China: Through the Looking Glass

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City has numerous galleries for art from various parts of the world. It also has major exhibitions from time to time when something important visits. It seems at the time of my visit, there was an ongoing exhibition entitled China: Through the Looking Glass. I wasn’t really sure what it meant. In the context of art, perhaps it is meant to be a window into the the Chinese way of life. I wasn’t really intending to visit this exhibition since I already had my fair share of Chinese art museums. However, it seems there was no avoiding it. As I walked up the museum one floor was dedicated to this exhibition.

The gallery was dark with the exhibits lit up focusing all attention to them. The main focus of the gallery seems to be a modern approach to traditional Chinese costumes. Probably most well known is the qipao there are several sexy versions of the qipao. They have costumes which were worn by the empress right beside it was a modern rendition of the same thing. It was a bit weird and I can’t really say I appreciate it but I guess the point is to show that these traditional costumes can still have their place in the modern world. I don’t see who would be wearing them though.

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