The Thousand Buddha Hall and the Pagoda of the “Cloudy Cliff” Monastery, from Twelve Views of Tiger Hill, Suzhou, after 1490. Shen Zhou (Chinese, 1427–1509). Album leaf; ink on paper or ink and slight color on paper; image: 31.1 x 41 cm (12 1/4 x 16 1/8 in.); overall: 36.5 x 49.9 cm (14 3/8 x 19 5/8 in.). Courtesy The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1964.371.7

From a Land of Pestilential Vapors to Paradise on Earth: An introduction to Treasures from the Yangzi Delta at the Cleveland Museum of Art
Tuesday, November 14 at 5pm EST
Zoom Webinar

Join AWNY, in collaboration with The Cleveland Museum of Art, for the fascinating webinar, From a Land of Pestilential Vapors to Paradise on Earth, featuring guest speaker Dr. Clarissa Von Spee, the James and Donna Reid Curator of Chinese Art and Interim Curator of Islamic Art, Chair of Asian Art. Dr. von Spee will discuss her exhibition, China’s Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta currently on view at the museum through January 7, 2024.

Curated by Dr. von Spee, this is the first exhibition in the West to focus on the artistic production and cultural impact of a region called Jiangnan, located in the coastal area south of the Yangzi River. Dr. von Spee will explore how this region gained a leading role in China’s artistic production and how it succeeded in setting cultural standards and will present works of art from private and public collections and museums in the United States, Europe, China, and Japan. Jiangnan has throughout large parts of its history been one of the wealthiest, most populous, and most fertile lands. For millennia, it has been an area of rich agriculture, extensive trade, and influential artistic production. Art from Jiangnan—home to such great cities as Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Nanjing, as well as to hilly picturesque landscapes interspersed with rivers and lakes—has defined the image of traditional China for the world.

SPEAKER: Dr. Clarissa von Spee, the James and Donna Reid Curator of Chinese Art and Interim Curator of Islamic Art, Chair of Asian Art, Cleveland Museum of Art

MODERATOR: Dessa Goddard, Vice-President, US Head of the Asian Art Group at Bonhams and former Chairman of Asia Week New York.

To register, click here.

Participant’s Biographies:

Dr. Clarissa von Spee brings more than a decade of museum experience to the Cleveland Museum of Art. From 2008 until 2016, von Spee served as curator of the Chinese and Central Asian Collections, Department of Asia, at the British Museum in London. She organized exhibitions including The Printed Image in China from the 8th to the 21st Centuries (2010); Modern Chinese Ink Paintings (2012); and Gems of Chinese Painting: A Voyage along the Yangzi River (2014).

Dessa Goddard is the Vice-President, US Head of the Asian Art Group at Bonhams and former Chairman of Asia Week New York. She oversees all company specialists and consultants in the fields of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Himalayan, Indian and Southeast Asian Art in North America at Bonhams and is the Senior North American Chinese Specialist in charge of acquiring consignments for the company’s auctions in New York, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong.