This week, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts will paint the town red, opening a massive new show from China. The Forbidden City offers a look inside the palace that two dozen Chinese emperors called home.
Chinese music, paintings, sculptures and calligraphy will take center stage at the Richmond museum when The Forbidden City show opens Saturday, October 18. Director Alex Nyerges has been to the real thing many times to marvel at 1.8 million works of art on its walls and grounds.
“It continues to fascinate and mystify me as it does most everybody on the scale of the city, the largest palace in the world and then, of course, the enormous secrets that are hidden down those many walkways and alleys.”
He knows that few people have the time or money to visit Beijing, so he’s excited about an exclusive partnership that enabled the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts to borrow more than 200 pieces, arranged in a way that will give visitors a feel for the Forbidden City.
“We can get you there without jet lag, without a boarding pass, and you don’t have to take off your shoes or your belt.”
To give patrons a sense for how big the Forbidden City is, the museum is crowd funding a high-tech project -- using 3-D printers to create an exact scale model of the 180-acre complex with 980 buildings on a ten by twelve-foot plat.
And for those who want a hands-on experience, there’s a family gallery where people can learn to paint Chinese characters.
“Children of all ages (including me) can go in and actually do calligraphy – create the chops that you’ll see on the paintings, and all of it’s done on a touch screen with brushes that are very authentic looking brushes but are tethered to the computer, so you brush electronically.”
If you can’t make it to the museum, you can try your hand on its website.
Dozens of experts are now putting the final touches on this show, which cost about $2 million to mount, so VMFA – which is free to the public -- is charging admission to this special exhibit -- $20 for adults, $16 for seniors and ten for students. In celebration of the show, which will run through January 11, the museum has commissioned an original jazz score and a craft beer – Belgian white ale infused with dragon fruit. The restaurant has gone Asian with kimchi tater tots, steamed pork buns and lotus root salad, while the bar offers ten cocktails inspired by Chinese ingredients.
