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A bronze lion at the Forbidden City complex in Beijing has his paw on the world as a symbol of authority. (Photo by Katherine Calos)
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Alex Nyerges, VMFA director, stands below the Palace Museum exhibition rooms at the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. As part of a multi-year collaboration with the Palace Museum, the VMFA loaned Faberge objects from its collection to the Palace Museum. In return, the Palace Museum loaned objects from its collection to the Forbidden City exhibition in Richmond. (Photo by Katherine Calos)
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Rooftops in the Forbidden City complex can be seen from the top of a reconstructed building. (Photo by Katherine Calos)
Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of reports by freelance writer Katherine Calos, who is traveling in China this week with a group of journalists and museum officials to see where the masterpieces in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’ current "Terracotta Army" exhibition were created and to talk with curators and archaeologists.
Future projects for Richmond were on the menu in China on Thursday for the travelers exploring Beijing with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
During lunch at the Forbidden City complex, where China’s emperors once lived in splendid separation from the masses, VMFA director Alex Nyerges and East Asian curator Li Jian met with officials from the Palace Museum.
“What we spent the lunch hours discussing,” Nyerges said afterward, “was ways we can extend and broaden our collaboration with the Palace Museum.”
The seven-year partnership already has produced a “Forbidden City” exhibition in Richmond and a Faberge exhibition from VMFA at the Palace Museum in Beijing.
“The question is not will there be another exhibition, but how many and over what period of time. That’s the conversation we’re having right now,” he said. “Li Jian and I just had a sidebar conversation about coming back sometime soon this year to further the details of the collaboration.”
This display of three Terracotta Army figures at the National Museum of China inspired part of the design of the “Terracotta Army: Legacy of the First Emperor of China” exhibition at the VMFA. (Photo by Katherine Calos)
Richmond has an appetite for Chinese exhibitions, based on the success of “Forbidden City: Imperial Treasures from the Palace Museum, Beijing,” in 2014 and “Terracotta Army: Legacy of the First Emperor of China,” which is on track to be the second most popular exhibition in VMFA history by the time it closes on March 11.
“Clearly both … have been among the best,” Nyerges said. “They are important on another level, and it’s about placing us on a global stage, which I think is important for the museum and its audience, and I think it’s also important for Virginia.
“We as a commonwealth, when you look at trade and positioning, are a global player and will be a larger global player I think under Gov. Northam’s leadership.”
In previous administrations, Nyerges has often accompanied governors on international trade missions.
“A large part of economic development happens to be the cultural diplomacy element, and we are clearly Virginia’s leader when it comes to that,” he said. “We operate on multiple continents — Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, South America."
Nyerges commented during a brisk walk from the Palace Museum to the National Museum of China on a day when our group walked more than five miles and climbed 11 flights of stairs, if a smartphone pedometer app is to be believed. And that was before another brisk walk to dinner.
Tour guides and museum officials led us through both of the massive complexes. The National Museum of China is said to be the largest museum in the world under one roof. The Imperial Palace complex, where commoners were forbidden to enter during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, covers nearly 275 acres.
Reminders of VMFA exhibitions were abundant, from bells and bronzes similar to those in the “Terracotta Army” exhibition to paintings similar to the imperial portraits in “Forbidden City.”
Unexpected delights included a bronze human head from the Shang dynasty more than 1,000 years B.C. and a glazed pottery sculpture from about 723 A.D. depicting a riotous group of musicians riding a camel.
Nyerges and Li Jian will keep looking around in their quest for the next Richmond blockbuster exhibition. After all, he promised: “We bring the world to Virginia.”
