West meets East: exhibitions of Chinese material culture in nineteenth-century America
Date
1987
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
When the first American ship, the "Empress of China," arrived in Canton in August 1784, it marked a turning point not only in the commercial development of the newly independent republic but also in American interest in and attitudes towards the Chinese people and their culture. During the colonial period, few Americans gave serious thought to the land that produced the luxury goods they so coveted. Those who did were encouraged by contemporary writings to view China as a land of ancient wisdom, social harmony, grace, and splendor. As a result of direct trade, however, Americans' idealized image of China came under attack from the increasingly derogatory remarks found in later published reports. Americans were confused: Were the Chinese a civilized or barbarian people? ☐ Museums in America, the earliest of which was founded only about a decade before the "Empress of China's" landmark voyage, quickly assumed the task of presenting and interpreting the artifacts of everyday Chinese life and culture to both scholars and the general public. Four distinct phases marked the progression of public exhibitions of Chinese art and artifacts in America from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century. These phases were represented by cabinets of curiosities, the Chinese Museums of Nathan Dunn and John Peters, world's fair exhibitions, and museums of anthropology and of art. Despite the apparent simplicity of this schema, the different phases often overlapped. Furthermore, although the progression of Chinese exhibitions usually corresponded to the development of museums in general, it diverged in some instances. ☐ Basically, changes in the nature and content of Chinese exhibitions occurred in accordance with the evolution of Sino-American relations and of Chinese scholarship in America, and reflected shifting emphases in the generally ambivalent American attitudes towards the people and culture of China. By the beginning of the twentieth century, although many Americans remained critical of the backward nature of Chinese society, they were so impressed by the superior ability and taste represented by Chinese art— clearly the work of a once advanced civilization— that they made a place for it in America's best art museums.