Theres an ick about chinoiserie.
And thats very much by design.
Monstrous Beauty challenges the traditional narrative of chinoiserie as neutral and harmless.
Doccia Porcelain Manufactory (Italian, 1737–1896), Two sweetmeat dishes, ca. 1750–60. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1906 (06.379a,b)
Chinoiserie was not only a style but an ideology.
AnElle Decorarticlesoon after prompted Moon to consider the link between chinoiserie and the shootings.
You see her first before you see this as a decorative art object.
Yeesookyung’s porcelain vessels feature broken shards sutured together using the kintsugi repair method.
Chinoiseries never really read from a subjective viewpoint, she continues.
She regards the piece, which stands nearly as tall as the artist, as perverse and cruel.
Its like finding a missing mother, she says, like its in my blood.
Woman with a pipe, ca. 1760–80. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Larry and Ann Burns Gift, in honor of Austin B. Chinn, 2022 (2022.52)
The contemporary works bring to the surface overlooked parts of porcelains history.
The termmonstrousfrom the shows title, for example, was applied by 18th-century critics who derided chinoiserie as unnatural.
When it emerged from its crate, Moon says, she screamed.
Lee Bul’sMonster: Blackfrom 2011 holds court in one gallery of “Monstrous Beauty: A Feminist Revision of Chinoiserie.”
The energy coming off of it was unbelievable, the curator recalls.
We just chose not to see it.
