WHERE AESTHETICS KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES

1. What makes Morandi exceptional in an age of outward art Among the major responses to the crises of the early twentieth century, Giorgio Morandi is unusual because he did not answer violence with visual violence. Much of European modernism moved outward: Futurism glorified speed and impact, Expressionism externalized psychic intensity, and Dada turned war into rupture, provocation, absurdity, and anti-art. Morandi chose the opposite direction. He reduced the world instead o

Cheng Shifa Art Museum is located on Hongqiao Road in Shanghai’s Changning District, in the well-known Gubei area. The museum is operated by the Shanghai Chinese Painting Academy, but it was named in honor of the celebrated Shanghai School artist Cheng Shifa. That background also makes it clear what the museum centers on: Chinese painting is the core of its collection and exhibitions. The building itself is understated yet grand, not unlike the Liu Haisu Art Museum. Both in a

Over the past six months or so, I have visited many art museums, but I often find myself thinking about one question: how can the artworks displayed in glass cases and picture frames form a real connection with viewers? That connection is not about teaching viewers the materials or techniques of a painting, nor even about introducing them to artistic schools or styles. Rather, it is about helping them truly understand and feel the emotions and thoughts an artist experienced w

The Shanghai Rodin Art Center is located at No. 1929, Expo Avenue, Pudong New Area, Shanghai. It is an art institution converted from the former French Pavilion of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo and is currently presenting the major exhibition “Rodin: The Inheritance and Evolution of Modern Sculpture.” The center’s main building covers more than 8,000 square meters, with 4,200 square meters of exhibition space. Its exterior features a structure that appears to float above the g