Women Cross Media. Photography, Porcelain and Prints from Japan and China

3 March to 5 June 2017 An exhibition of the Europe/World research programme spanning several collections as part of the project Dresden • Europe • World, Sponsel-Raum at the Neues Grünes Gewölbe at the Residenzschloss

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Women Cross Media is a presentation in the context of the exhibition Dresden • Europe • World and is dedicated to the cross-media issue of how femininity was portrayed in images in East Asian art of the early 18th to the late 19th century - in a dialogue between objects from the Porcelain Collection, the Photography Collection of the Museum of Ethnology and from the Kupferstich-Kabinett.

"Pictures of beautiful women" is one of the central themes of both Chinese and Japanese art. During the early development of Chinese painting, communicating moral-didactic values initially played a large role. With the growing interest in everyday life during the Tang Dynasty (618 - 907), women became a decorative motif. In contrast, Japanese porcelain from the Genroku period (1688 - 1704) or the souvenir photographs of the Meiji period (1868 - 1912) show women from the social background of entertainment.

Porzellanfigur einer Frau, hält Fächer vors Gesicht, trägt Gewand mit Blumenmuster
© Porzellansammlung, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Foto: Adrian Sauer
Weibliche Figur, spätes 17. Jahrhundert Weibliche Figur, Japan, Arita, Edo-Zeit (1603-1868), spätes 17. Jahrhundert Porzellan, Unterglasurkobaltblau, Aufglasurfarben und Gold, Höhe: 38,1 x Ø 16,3 x Ø Fuß: 15,9 cm Porzellansammlung, © SKD Foto: Adrian Sauer

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At the latest by this point in time, traditional East Asian iconography and the fantasies of Western recipients as potential collectors of these objects fuse to become an individual visual language. Japanese fashion and the growing ethnographic interest in Asia at the end of the 19th century increased the production of images. Aspects such as commercialisation, ideals of beauty and the formation of stereotypes resulting from these are explored critically in media comparison.

 

Frau flüstert anderer Frau ins Ohr, beide im Kimono, kleine Stellwand zwischen ihnen
Museum für Völkerkunde, © SKD
Unbekannter Fotograf, „Whispering“ (Zwei japanische Frauen an einem Stellschirm), 1870-1900 Museum für Völkerkunde Dresden
Person im Gewand und mit Kopfbedeckung sitzt neben Tischchen mit Geschirr und Bonsais
Shanghai Dispensary Photographer (Atelier), Porträt einer sitzenden jungen Frau, 1900 Museum für Völkerkunde Dresden
drei Frauen in Kimonos mit Blumenmuster, tragen aufwendige Steckfrisur und Kopfschmuck
Unbekannter Fotograf, „Kyoto Girls“ (Drei Kurtisanen), 1880–1900 Museum für Völkerkunde Dresden
Seitenportrait einer Frau, mit Haarschmuck befestigter, großer Dutt
Unbekannter Fotograf, Porträt einer Chinesin im Profil nach links, 1880–1900 Museum für Völkerkunde Dresden

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Official Sponsor

Sparkassen Finanzgruppe

Museum and Research Foundation

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