Wang Mansheng, Driftwood from the Hudson 2 (2019), ink on paper. Courtesy of Connecticut College.
If–or more probably, when–you are walking into the Shain library this fall and look to your right once you pass the glass doors, you will see the Charles Chu room. There is an air of calm serenity once you enter this room, and the atmosphere is lighter: it is as if you have walked into another place altogether. On display is the source of this transitional feeling: the exhibition titled Wang Mansheng: From the Silk Road to the Hudson River. The exhibition features sketches, calligraphy, ink paintings, photography, and prints by the renowned artist Wang Mansheng, who has held exhibitions in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Europe, and the United States, and whose works are in collections at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Yale Art Museum, Brooklyn Museum, and more. Wang’s art pieces in the Charles Chu room are lit with a warm glow so that the dark ink, light brushstrokes, and intricate details stand out on the scrolls and paper.
Wang Mansheng’s earliest pieces included in the exhibition, Studies of Quici Mural Figures (1986), Studies of Tang (1986), and Postage Stamp of Dunhuang Mural 1, 2 (1994) are all drawn from his visits to the caves along the Silk Road. In Wang’s own words, his art is “a response to the natural environment” in which he lives, and these studies, done in precise, swooping strokes of ink on paper, show his thought process as he took in the mural with his own eyes. Also on the Silk Road in Dunhuang, Wang came across preserved slips of inscribed wood that ranged from revered treatises to medical prescriptions and military notes. He features them in his piece Studies of Inscribed Wooden Slips from Dunhuang (2013). The writers and artists of these wooden slips were anonymous, and differed greatly in age, class, and style of writing; but despite this, there was a link between the art, as Wang Mansheng says. The people, no matter what age or class, shared the same culture: “—they lived in the same area, they drank the same wine, they spoke with the same accent.” The variety and similarity of the wooden slips show that no matter where you are, there are things about your homeland that tie you, and everyone else who lives and lived there, together always.
In my first-year seminar class–Chinese Art Comes to America–with Professor Yibing Huang, who is also the curator of this exhibition, I learned about Wang Mansheng’s roots in both the Silk Road and the Hudson River and how he successfully connected both of them and made roots in both continents. Wang’s journey continued from China across countries to Connecticut. Here, he painted his series of bamboo paintings–my personal favorite pieces of his–called Rock and Bamboo (2011), In the Rain (2012), In the Mist (2012), and In the Wind (2012). These pieces show a bamboo tree that Wang planted in his own backyard for the purpose of doing traditional ink and walnut ink painting studies. The same bamboo tree is shown throughout the seasons and weather: in the rain, mist, and wind, just as the titles suggest. In the Rain depicts leaves of the bamboo drooping under the weight of the rain droplets. In the Mist shows the bamboo shrouded in mist by strokes of light gray ink in the background. And finally, In the Wind shows the leaves sharply slanted to the right side of the paper, as if the wind is real and blowing forcefully from the left side of the paper. In all of these paintings, there are clear, bold, and black brushstrokes for the bamboo in focus, and lighter gray brushstrokes for the bamboo in the background, successfully portraying depth and character in these serene works. Wang Mansheng’s act of growing bamboo in his backyard on the Hudson River meshes both of his cultures and origins into one, thus creating an art piece that is infinitely more wholesome and meaningful. Wang Mansheng has found his roots across both continents, and these roots ignite passion and belonging to fuel his art. In Professor Huang’s own words: “once he is rooted, he becomes winged and free.”
Like many things, Wang’s exhibition was halted by the start of the pandemic. The original exhibition was intended to run from Feb. 5 to April 8, 2020, and drew many viewers until the pandemic hit in March of 2020. It has been reinstalled in the Charles Chu Room and is running from Aug. 24 to Oct. 31, 2021, and includes four pieces recently purchased by the College for the Chu-Griffis Asian Art Collection. I encourage you to take a step into this exhibition and absorb the work of an artist whose collection mirrors his journey across continents, and, most importantly, portrays the true meaning of home.
