Inspired by China: Contemporary Furnituremakers Explore Chinese Traditions

June 28, 2007 - October 28, 2007

Inspired by China: Contemporary Furnituremakers Explore Chinese Traditions brings together 27 masterpieces of historic Chinese furniture (some from as early as the 16th century) with 27 pieces of contemporary studio furniture created specifically for the exhibition. The 22 artists were chosen from the United States, Canada, Japan and China. This exhibition demonstrates the interchange of ideas and inspiration across time and geographic boundaries. At the same time, it reflects increasing opportunities for cross-cultural exchange among contemporary artists in North America and China, as China emerges into the global art community.

Inspired by China was organized by the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. The exhibition grew out of a three-day workshop at the Peabody Essex Museum in June 2005, when the 22 artists were invited to view and discuss more than 40 pieces representing China's rich and varied furniture traditions. The artists then produced new works that are fascinating for their range of creative response and materials, including stainless steel, electrical wire, ceramic and twigs.

To visit the Peabody Essex Museum's online exhibition of Inspired by China, click here. The exhibition will open in a new window.

Chinese Aesthetics and the West
China has long been an important source of inspiration for European and American furniture. In the mid-18th century, Chippendale-style furniture used geometric detailing. In the late 19th century, the Aesthetic style incorporated “oriental” figures and Chinese architectural forms. Modernist designers in the 1930s and 1940s embraced the restrained elegance of Ming dynasty furniture, which resonated with their clean, unadorned aesthetic.

The reopening of China to the West in the early 1970s spurred a growing interest in historic Chinese furniture. Despite this renewed awareness, the Western perspective on Chinese furniture has been fairly limited. For this exhibition, the curators selected Chinese works that represented distinct styles of vernacular furniture, and a range of types and materials.

Five Decades of Studio Furniture
In North America, studio furniture, a vibrant field since the 1950s, has also enjoyed a surge in popularity. Freed from the demands of mass-market furniture production, studio artists produce one-of-a-kind pieces that often require hundreds of hours to create. Not surprisingly, their creations are increasingly prized by collectors and museums. The artists draw from multiple traditions, yet few have had prior opportunities to explore the complexity of Chinese forms, materials and techniques.

In China, artists trained in sculpture, design and traditional furnituremaking are now also creating one-of-a-kind pieces of contemporary furniture. The Chinese artists selected for this exhibition work outside of traditional apprenticeships, and share a common interest with their North American counterparts in connecting concept, materials and technique. They also share an interest in working with historic materials. The exhibition curators considered it important to bring them together—to offer an opportunity for creative and professional interaction.

Selecting the Artists
The curators chose an international group of furnituremakers, opting for mature artists who have long produced consistently strong works. Judy McKie uses her signature low-relief carving to interpret the Chinese dragon on the side of a traditional Chinese drum stool form. Gord Peteran, whose work consistently challenges preconceived notions about furniture, reconciled both a historic view of Chinese manufacture, notable for fine craftsmanship, and a modern view of China as producer of cheap plastic objects.

The Chinese furnituremakers, more familiar with the traditional forms, are often more iconoclastic in their interpretations. Like many of the artists, Shao Fan was inspired by the traditional altar table form in creating his U-shaped Altar Table, literally “turning it around” to examine it from a new perspective. Shao is considered the foremost “crossover artist” in Mainland China, blurring the boundaries between the fine and the applied arts. Artist Shi Jianmin expresses a historic Chinese reverence for forms created entirely by Nature, in his Stool, though its smooth shiny form proclaims it as a man-made object.

Joining these studio furnituremakers were two traditional Chinese furnituremakers from rural Anhui Province. For the American participants, Inspired by China was an opportunity to experience firsthand the precise workmanship of Chinese furniture, prized and revered among artists, and to study a wide diversity of furniture from China. Conversely, the Chinese furnituremakers traveled half-way around the globe to reencounter their own culture’s history as represented in the Peabody Essex Museum’s collections, and to experience the perspectives, ideas, techniques and works of their American counterparts.

Inspired by China: Contemporary Furnituremakers Explore Chinese Traditions was organized and is circulated by the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts.

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