Galloping through the dynasties by Hou-Mei Sung

Galloping through the dynasties by Hou-Mei Sung

Published in conjunction with an exhibition opening at the Cincinnati Art Museum, Galloping through Dynasties investigates the history of Chinese horse painting, a subject heretofore not adequately studied. The research has led to new insights into the evolution of Chinese horse painting in both its stylistic and symbolic contents and helps place Chinese horse paintings in their historical contexts through the political and social messages contained within them.

Galloping through Dynasties, organized chronologically, explores the following themes: Celestial Horse and Imperial Horse Portraits in Early China, The Song Aesthetics and New Genres of Horse Painting, Transformation of the Horse Image in the Yuan dynasty, and The Symbolic Language of Horse Painting in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The catalogue offers new insights into not only how the Chinese define horses through their concept of nature, but also how Chinese horse paintings evolved in both their stylistic and symbolic contents and formed a symbolic language to convey political and social messages. The new findings on the historical development of Chinese animal painting filled a major gap and resolved much of the confusion in the symbolic contents.

Hou-mei Sung is curator of Asian Art at the Cincinnati Art Museum.