Art gallery exhibit looks at blue and white porcelain

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The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (AGGV) is presenting Blue & White, an exhibit of blue and white porcelain, until January 30, 2022. AGGV curator of Asian art Heng Wu calls porcelain a highly appreciated global product, both for the beauty of the combination of blue and white colours on ceramic and the global influence the form has had on art. Wu explains that this exhibit represents the cross-cultural exchange and communication between China, Europe, Japan, and Canada.

“This term… refers to the porcelain pieces made in China starting from the 14th century, and then it went to the whole world, to the globe with international trade, with shipping,” she says.

The Ming Dynasty, which ruled in China from 1368 to 1644, was quite famous for their international trades and for establishing cultural ties through their art by exporting porcelain to western countries. Nowadays, porcelain is a global product, says Wu, adding that the exhibit intends to emphasize that the Ming Dynasty was more than just blue and white porcelain.

A work of blue and white porcelain from an unknown artist from the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria’s Blue & White exhibit (photo provided).

“I don’t only want the audience just to see how beautiful this piece is; that’s only like one basic level. I want them to go beyond that and think about… why this product, which was originally made in a small town in China… became a global product,” she says.

Other shows about this topic typically focus on how the Chinese porcelain influenced the globe, but Wu wants to go deeper than that with Blue & White.

“You will see Chinese influence to the European products, but you will also see European influence back to the Chinese products,” says Wu.

AGGV receives lots of donations from local people to include their collections, which helps keep the show relevant to local audiences, says Wu. However, Wu says to always check to make sure the art qualifies; the staff can only qualify those pieces of art that relate to the museum’s mission statement’s mission and the theme of the current show.

“To be suitable to get into the museum’s collection, you always have to check if it suits the mission statement of the institution, and if it suits the current collection scheme,” she says.

Wu—who says that this exhibit contains a mixture of historical and contemporary work from many different culturessays that some people still have blue and white porcelain in their houses.

“There is still a very widespread, popular appreciation of blue and white porcelain, even today,” says Wu. “People buy these dishes, blue and white dishes, and people show them in their living rooms. Still, there is a trend.”

Blue & White
Until Sunday, January 30, 2022
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
aggv.ca

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