KU News Release

KU students create exhibit of Chinese paintings at Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Shu-Yun Ho, Keelung, Taiwan, doctoral student in art history, foreground, works with Marc Wilson, director and CEO of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, positioning artwork for the "Senses and Sensibilities" exhibition in the museum's Chinese paintings galleries.

LAWRENCE — Marsha Haufler, professor of art history at the University of Kansas, knew she had a rare opportunity for her graduate students in Chinese art history.

Marc Wilson, director and CEO at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Mo., had invited her students to plan a new installation for the Chinese paintings galleries at the museum. Preparation of the exhibition became the topic of Haufler’s fall 2007 graduate seminar.

Haufler and 10 students met with Wilson weekly to discuss museum practices and study firsthand the museum’s world-renowned collection of Chinese paintings. Wilson, a specialist in Chinese art history, provided the students with a list of works to chose in planning their exhibition.

Students chose the theme “Senses and Sensibilities,” to highlight the senses of hearing and smell — as well as sight — evoked in paintings of landscapes, plants, flowers and garden scenes. The exhibition opens today and will run through Aug. 24 in the permanent Chinese paintings gallery on the second floor of the main museum building at 4525 Oak St., Kansas City, Mo. Admission to the exhibit is free.

“Marc is a wonderful teacher,” Haufler said. “These are sophisticated students. One reason they chose to come to KU is to have access to the Nelson-Atkins collection.

Marc answered questions and challenged the students to see things in new ways. They learned how to discern the stellar from the mediocre, the work of a master at his height from a routine work, authentic works from imitations.”

Students learned firsthand what goes on behind the scenes at the museum — how to create an exhibition from start to finish and develop strategies to provide new perspectives on objects in a collection. Initially, the students worked in two teams. Each devised and presented a distinctive plan for the exhibit with a theme, checklist and installation diagram.

Wilson liked both plans but selected “Senses and Sensibilities” as the foundation of the exhibit. Students then worked as a single team to create the show, writing gallery labels and planning interpretative programming, such as docent classes and gallery tours.

They also learned the importance of conservation issues, particularly how to handle centuries-old Chinese paintings on paper and silk that are so fragile only trained museum staff members are allowed to touch them. Artworks they worked with spanned at least four major Chinese dynasties over a period of some 10 centuries and represent museum acquisitions from the 1930s through 2006.

The partnership between KU and the museum sprang from a conversation between Haufler and Wilson’s wife, Elizabeth, who have been friends since they were graduate students in Asian art history in the 1970s at the University of California-Berkeley. Haufler, who joined the KU faculty in 1991, specializes in Chinese and Korean art history and is acting director of KU’s Center for East Asian Studies. Elizabeth Wilson is an owner of a Kansas City business specializing in original clothing designs using antique kimono fabrics.

Marc Wilson joined the Nelson-Atkins staff as associate curator of Chinese art in 1971 and has been museum director and CEO since 1982. His special exhibition “Rising Dragon: Ancient Treasures from China” recently concluded in the museum’s new Bloch Building.

Also working with the students as a liaison for the “Senses and Sensibilities” project is one of Haufler’s former students, Ling-en Lu, who received her doctorate in art history from KU. She is the museum’s assistant curator of early Chinese art and joined the museum staff in 1999.

Student participants are listed below by hometown, level in school, academic program and previous schools attended.

DOUGLAS COUNTY
From Lawrence 66044
Rachel Voorhies, master’s degree student in history of art (Chinese art), bachelor’s degree from Carleton College.

From Lawrence 66049
Ghichul Jung, doctoral student in history of art (Korean art); Seoul National University.

SHAWNEE COUNTY
From Topeka 66614
Larry Rotert, master’s degree student in history of art; bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Nebraska; medical degree from the University of Nebraska-Omaha College of Medicine.

ILLINOIS
From Chicago 60626
Karin Warch, master’s degree student in history of art; bachelor’s degree from Grinnell College.

CHINA
From Xi’an Shaanxi
Shuli Han, doctoral student in history of art; master’s degree in art history from Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Guangzhou, China; master’s degree in art history from State University of New York-Buffalo.

From Zengcheng Shi
Wenrui Zhong, doctoral student in history of art; bachelor’s degree in Chinese language and literature from Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China; master’s degree in modern Chinese art history from Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Guangzhou, China.

SOUTH KOREA
From Goyang-shi Gyeunggi-do
Sooa Im, doctoral student in history of art; master’s degree from Rutgers University; bachelor’s degree from Duksung Women’s University, Seoul, South Korea.

TAIWAN
From Keelung
Shu-Yun Ho, doctoral student in history of art; master’s degree in history of art from KU, fall 2007; bachelor’s degree from George Washington University.

From Taichung
Janet Chiann Chen, master’s degree student in history of art (Chinese art); bachelor’s degree from National Central University, Chungli, Taiwan.

From Taipei
Ai-Lian Liu, doctoral student in history of art; master’s degree in history of art from KU, spring 2006; bachelor’s degree from National Taiwan University.

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