The Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago

Since the invention of porcelain and gunpowder, materials have animated and innovated new art forms throughout Chinese history. Artists have used both unconventional materials and conventional materials unconventionally to create new artistic styles, movements, and forms. Yet, the role materials have played in the history of Chinese art has often been overlooked. Smart Museum of Art’s publication The Allure of Matter: Materiality Across Chinese Art, supported by the Foundation, systematically investigates the role and concept of materiality in Chinese art for the first time.