WEST PALM BEACH, FL (PNAN) – Viewing begins on Saturday, February 11, 2023 at the Norton Museum of Art, “Symbolic Messages in Chinese Animal Paintings” is an exhibition of five paintings that convey representational meanings.
Each work has social or political connotations illustrated through rich, evolving, symbolic associations and homophonic puns. These symbolic messages reveal much about the history and culture of one of the world’s greatest civilizations.
For example, while quail imagery typically celebrates autumn, the unique painting of five quails huddled together on rocky barren ground, amongst dry grass and leafless twigs, relays a veiled political message.
The Chinese word for “five quail” (五鹌鹑, wu anchun) is a homonym for “no peace” (无 安, wu an). During the 13th century, terror reigned as the Mongols swept across Asia creating the largest contiguous empire in world history, stretching from Eastern Europe to Korea. In China, a hierarchy of four groups was established with the Mongol elite at the top and the people of Southern China, traditionally the homeland of scholars and painters, at the bottom.
The show runs through Sunday, June 4, 2023.