Turin's Museum of Oriental Art celebrates Chinese New Year with paper embroidery exhibition

From Jan. 30 to March 17, 2019, the Museum of Oriental Art in Turin offers the exhibition Paper Embroideries, focusing on the art of paper-cutting and its key figures, Xi Xiaoqin and Chu Chunzhi, authentic masters of this art. Visitors will be taken on an ideal journey between different regions of China, which possess very different techniques and styles of paper carving, as is also well evidenced by the works of Xi Xiaoqin (from Shanghai) as opposed to those of Chu Chunzhi, who works instead in the cold northeastern regions, in Shenyang. It will thus be possible to appreciate at close quarters a tradition that is far more layered and complex than it might seem on the surface.

The earliest evidence of such work was found in Turfan, in what is now Xinjiang Province, and dates to the period of the so-called Northern and Southern Dynasties (4th to 6th centuries). Probably, however, already in the period of the Warring Kingdoms, around the 4th century B.C., this folk art form was practiced by craftsmen who, since paper had not yet been invented, made use of tree leaves. The exhibition was opened on the occasion of the Chinese New Year, which will be celebrated on Feb. 5. As a note from the museum states, "We will greet the New Year, theYear of the Pig, with an exhibition of ’cards,’ essential elements of the decorative tradition that accompanies this holiday, which contain an infinite number of auspicious and apotropaic implications and functions. The Exhibition will help discover their meanings."

On Feb. 2, at 11 a.m., there is a Workshop with artists Chu Chunzhi and Xi Xiaoqin, while on Feb. 3, at 4 p.m., MAO’s Educational Services will offer Let’s Celebrate Chinese New Year Together, a cheerful family activity suitable for children of all age groups. The exhibition is curated by theConfucius Institute of the University of Turin in collaboration with East China Normal University in Shanghai. Hours: Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The ticket office always closes one hour earlier. The exhibition has free admission. For all information you can call +39 011.6703913, send a mial to mao@fondazionetorinomusei.it or visit www.maotorino.it.

Turin's Museum of Oriental Art celebrates Chinese New Year with paper embroidery exhibition

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