The Weng Collection

Chinese painting and calligraphy are not usually a favorite of mine, but the new exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts is very appealing. The exhibit is so well designed and presented with the scroll of the painting Ten Thousand Li up the Yangtze River running the entire width of one room. Other scroll paintings are treated in a similar manner. Also a contemporary scroll painted by Wan-Go H.C. Weng, the owner of the collection.

At first blush it seems as if Wan-Go has a tremendous ego to have two videos playing of him describing the Yangtze River Scroll as well as a second about himself, the collection,and his family. But the six generations of collectors that built up and preserved the collection are an integral part of the story of the art. All of the personal information in this case really does seem relevant on further examination. It would be interesting to see what the professional art critics say about it.