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An antique gray and gold television with rounded corners and a red speaker.

Engineered for Domestic Bliss

Five hundred years ago, the Islamic world ruled much of North Africa, Persia, and Eastern Europe. Protestant Christian England, newly estranged from Catholic Europe, forged lucrative trade, diplomatic, and cultural relations with these Muslim global powers. By the late 1500s, few prosperous English homes lacked a Turkey carpet, silks, ceramics, or tapestries. These goods, as well as domestically produced versions of them, later found their way into English daily life. Yet, as much as the English admired the sumptuous wares, the tiny, isolated island nation wrestled over doing business with a people it deemed “heathen.” This exhibition examines that fundamental attraction and ambivalence.
This project is part of <a href="http://new.artsmia.org/living-rooms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Living Rooms</a>, an initiative to present Mia’s historic interiors and decorative arts collections in new ways.
Generous support provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and donors at the 2014 Mia Gala.
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Additional support provided by The Chipstone Foundation.

Views of "Turkish Rugs on Tudor Walls: 16th-Century Trade between England and the Islamic World"

Turkish Rugs on Tudor Walls: 16th-Century Trade between England and the Islamic World

Originally a painter trained in oil, Hagiwara Hideo (1913–2007) became ill with tuberculosis and turned to printmaking in 1954. From the start his prints were of an abstract nature, and for 50 years he was a constant innovator in his choice of motifs, style, and technique. This first major U.S. retrospective exhibition of Hagiwara&#8217;s work showcases his enormous versatility. More than 30 prints span his early work of the 1950s to the Greek Mythology series in 1965, and from his celebrated series of novel views of Mount Fuji in the 1980s and 1990s to his enormously laborious prints of the Face, Memory, and Mandala series.
This exhibition will be presented in two rotations: Rotation 1: December 14, 2019 &#8211; October 25, 2020. Rotation 2: October 31, 2020 &#8211; April 18, 2021.
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L2018.109.8

Abstract Prints by Hagiwara Hideo

A collaboration of Mia and the <a href="http://www.culturalwellnesscenter.org/">Cultural Wellness Center</a>, &#8220;The Enduring Soul&#8221; presents artwork by African and African American artists that honors the connection between ancestors and the living, and between what is seen and the invisible. The artworks on view hold historical, personal, and community memory.
Mia and the Cultural Wellness Center work to co-create methods for each organization to transform mainstream institutions. This includes widening interpretations of art, sharing authority, decolonizing collections in museums, and museum staff working in collaboration with cultural elders and subject experts. This partnership advances the work of both organizations as they work to establish museums as sites for social action.
<div id="attachment_80711" style="max-width: 813px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="wp-image-80711" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/08105903/191126_mia327_4191-e1586379569225.jpg" alt="" width="803" height="348" />&#8220;The Enduring Soul.&#8221; Saturday, October 26, 2019–Sunday, July 12, 2020. Gallery 375, Modern and Contemporary Galleries, Minneapolis Institute of Art. Organized by the Cultural Wellness Center and the Minneapolis Institute of Art.</div>
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<h2 class="Mia-bold">A Welcome from the Cultural Wellness Center</h2>
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We welcome you with the greetings of the Ancestors.  
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Be at Peace. Be at Rest. Be Free. 
Africa and the Knowledge of the Ancestors: Spirituality Symbol Mythos Harmonium
At the Cultural Wellness Center, we stress the capacity of Africans to produce knowledge, to have authority over knowledge, and to place significant pressure on dominant societies, institutions, and communities to accurately credit the source and impact of this knowledge. 
To our Ancestors, the Metu Neturu 
<img class="wp-image-80718 aligncenter" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/08113253/EnduringSoul_Hieroglyphics_04082020MetuNeturu.jpg" alt="" width="164" height="67" />   is a unique form of symbolic writing and thinking. Symbolic thinking reflects and illustrates the dynamic process of divine thought. Each sign is a symbol that reveals its true meaning only to initiated readers by means of a divinely inspired process.  
After 500 years, the African is returning to our original ways of knowing and being in creation.  
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Your experience in this gallery is a result of a collaboration between Mia and the Cultural Wellness Center. The perspective labels were authored by Cultural Wellness Center faculty: Seba Ahmad Azzahir, Elder Atum Azzahir, Sister SandjockLikinè, Elder Semerit Seankh-Ka, Brother Kemii Aptezzi, and Brother Minkara Tezet.
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<h2 class="Mia-bold">Highlighted Works</h2>
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<div style="margin-top: 45px;"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-82851" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/05030917/mia_80195941.jpg" alt="Photography of Leonardo Benzants artwork haning in Mia's Cultural Wellness Center" width="322" height="551" /> 
Leonardo Benzant, American, born 1972, Radiations of the Midnight Walker, Victorious in Round Number 8, He Who Moves Inside of the Womb of Magik and Timelessness, He Who Moves Here, There, and Everywhere Chanting: I AM THE GREATEST! And Chanting: WITCHCRAFT WILL NEVER TOUCH ME!, 2016, mixed medium. Private collection; promised gift on long-term loan to Mia  L2019.164.1 
Long tubular structures, like tentacles, 
Larger than life, 
Speak of what is required for the African 
To emerge victorious 
No matter how many rounds it takes.It starts with long strands of multicolored Czech glass beads, wrapped around handstitched appendages crafted from bundled fabric, bits of soil, plant life, rum, bone, or even saliva.The artist says, “There is a prayer inside each of these forms, a prayer, coins, or other things that are symbolic.”Thus, the work delves into the collective unconscious, encodes and remembers African cultural memory, and offers it as an invitation to healing.Moving us outside of time 
Connecting us through strands of DNA, 
Quite literally, to the Ancestors—their knowledge-spirituality 
Their stature, their power.</div>
<div style="margin-top: 50px;"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-82823" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/05015039/mia_8019610.jpg" alt="Image of Yoruba, Nigeria or Benin, Africa, Egungun ceremonial outfit, 1930–50, Cotton, velvet, silk, felt, synthetic fibers, wool, aluminum, wood, buttons, yarn, plastic, string. The Simmons Family Endowment for Textiles and gift of funds from Jim Harris, 2011.31 " width="551" height="412" /> 
Yoruba, Nigeria or Benin, Africa, Egungun ceremonial outfit, 1930–50, cotton, velvet, silk, felt, synthetic fibers, wool, aluminum, wood, buttons, yarn, plastic, string. The Simmons Family Endowment for Textiles and gift of funds from Jim Harris  2011.31<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-82849" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/05030237/anotherVersion1-514x800.jpg" alt="" width="514" height="800" srcset="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/05030237/anotherVersion1-514x800.jpg 514w, https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/05030237/anotherVersion1.jpg 719w" sizes="(max-width: 514px) 100vw, 514px" /></div>
<div style="margin-top: 50px;"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-82826" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/05015043/PCD19980109_3814_IMG0005.jpg" alt="Kalabari, Nigeria, Africa, Funerary screen, 19th century, Wood, raffia, pigment. The John R. Van Derlip Fund, 74.22 " width="412" height="551" /> 
Kalabari, Nigeria, Africa, Funerary screen, 19th century, wood, raffia, pigment. The John R. Van Derlip Fund  74.22.Among the Kalabari people, Warriors Wives carved a funerary screen, like this one, to announce the end of their watch and perform the depth of their love to beat the drum of affection for the Drum Chief. On a funerary screen, the Drum Chief sits in an armchair, dressed in a piece of white cloth with an eagle feather attached to the forehead.The Drum Chief usually holds a sword in his left hand and a human skull in his right hand, though those sacred pieces are missing here. Like on this funerary screen, two protective spirits always sit beside the Drum Chief.
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Have you heard about The Seating of the Amaryanabo King? It’s a story from the Kelekeibari people, who live along the Niger River Delta. People could not pronounce their name so Kelekeibari commonly became Kalabari.
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<div style="margin-top: 50px;"><img class="alignnone wp-image-82820 size-full" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/05015035/mia_8019579.jpg" alt="Image of Richard Burnside's Work The Ancient King" width="551" height="412" /> 
Richard Burnside, American, 1944, The Ancient King, 1987, paint on wood. The Ethel Morrison Van Derlip Fund and gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation from the William S. Arnett Collection  2019.16.9  ©Richard Burnside / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
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Richard Burnside has painted a very black, very simple face.
A face devoid of any illusion of realism.
A face through which shines the truth of essence.
A face, perhaps, we do not want to meet.
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The artist titles his work The Ancient King.
What is the ancient part of us?
Is it present in our life?
Is it King in our life?
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The face, as it is painted, is the ancient hieroglyph, Heer.
In Kemet*, the face told the entire story of one’s life.
In Kemet, there is a homonym of the hieroglyph Heer
Which means “the perfected state.”
The ancient King is fulfilled and realized in the face.
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In this work, the face is surrounded by simple geometric shapes,
In repetition and patterns of 3s and 4s.
They are the basic building blocks;
The code of life.
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* Kemet: Ancient Egypt
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<div style="margin-top: 50px;"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-82822" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/05015038/mia_8019601.jpg" alt="Photography of Joe Minter's artwork haning in Mia's Cultural Wellness Center" width="412" height="551" /> 
Joe Minter, American, born 1943, Voyage in Chains, 2000, mixed media. Private collection; promised gift on long-term loan to Mia  L2019.154.2The secret force of a powerful primeval energy within the soul. Voyage in chains connects me to my birth in the Mississippi Delta in 1943: beautiful circular motion of objects used by sharecropping farmers to cultivate the hard rock dry lands in rural Mississippi.I remember my father’s daily motions, rhythms, and expressions of joy at sunrise.I remember my father’s cosmic spirituality and laborious meditation, a sacred tradition of hard work and unceasing effort. My father and ancestors of his generation came to a place of the sounds and rhythms of the souls’ wisdom.The pitchfork, the hoe, the shovel, the irons: a quadruple expression of symbols evoking the core consciousness of man’s soul. A visible manifestation of the hand of man. The will of man connected to the forces in creation. The serpents’ tongue probing the heavens in alignment with the soul of creator in creation.
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<div style="margin-top: 50px;"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-82819" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/05015032/mia_5049980.jpg" alt="Image of Renee Stouts Work" width="551" height="412" /> 
Renée Stout, American, 1958, Crossroads Marker with Little Hand, Reaching, 2015, metal, glass, wood, pigments, other materials. The Blythe Brenden Endowment for Art Acquisition  2016.2  ©2015 Renée Stout 
The blessing at the crossroads
Tradition of Maat 
Of reciprocity, balance, truth, and harmony 
Sia, our Intelligence of the Heart 
The limitless keys to access
These words, I write, are African existence. 
From the Ancient King to Voyage in Chains, 
Feeling the burnt from the cross 
Passing the crosses to listen to 
The story of The Seating of the Amaryanabo King. 
Stop at the imprint of our DNA spread across the globe 
From Haiti to Virginia, 
Swimming in the Delta river on the way 
To pay respect to Egungun. 
These are the stories of our humanity.
The legacy of 1619 
From the sign of Kongo 
I mark with my little hand 
In metal, and in glass 
Wood and pigments
We became acquisitions 
From water to land and other materials 
The Endowment of this Voyage in Chains 
I mark with my little hand 
In metal, and in glass 
Wood and pigments
To heal our souls is to reconnect 
From the crossroad 
I mark with my little hand 
In metal, and in glass 
Wood and pigments
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<div style="margin-top: 50px;"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-82818" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/05015030/190306_mia334_5370.jpg" alt="Image of Lonnie Holley's artwork" width="412" height="551" /> 
Lonnie Holley, American, 1950, Pressure from the Burn, 1995, found wood, fire hose, nails. The Ethel Morrison Van Derlip Fund and gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation from the William S. Arnett Collection  2019.16.11  ©Lonnie Holley / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York 
Lonnie Holley takes discarded and wasted materials from our modern human experiences and transforms them into something enlivened with our present lived experience.Holley’s work transforms what would be trash into enduring expressions of the soul. He converts human debris into lessons of purpose and value. “Having to put out a fire inside yourself, no matter how bad the blaze you been in, you got to go on carrying your burden,” Holley states. His work forces the question: What is in your true nature that endures in spite of brutality and horror in this modern life, where everything will eventually become trash, garbage, or debris? The pressure from the internal burn can be unbearable. Yet it is this very pressure that creates the elemental that produces the catalyst for personal and social transformation.</div>
<div style="margin-top: 50px;"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-82825" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/05015041/mia_8019625.jpg" alt="Image of Serge Jolimeau Work Haiti" width="412" height="551" /> 
Serge Jolimeau, Haitian, 1952, Crucifix, 1983, sheet metal, pigment. The Christina N. and Swan J. Turnblad Memorial Fund  97.3  ©The artist, artist&#8217;s estate, or assigneesInterwoven throughout Haitian history, a tumultuous crossroads plays out between African spirituality and official, socially acceptable, Haitian life. In the small crossroads town of Croix des Bouquets, on the outskirts of the capital city, four generations of men, mechanics or blacksmiths by day, have forged an art form imbued in the Principles of Fire and Metal at the crossroads of Vodun and Christianity. In Crucifix, the personified Principle of the Cross organically looms large and subsumes the iconic figure of Christ dying on the cross.There is a larger reality at play here—four birds bring further organicity while simultaneously depicting spirit’s enduring capacity to cycle through birth, death, and rebirth. Powerfully reclaiming the cross, this work brings to life African spirituality’s crossroads between mundane natural life and the truth of the Invisible.
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<div style="margin-top: 50px;"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-82824" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/05015040/mia_8019624.jpg" alt="Image of Moss Tolliver's Art work" width="412" height="551" /> 
Mose Tolliver, American, 1921–2006, Cross of a White Jesus with a French Bird, a Mountain Bird, and Pinto Bird, 1987, Paint and masonite on paneling. The Ethel Morrison Van Derlip Fund and gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation from the William S. Arnett Collection  2019.16.33  ©Mose Tolliver / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York </div>
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Mose Tolliver painted a cross within a cross.
The images on the outer cross must be looked at symbolically. 
The diminutive “white Jesus” bears wings 
And is of the same size as the birds in the natural Creation, 
Who have been specifically named and identified.
Birds are about the spirit and travel within the inner world. 
The inner cross shows an array of dots and lines 
Reminiscent of an African transmission. 
This coded language is what our spirits need 
To fly free like the birds.
There is a sweetness emanating from this cross 
With a code rather than a body hanging on it. 
This cross invites us to life 
Rather than death.
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<h2 class="Mia-bold">Gallery Installation</h2>
<img class="alignnone wp-image-80712 " src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/08110033/191126_mia327_4192-e1586379654731.jpg" alt="" width="801" height="382" />
<img class="alignnone wp-image-80713 " src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/08110133/191126_mia327_4193-e1586379729980.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="480" />
<div id="attachment_80714" style="max-width: 811px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="wp-image-80714" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/08110403/191126_mia327_4197-e1586379866738.jpg" alt="" width="801" height="426" />&#8220;The Enduring Soul,&#8221; Saturday, October 26, 2019–Sunday, July 12, 2020. Gallery 375, Modern and Contemporary Galleries, Minneapolis Institute of Art. Organized by the Cultural Wellness Center and the Minneapolis Institute of Art.</div>
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The Enduring Soul

Beautiful yet lonely and melancholy—women from imperial China were often depicted in terms of their highly circumscribed lives, which were entirely dependent upon men. In some paintings, women engage in duties appropriate to their stations in life, according to patriarchal Confucian principles. Other paintings show women with fanciful coiffures and silk dresses, serving as musicians or courtesans, existing to please men. Literary and visual artists often compared women to flowers: refined and delicate yet fragile, their beauty (meaning marriageability) transient.  
But some artists hinted at suppressed urges and unacknowledged emotions, reflecting a growing interest in the inner lives of their subjects. In their paintings we see the equivalent of the following verses, sung by the female protagonist in the play The Peony Pavilion (1598). Confined to the inner quarters of her home, she laments a brilliantly flowering spring scene in her isolated garden: 
The flowers in purple and red, 
Scattering here and there, 
Yet only accompanied by 
Dry wells and ruined fence. 
<a class="Hyperlink SCXW188038203 BCX2" href="https://collections.artsmia.org/exhibitions/2811/captive-beauties-depictions-of-women-in-late-imperial-china" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Explore the art in this exhibition from home.</a>

Captive Beauties: Depictions of Women in Late Imperial China

What sparks the artist’s imagination? Helena Hernmarck often finds inspiration in the stuff of everyday life: a letter, admission tickets, paper money, even dry cleaner tags. She contemplates these humble items, scales them up, and weaves them into large tapestries that display her virtuosic skills in photorealism. Showcased in this installation are four of Hernmarck’s “paper illusion” textiles in Mia’s permanent collection alongside works of art and archival materials from the artist’s private collection.

Cloth Paper Scissors: Helena Hernmarck Weaves the Everyday

A main thread in the history of art is the centuries-long conversation between artists. Many paid attention to what others had done or were doing and then responded— sometimes obviously, sometimes not; sometimes approvingly, sometimes not. Rembrandt was an avid participant in the discussion. He had a tremendous knowledge of historical art. He also had a competitive streak. This exhibition takes a sample of Rembrandt’s prints and puts them in the company of art that triggered his interest. Also included is the work of other artists reacting to Rembrandt. We can almost hear the ideas bouncing around the room. 
<a href="https://lume.space/mia/group/rembrandt-in-conversation">Explore the art in this exhibition from home.</a>

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Rembrandt in Conversation

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“We as a people of Africa have a story to tell about a journey of four hundred years here in America.” &#8211; Joe Minter“
In the Presence of Our Ancestors: Southern Perspectives in African American Art” brings together methods of visual storytelling and ancestral memory through the individual practices of artists from the “Black Belt” region of the American South—a term that refers to the region’s black soil, as well as the legacies of African Americans who shaped its social and agrarian culture. Spanning from Louisiana to Florida, and the mid-20th century to the present, the artists highlighted in this exhibition document rural life and traditions of metalwork, funerary and yard art, and quilt making. Here, we witness an evolution of regional artistic practice, as raw materials and found objects related to time, place, and accessibility take center stage.
These artworks are sometimes called &#8220;folk&#8221; or &#8220;vernacular,&#8221; and the artists who made them labeled &#8220;self-taught.&#8221; Within the context of art museums, institutions rooted in colonial endeavors and oppression, such terms diminish the thoughtfulness and creative autonomy of both artwork and artist; for this reason, we do not use them here. The works speak for themselves, centering Black voices, material traditions, and visions.
We invite you to embark on a spiritual journey, experiencing the artworks and lives they connect us with from home.  
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<div style="margin-top: 35px;"><a href="https://new.artsmia.org/art-artists/explore/in-the-presence-of-our-ancestors-southern-perspectives-in-african-american-art/"><button class="background-black">Enter the Exhibition</button></a></div>
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<h3>About the Souls Grown Deep Foundation</h3>
Founded in 2010 by the late collector and art historian William Arnett (1939–2020), the Souls Grown Deep Foundation is dedicated to documenting, preserving, and promoting the contributions of African American artists of the South and the cultural traditions in which they are rooted. Mia acquired 33 works in 2017 as part of the foundation’s initiative to introduce the collection to major museums across the nation. The foundation also collaborates with institutions each year to expand avenues of scholarship and professional development for college students of color. It prioritizes creative communal sustainability through grantmaking, artist’s rights, and more recently, Covid-19 relief and voting rights.
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In honor of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation’s commitment to community, we recognize the contributions made by many to produce this exhibition. It is curated by inaugural Souls Grown Deep Foundation intern, Starasea Nidiala Camara, in collaboration with Mia’s BIPOC Curatorial Advisory Committee—Keisha Williams, Bayou Bay, Anniessa Antar, Tamira Amin, Frederica Simmons, Victoria Myers, Minna Jain, and Jeanine Pollard—with interpretation by visiting local artists through the Transcontinental Dialogue Project. A special thank-you goes to the 2019–2020 Souls Grown Deep Foundation intern cohort, and to the artists and their families who were such gracious hosts.
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Major Sponsor: 
<img class="alignleft wp-image-91820 " src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/24155341/BofA_k.png" alt="" width="421" height="47" srcset="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/24155341/BofA_k.png 1520w, https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/24155341/BofA_k-768x86.png 768w, https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/24155341/BofA_k-1200x134.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 421px) 100vw, 421px" />
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2019.16.8

In the Presence of Our Ancestors: Southern Perspectives in African American Art

Born and raised in Minneapolis, William Peter Kosmas (1940–2017) was a London-based attorney who devoted his practice to representing and advising contemporary artists, writers, and performers. Kosmas’s professional specialties dovetailed with his lifelong passion for collecting artists’ books and works on paper, resulting in an extensive personal collection of modern and contemporary art that was recently donated to Mia by the Kosmas estate. This exhibition will feature a selection of more than 60 artists’ books and original prints by prominent European, Japanese, and American artists and writers, reflecting Kosmas’s wide-ranging interests in art, poetry, and classical literature. The display includes important works by Joan Miró, Sigmar Polke, Georg Baselitz, Richard Hamilton, Shinro Ohtake, Federico García Lorca, Samuel Beckett, Josef Albers, Jim Dine, Jasper Johns, Betye Saar, and the German book artist Veronika Schäpers, among many others.

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A Collector’s Odyssey: Books and Prints from the William P. Kosmas Collection

Mia’s yearlong exploration of contemporary photographic portraiture continues with the presentation of eight large-format photographs from the series To Survive on This Shore by Jess Dugan. Dugan’s portraits of transgender and gender nonconforming older adults are at once reflective and uplifting, and include intimate first-person narratives by each of the sitters, as told to the artist.
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Vision 2020: Portraits of Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Older Adults

Vision 2020: Jess T. Dugan

<div class="gmail_default">In East Asia, calligraphy has been hailed as the highest of all art forms for more than 15 centuries. It’s not hard to understand why: With more than 80,000 Chinese characters and infinite graphic variations, the expressive potential is unlimited. The results, as seen in this exhibition, speak for themselves. Each work is a unique expression of the artist’s personality, offering a glimpse into the culture that held calligraphy in such high esteem.</div>
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<div style="margin-bottom:30px" class="gmail_default">The Japanese writing system was adopted from Chinese characters; given the Japanese reverence for Chinese artistic traditions, these works explore the full range of scripts possible with these characters: seal script (tensho), running script (gyosho), cursive script (sosho), clerical script (reisho), and standard script (kaisho). Calligraphy’s emphasis on movement and timing suggests dancing, and each script has its own rhythm, from the formal strictness of seal script to the wild dance of cursive writing.</div>
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<a class="link-fade-in-brdr" href="https://lume.space/mia/group/20-dances-japanese-calligraphy-then-and-now">Explore the art in this exhibition from home.</a>
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<div id="attachment_84774" style="max-width: 510px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="wp-image-84774 size-full" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/20092611/mia_6017324_Crop-e1595273207135.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="479" />Maki Ryōkō, 1787–1833, Lu Tong&#8217;s Tea Song, 19th century (detail), hanging scroll; ink on silk, Gift of Stephen Addiss and Audrey Yoshiko Seo, 2013.63.19</div>
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Clerical Script 
隸書 (Jp.: reisho; Ch.: lishu) 
Clerical script was the starting point for stylized calligraphy: curved lines were straightened, radicals (graphic components that indicate the meaning of the character) were simplified and merged, the number of strokes were reduced. The script developed in China around 300 BCE and became increasingly important during the Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) as the territory expanded and an increasing number of imperial edicts needed to be copied and distributed across the country. This job fell to the official clerics, and was made possible with the advent of paper and silk as substrates, rather than stone or bamboo strips. 
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<div id="attachment_84775" style="max-width: 426px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="wp-image-84775 size-full" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/20092832/mia_6017309_Cropped-e1595273349404.jpg" alt="" width="416" height="500" />Nakai Tōjū, 1608–48, Bring the Qin, 17th century (detail), hanging scroll; ink on paper, Gift of Stephen Addiss and Audrey Yoshiko Seo, 2013.63.24</div>
Seal Script 
篆書 (Jp: tensho; Ch: zhuanshu) 
Seal script reflects the earliest form of Chinese calligraphy. It developed during the Zhou Dynasty (c. 1045–256 BCE) and was standardized around 300 to 200 BCE. Ultimately the script fell out of favor due to its linearity, which did not lend itself to the fluid strokes of the calligrapher’s brush. It did, however, continue to be used for seal carvings, which were generally made of stone and were used to apply an individual’s official signature or identifying mark to a document or other object. 
The script underwent a revival from around 1600 to 1900 CE, and was used as visual shorthand for archaism, a reference to the ancient world. It was especially favored by scholars interested in Chinese antiquity. 
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<div id="attachment_84776" style="max-width: 510px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="wp-image-84776 size-full" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/20093050/mia_8010159_Detail-e1595273480871.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="428" />Suda Kokuta, 1906–90, Words Concerned with Existence, 1984 (detail), ink on paper, Gift of the Clark Center for Japanese Art &amp; Culture, 2013.29.1337.1-2, © Suda Kokuta</div>
Standard Script 
楷書 (Jp: kaisho; Ch: kaishu) 
The next step in calligraphy’s innovation was the development of a standard script. Standard or regular script is used when clarity is of the utmost importance, such as for formal documents, books, etc. It was also the script most commonly used for mass printing, which was first invented in China around 800 CE, while movable type developed around 1000 to 1100 CE. 
Though standard script’s crisp lines would seemingly require less skill, such regularity requires a steady hand and an understanding of how much ink to load onto the brush to achieve a consistent stroke—any error or irregularity would be glaringly obvious. 
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<div id="attachment_84777" style="max-width: 510px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="wp-image-84777 size-full" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/20093208/mia_6017316_Cropped_Detail-e1595273559782.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="347" />Ōtagaki Rengetsu, 1791–1875, Letter to Tomioka Tessai, 19th century (detail), Ink on paper, Gift of Stephen Addiss and Audrey Yoshiko Seo, 2013.63.6</div>
Cursive Script 
草書 (Jp: sōsho; Ch: caoshu) 
Similar to Western shorthand, cursive script may have appeared as early as 200 BCE out of a need for a rapid, simplified way of writing clerical script. Cursive script was used chiefly for private and informal communications as well as for poetry. 
The shapes of the characters are greatly abbreviated and sometimes altered to such an extent that they do not resemble the standard forms. Brush strokes are wave-shaped and made rapidly. The difficulty of reading this fluid script is further increased because several characters are often vertically connected without interruption. 
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<div id="attachment_84778" style="max-width: 510px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img class="wp-image-84778 size-full" src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/20093330/mia_6017329_Cropped-e1595273637706.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="396" />Ema Saikō, 1787–1861, On Becoming Fifty, 1836 (detail), hanging scroll; ink on paper, Gift of Stephen Addiss and Audrey Yoshiko Seo, 2013.63.37</div>
Running Script 
行書 (Jp: gyōsho; Ch: xingshu) 
Running or semi-cursive script is an intermediate form between standard script and cursive script. As it is not as abbreviated as cursive script it can be read by most people who can read standard script. 
Developed before 100 CE, it became the usual style of handwriting. 
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20 Dances: Japanese Calligraphy Then and Now

Fresh and engaging displays reintroduce audiences to the interconnected, immensely diverse artistic traditions of South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayas. Collection highlights, such as a recently conserved 1,000-year-old Indian sculpture of Shiva Nataraja, commingle with new acquisitions, important loans, and extraordinary objects—some at Mia since 1917—on view for the first time. Within each gallery, multiple narratives aim to disentangle complicated histories, evoke reflection, and celebrate the artists who created, and continue to create, a bountiful variety of expressive forms. 
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<h2 class="Mia-bold">Explore the Exhibition Virtually</h2>
<a href="https://new.artsmia.org/with-new-light-mias-reinstalled-himalayan-south-and-southeast-asian-art-galleries/"><img src="https://images.artsmia.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/12071522/6224.jpg" alt="" width="366" height="244" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-87958" /></a> 
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<caption>Support for the gallery reinstallation provided by the Jane and James Emison Endowment for South Asian and Indian Art.</caption>

2009.12.2a-c

With New Light: Mia’s Reinstalled Himalayan, South, and Southeast Asian Art Galleries

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Arabic calligraphy is considered the highest form of art in Islam. This writing transmits the words of God as recorded in the Qur’an, Islam’s holy book. Over the centuries, calligraphers have created beauty inspired by their faith. The 16 artworks on display stem from Africa and date from the mid-1800s to today. They all incorporate Khatt Islami, “Islamic line” or “Islamic design”—calligraphic writings made by Muslims. These objects include writing boards that are used in education, healing, and protection; textiles; iron blades; and a vase, created by a contemporary Sufi artist.
Co-curated by Amallina Mohamed, curator at the <a href="http://www.somalimuseum.org/">Somali Museum of Minnesota</a>, and Jan-Lodewijk Grootaers, curator of African Art and head of the Arts of Africa and the Americas at Mia; transcription and translation of the Arabic provided by Fahimeh Ghorbani, University of Toronto, in collaboration with Alam Saleh, Australian National University, Canberra; Fahimeh Ghorbani, Ayan Ahmed, Nahid Khan, and Dzenita Hadziomerovic also consulted on this exhibition.
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2005.97.46

Khatt Islami: Sacred Scripts from Islamic Africa

L’Merchie Frazier is a fiber artist, quilter, historian, innovator, poet, and holographer. According to Frazier, “This exhibition continues my work and conversations, concerned with equity and justice, called The Quilted Chronicles and its Target Series. It examines the lives and legacies of African-descended people, including children and their communities across centuries of memory, places, and activism.”
<a href="https://collections.artsmia.org/exhibitions/2854/freedom-rising-i-am-the-story-l-merchie-frazier">Explore the Exhibition here.</a>
This exhibition is part of a larger initiative, <a href="https://textilecentermn.org/wearethestory/">We Are The Story</a>, organized by the <a href="https://textilecentermn.org/">Textile Center </a>and the <a href="https://wcqn.org/">Women of Color Quilters Network (WCQN)</a>. It was curated by WCQN founder Carolyn Mazloomi, who conceived of the project when Minneapolis became an epicenter for nationwide protests following the police killing of George Floyd.
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Freedom Rising: I am the Story - L'Merchie Frazier

Freedom Rising: I Am the Story / L&#8217;Merchie Frazier

Miao people comprise one of the largest ethnic minorities in China. Ancestrally, they are related to the Hmong people of Southeast Asia. Miao people consider textiles, clothing, and accessories as expressions of identity. This is especially true at communal festivals, where an individual might wear an elaborate, embroidered costume and intricately worked silver jewelry. In these settings, ceremonial clothing could indicate a wearer’s age and marital status, or mark important rites of passage. Motifs on these garments and silver jewelry can reveal Miao history and beliefs, while decorative techniques, patterning, and stitchwork distinguish one community from another. The silver material and designs also serve a protective function, promoting the health and safety of the wearer, while presenting a dazzling display that delights the eyes. This exhibition showcases only a few exquisite examples drawn from Mia’s large collection of more than 1,200 textiles and 450 pieces of jewelry made by Miao artisans.

To Beautify and Protect: Miao Clothing and Jewelry from China

In the male-dominated society of imperial China, most women were physically restricted to domestic spaces. The center of a woman’s life was the bedroom, where she would sit alone or with others, working or pursuing leisurely activities. The furniture and artwork featured in this exhibition, all drawn from Mia&#8217;s outstanding collection of Chinese art, would have been found in a typical imperial Chinese woman’s bedroom. These objects reflected a woman’s educated and well-read social status, while also indicating her subordinate position as a woman in a man’s world.

Intimate Space: A Noblewoman&#8217;s Bedroom in Late Imperial China

This exhibition presents a recently recovered photographic series taken by American documentary photographer Todd Webb in 1958. Commissioned by the United Nations to document emerging industries and technologies in Ghana, Kenya, Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Somalia, Sudan, Togo, and Tanganyika and Zanzibar (both now Tanzania), these early color photographs went largely unused by the U.N.’s publications. Their neglect or suppression by the organization mandates a closer investigation, and animates our interpretation of the images, as well as our attempts to understand Webb’s intentions in creating them.
Webb’s photographs present an outsider’s view onto the social, political, and cultural dynamics on the continent at a critical period between colonialism and independence. Resisting stereotypical or exoticizing frameworks, Webb created images of countries on the cusp of change. At the same time, his photographs raise important questions concerning photographic agency and power, racial and national privilege, and the ways in which Euro-Americans conceived of modernization at a crucial period in Africa’s history.
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Thursday, February 25, 2021

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