Thursday, February 24
1:00–3:00 p.m. PT
Speaker: Phillip E. Bloom, Ph.D., June and Simon K.C. Li Curator of the Chinese Garden and Director of the Center for East Asian Garden Studies at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Words are everywhere in the Huntington’s Chinese Garden (known as Liu Fang Yuan 流芳園, or the Garden of Flowing Fragrance). Names adorn rocks and buildings and poetic couplets frame entryways and vistas. Since 2007, the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens has commissioned more than thirty contemporary artists to create the original works of calligraphy that served as the models for these inscriptions. This talk will introduce A Garden of Words: the Calligraphy of Liu Fang Yuan, an exhibition in the Huntington’s new art gallery in the Chinese Garden. The exhibition celebrates these inscriptions by offering four foundational perspectives for contemplating calligraphy.
Phillip E. Bloom is the June and Simon K.C. Li Curator of the Chinese Garden and the director of the Center for East Asian Garden Studies at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, California. A specialist in art of the Song dynasty, he received his Ph.D. in art history from Harvard University in 2013. Prior to moving to the Huntington in 2017, he was assistant professor of East Asian art history at Indiana University, Bloomington. His publications have appeared in The Art Bulletin, Archives of Asian Art, Orientations, and edited volumes in English, Chinese, and Japanese.
Please note, this session will be conducted virtually via Zoom.
Please register by clicking on this link. All participants will be sent the Zoom link via confirmation email with instructions once you secure your place. Space is limited.
Sponsored by the Asian Arts Council.
Featured at top right: Exhibition installation photo of A Garden of Words: the Calligraphy of Liu Fang Yuan at the Huntington. Photo by Charles White.
