C. C. Wang: Lines of Abstraction

February 2, 2023 – April 29, 2023
Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Gallery at Hunter College

132 East 68th Street
New York, NY

Detail of C. C. Wang, no title (Abstract Work with Blue and Green), 1998. Ink and color on paper, overall: 33 3⁄4 x 15 5⁄8 inches (85.7 x 39.7 cm). Collection of Pao Yung Chao.

Detail of C. C. Wang, no title (Abstract Work with Blue and Green), 1998. Ink and color on paper, overall: 33 3⁄4 x 15 5⁄8 inches (85.7 x 39.7 cm). Collection of Pao Yung Chao.

Opening Reception: February 2, 7–9 pm

Born to a family of scholar-officials at the twilight of the Qing dynasty, C. C. Wang (Wang Chi-ch’ien 王己千, 1907–2003) mastered the traditional ink and brush techniques in Republican Shanghai and immigrated to New York City in 1949. There he sought to preserve the tradition of classical Chinese painting through engagement with new ideas, materials, and forms. Drawing inspiration from past masters in the history of Chinese painting, as well as New York’s artistic climate in the wake of World War II, Wang advanced breakthrough transformations in ink painting.

C. C. Wang is best known as a preeminent twentieth-century connoisseur and collector of pre-modern Chinese art, a reputation that often overshadows his own art. Held twenty years after the artist’s death, C. C. Wang: Lines of Abstraction recenters Wang’s extraordinary career on his own artistic practice to reveal an original quest for tradition and innovation in the global twentieth century. Spanning seven decades, the exhibition focuses on the artist’s distinctive synthesis of Chinese ink painting and American postwar abstraction.

In concert with the exhibition, the Hunter College Art Galleries are producing a comprehensive catalogue published in collaboration with the Weisman Museum of Art at the University of Minnesota and Hirmer Publishers. This book is the first retrospective monograph on the renowned artist, collector, and connoisseur C. C. Wang and features texts by scholars Wen-shing Chou, Daniel M. Greenberg, Joseph Scheier-Dolberg, and Arnold Chang with additional contributions by Hunter College Graduate Art History candidates and an undergraduate student from the University of Minnesota. Support for this publication is provided by the Wolf Kahn Foundation and Emily Mason and Alice Trumbull Mason Foundation on behalf of artists Emily Mason and Wolf Kahn.

Curated by Wen-shing Chou and Daniel M. Greenberg with Hans Hofmann Graduate Curatorial Fellow Margaret Liu Clinton.

Upcoming Event:

C. C. Wang: Lines of Abstraction Book Launch and Conversations

Saturday April 29, 2023, 4–6pm

Bertha & Karl Leubsdorf Gallery at Hunter College West Building Lobby

In concert with the exhibition C. C. Wang: Lines of Abstraction the Hunter College Art Galleries in collaboration with the Weisman Museum of Art at the University of Minnesota and Hirmer Publishers have produced the first retrospective monograph on the renowned artist, collector, and connoisseur C. C. Wang. To celebrate the launch of C. C. Wang: Lines of Abstraction the Hunter College Art Galleries have organized an afternoon of conversations hosted by the publication editors Hunter College Professor Wen-shing Chou and University of Minnesota Twin Cities Professor Daniel M. Greenberg with Arnold Chang, scholar, artist, and former student of C. C. Wang; Joseph Scheier-Dolberg, Oscar Tang and Agnes Hsu-Tang Associate Curator of Chinese Paintings at the MET; Elizabeth Hammer, Executive Director of the Hammond Museum and Japanese Stroll Garden; Lesley Ma, Ming Chu Hsu and Daniel Xu Associate Curator of Asian Art in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art at the MET; Margaret Liu Clinton, Hunter College MA Art History candidate; and Jordan Homstad, University of Minnesota undergraduate alumni.