EXHIBITIONS
The Mozhai Foundation is committed to expanding opportunities for the public to view works of Chinese art in settings that provide an instructive and enjoyable experience. We have sponsored exhibitions in partnership with museums in the past, and we plan to collaborate with a variety of organizations on similar projects in the future.
The Carved Brush: Calligraphy, Painting and Seal Carving by Qi Baishi
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, October 29, 2013 – July 13, 2014
This exhibition showcased 24 art works by the acclaimed artist Qi Baishi (1864-1957), including paintings and works of calligraphy and seal carving. View exhibition images →
PROJECT SUPPORT
By supporting projects that focus on the arts of China, the Mozhai Foundation advances its own mission of education and intercultural understanding.
the Tsao Family Collection
October 15 – 16, 2016, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
The Foundation provided major support for a symposium presented in conjunction with LACMA’s exhibition of late Ming and early Qing dynasty paintings from the collection of the late Jung Ying Tsao. Presentations by noted academic specialists, curators, and connoisseurs examined 17th–century painting, calligraphy, and poetry, as well as the role of Buddhism and dreams in the arts of this period.
http://www.lacma.org/sites/default/files/Tsao-exhibition-advisory-6.17.16.pdf
http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/alternative-dreams
Simple, Graceful and National – Special Exhibition Commemorating the 150th Anniversary of Huang Binhong’s Birth
April 4 – June 7, 2015 at the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Beijing
Huang Binhong (1865-1955) was a major figure of 20th century Chinese painting. The Mozhai Foundation facilitated the loan of two albums of landscapes and calligraphy by this artist from the collection of Elna C. Tsao for inclusion in this exhibition.
Hearing Landscapes and A Thousand Mountains, a Milliion Streams, by Lei Liang
Calit2 and Filmatic Festival, UC San Diego; Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), Boston, MA
In early 2015, Pulitzer Prize finalist and UC San Diego music professor Lei Liang (b. 1972) presented a musical "sonification" which he created to accompany an exhibit of high-resolution, multispectral scans of 12 landscape paintings by Huang Binhong (1865-1955). The Mozhai Foundation facilitated the loan of these paintings, from an album in the collection of Elna C. Tsao, for digital imaging and materials analysis. Liang describes this project as a “musical tribute to Mr. Jung Ying Tsao” who “sparked my interest in finding a parallel between music composition and traditional ink painting.”
Hearing Landscapes I (Music by Lei Liang): https://youtu.be/u_lAqfPCHLo
Hearing Landscapes (project documentary): http://video-jsoe.ucsd.edu/calit2/LeiLiang/Hearing_Landscapes_Full_Performance.mp4
Further exploring his own musical response to the Tsao album of landscapes by Huang Binhong, in 2017 Lei Liang composed an orchestral “musical landscape.” Commissioned by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), A Thousand Mountains, a Million Streams premiered on April 21, 2018 at the New England Conservatory, and a recording of the performance was released on CD in late 2018. In recognition of this composition, Prof. Liang received the prestigious 2020 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition for an orchestral work that evokes the threat posed by climate change and the opportunity it offers for redemption.
A Thousand Mountains, a Million Streams (recording): https://www.eamdc.com/audio/presskit/45f634c0-f43a-11e9-9a4a-0a1edf4187b9/
2020 Grawemeyer Award: https://nmbx.newmusicusa.org/lei-liang-wins-2020-grawemeyer-award-for-climate-change-inspired-piece/
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/13/arts/music/lei-liang-grawemeyer.html
Note: Calit2 is UC San Diego’s California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology. Lei Liang was Composer-in-Residence at Calit2’s Qualcomm Institute from 2013 to 2016.