headline
âWENG COLLECTION OF CHINESE PAINTINGâ AT MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON
AVV 3-1 #690654
BOSTON, MASS. â The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, presents âThrough Six Generations: The Weng Collection of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy,â on view through August 1 in the Carpenter Gallery and Japanese Paintings Galleries.
Perhaps the last great collection of Chinese painting and calligraphy still in the possession of the original family, the Weng collection boasts fine work with well-documented provenance and it has remained in the family for five generations.
Weng Tonghe (1830â1904), the family patriarch who formed the majority of the collection, was the tutor to two of Chinaâs last emperors and a pivotal figure in premodern Chinese history.
Passed down through the eldest sons of each generation, the collection finally came to his great-great-grandson Wan-go Weng, the current owner who brought it to the United States for safe-keeping in 1948, just months before the founding of the Peopleâs Republic of China. A first-time comprehensive exhibition of this collection, this show will present more than 50 rarely seen masterworks of Chinese painting and calligraphy, and highlight the personalities behind them, as well as those who collected and preserved them.
The museum is at 465 Huntington Avenue. For information, www.mfa.org or 617-267-9300.
