grid. It is interesting that he has also been chosen as the designer for the future V&A at Dundee – the new design museum for Scotland.” Coincidence is a curious thing. It is a like the echo of a cosmic gong, somehow reinforcing a fleeing intuition of “this feels right”.
Overall what first brought Zhang to the subject is what he is still really passionate about – technique and materials, and they run like a gold silk thread throughout the exhibition and its accompanying book. “It seemed to be a good way to invite visitors to look at and engage with the work,” he offers again with wonderful simplicity of purpose. In this sense there is no disconnect with the experience of these Masterpieces and the dialogue around them. Citing one of his favourite critics, Micheal Baxandall, lamenting that people talk about the social history of art more than the art works themselves, Hongxing Zhang wants people to come back to the works themselves, and experience their particular atmosphere.
“This is not a history of Chinese paintings in China this is a history of Chinese Paintings in the world.” Each country has its own specific take on it, for example Chinese traditionally put primacy on literati paintings and this influenced their cultural guardianship. The Zen Buddhist works in the third section of the exhibition are not there due to their technical brilliance but because they cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Japanese collecting of Chinese painting has a very long history but they had different cultural tastes. Chinese art connoisseurs found them ugly and uncontrolled. Japanese merchants who went to China at that time they liked them as avisual aid for their meditation.
These Zen paintings will be displayed in juxtaposition to the literati paintings of that time that were collected in China. When I ask him which he prefers he replies that “now I am scholarly minded I can no longer appreciate things as a critic and only see difference not better or worse.” He then digresses with a small but critical detail: from the first decade of the 20th century people adopted a modern way of reading from left to right – and then the viewing habit changed. “It is important to know this about these pieces – that they should be read from right to left.”
Ideally – like any great exhibition – you will have time to see it twice – to really take in the scope. Try and impress their image and their atmosphere on your mind – this may be the first and last time you ever see the pieces. They will be laid to rest after this in their respective shrines for up to five years.Thankfully you can buy the book.
I can count my lunch meeting at with Hongxing Zhang at Sake no Hana as one of the greatest privileges of my career: it was like a private lesson in Chinese Art History and what he still carries with him is the very “atmosphere” he sought to recreate with this exhibition, Masterpieces of Chinese Art, opening on the 26th of October at the V&A.
Not to be missed.
by Nico Kos Earle
Sake no Hana,
23 St. James’s Street, London, SW1A 1HA
0207 925 8988
Follow the restaurant on twitter @sakenohana
Sake no Hana has partnered with A Space For Art to launch a series of unique art exhibitions over the forthcoming months. Works by artist Adam Bricusse are currently on display in Sake no Hana’s bar and are available for purchase. David Ogle will follow Bricusse with a visual lighting installation in November
Masterpieces of Chinese Paintings: 700-1900 is at the V&A, Cromwell Rd London SW7 2RL 020 7942 2000, from October 26, 2013 – January 19, 2014.
Restaurant Partner: Ping Pong. Travel Partner: Viking River Cruises.