U.Va. Art Museum to Host Weedon Asian Arts Lecture on Oct. 21

October 8, 2010 — The University of Virginia Art Museum will host Kathleen Ryor for an Ellen Bayard Weedon Lecture in the Arts of Asia on Oct. 21. Her lecture, "The Painter as Knight-Errant: Xu Wei (1521-1593) and Alternative Artistic Persona in Late Ming China," will be held at 5:30 p.m. in Campbell Hall, room 153.

Ryor, professor and chair of art and art history at Carleton College, will examine how the late Ming poet, playwright and painter Xu Wei refashioned the ideal of the eccentric artist as a type of knight-errant through his painting style, art criticism and other professional activities. Although dominant narratives of the cultural history of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) usually focus on the restrained aesthetic values of educated civil officials, many literati were actually immersed in the symbolic aspects of martial life, as well as the practical side of military matters.

Ryor earned her B.A. at the University of Virginia and her M.A. and Ph.D. at New York University. Her primary area of research is Chinese painting of the late Ming dynasty. Her other research and teaching interests include interactions between different modes of representation in the Ming and Qing periods, Chinese gardens and 20th-century Chinese art and Japanese prints.

The Weedon Lectures are made possible by support from the Ellen Bayard Weedon Foundation.

The lecture is free and open to the public. For information, call 434-243-2050 or e-mail museumoutreach@virginia.edu.

— By Jane Ford

Media Contact