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Guests of the Hills: Travelers and Recluses in Chinese Landscape Painting

August 23, 2008 - March 15, 2009 (new closing date)

Museum: Freer Gallery of Art

Location: Gallery 13 (Chinese Art)

This exhibition features Chinese landscape paintings over a 700-year period -- from the mid-11th to the mid-18th centuries -- that depict recluses and recreational travelers as well as free-roaming mountain sages or gentlemen living in retirement. These figures were especially appealing to the scholar-official class -- who were their primary creators and consumers -- because they represented their aspirations and ideals. Included are works that were created during an actual excursion or journey or as a gift for someone about to embark on a trip.