Exhibition | Glamorous Women: Gender and Fashion in Chinese Art
Now on view at The Nelson-Atkins:
Glamorous Women: Gender and Fashion in Chinese Art
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, 18 November 2023 — 19 May 2024
Curated by Ling-en Lu
Jingju Losing His Mind upon Seeing Golden Lotus, from the album Illustrations of Scenes from ‘The Plum in the Golden Vase’, Chinese, 18th century, album leaf, ink and color on silk, 39 × 32 cm (Kansas City: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2006.18.7).
As early as 600 BCE, Chinese women’s roles in society were primarily centered within the home. These roles were informed by Confucianism, which promoted their view of a harmonious societal order, elevating men as the household authorities and assigning women to domestic roles. As a result, women’s contributions to society were largely overlooked.
However, art depicting women and fashions created by and for women underscore their crucial impact as tastemakers in visual culture from the 1100s to 1800s. Early works like shinühua (painting of gentlewomen) portrayed women as exemplary models of beauty and femininity. Artists later revamped this tradition to illustrate women as provocative seductresses in popular Chinese stories. By the 1800s, women used fashion and accessories to transform themselves from muted muses to fashionable trendsetters in Chinese society.
By looking closely at visual clues and symbolism embedded within these works, we can learn more about women’s lives, their beauty ideals, and their overall influence on art and culture. Viewed together, we see how women impacted Chinese art and culture much more fully than what we know from written history.
Organized by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Generous support provided by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.
New Book | Chinese Dress in Detail
From Thames & Hudson:
Sau Fong Chan, with photographs by Sarah Duncan, Chinese Dress in Detail (London: Thames & Hudson, 2023), 224 pages, ISBN: 978-0500480939, £30 / $40.
A head-to-toe exploration of Chinese dress through sumptuous, detailed photography of some of the most fascinating historic and contemporary pieces in the V&A’s outstanding collection (part of the V&A Fashion in Detail series)
Chinese Dress in Detail reveals the beauty and variety of Chinese dress for women, men, and children, both historically and geographically, showcasing the intricacy of decorative embroidery and rich use of materials and weaving and dyeing techniques. The reader is granted a unique opportunity to examine historical clothing that is often too fragile to display, from quivering hair ornaments, stunning silk jackets and coats, festive robes, and pleated skirts, to pieces embellished with rare materials such as peacock-feather threads or created through unique craft skills, as well as handpicked contemporary designs. A general introduction provides an essential overview of the history of Chinese dress, plotting key developments in style, design, and mode of dress, and the traditional importance of clothing as social signifier, followed by eight thematic chapters that examine Chinese dress in exquisite detail from head to toe. Each garment is accompanied by a short text and detail photography; front-and-back line drawings are provided for key items.
Sau Fong Chan is a curator in the V&A’s Asian department and looks after the textiles and dress collections from China and Southeast Asia.
c o n t e n t s
Introduction
1 Headwear
2 Necklines and Shoulders
3 Sleeves
4 Pleats
5 Edgings
6 Buttons
7 Embroidery
8 Footwear
Glossary
Further Reading
Acknowledgments
Picture Credits
Index
Enfilade 
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