Hand-Held: The Four Seasons in Chinese Painting

Through the lens of the four seasons—spring, summer, autumn, and winter—this exhibition explores the intimate visual storytelling experience found within small-scale Chinese landscape paintings. Whether formatted in a popular fan shape, as an album leaf, a handscroll, or a glossy ceramic, the paintings featured in this exhibition were intended to be studied up-close and to be handled. Many of the paintings combine detailed images and the elevated art form of calligraphy with inscriptions that describe painting styles, provide dedication to friends and family, and offer the date when the work was made. Journey through the seasons, from the blossoming peach trees and greening mountains of spring to the pillowy surfaces of newly fallen snow in a winter landscape, in this charming exhibition of Chinese painting.