Professor Julia K. Murray's (Art History) research on Confucius (551 BCE-479 BCE) is being presented to a broader public in the exhibition CONFUCIUS: His Life and Legacy in Art on view at the China Institute Gallery in New York City from February 11-June 13, 2010.
The show is the first ever to examine the material and visual culture of the state and family cults for worshiping Confucius.
Murray's aim is to reveal the diversity of his images and appropriations over the centuries, particularly relevant with China now promoting its own conception of Confucius as a national symbol, just decades after he was reviled in the Cultural Revolution.
Co-curated with the director of the Shandong Provincial Museum in China, the exhibition brings treasured objects from Confucius's hometown of Qufu, Shandong, some of which are being shown outside China for the first time. It is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue with scholarly essays.
- Envisioning an Abstraction Who Was Also a Man (New York Times Art Review)
- A link to China Institute Gallery Press Release
- A link to Exhibition Related Resources
- A link to Catalogue