VISUAL ARTS + MUSEUMS

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston presents a MFAH Special Lecture - Images of Confucius: Teacher, Statesman, Deity, Wednesday, April 13, 2011, 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm, Beck Building, 5601 Main Street.

Over the centuries, Confucius (551–479 BC), the great Chinese philosopher, has been portrayed in many different ways that reflect different understandings of his significance. With his recent return to official favor in mainland China, depictions of him are proliferating again to serve new purposes. Through a survey of images of Confucius from the first century to the present, Julia K. Murray explores varied conceptions of Confucius, in media ranging from paintings and prints to cartoons and movies.

This program is free and open to the public. A reception to meet the speaker follows.

Julia K. Murray is Professor of Art History, East Asian Studies, and Religious Studies at the University of Wisconsin. This year she is also a Senior Fellow at the UW Institute for Research in the Humanities, where she is writing a book on the history, visual culture, religious practices, and cultural significance of a now-destroyed shrine to Confucius that formerly stood on the outskirts of Shanghai. She has written widely on Chinese art and served as guest curator and catalogue author for the 2010 exhibition Confucius: His Life and Legacy in Art at the China Institute Gallery in New York.

Generously cosponsored by the MFAH patron group Friends of Asian Art and the Department of Art History at Rice University.

Pictured: detail from a Ming dynasty album of paintings illustrating the Life of Confucius, the Confucius Museum of Qufu, Shandon.