“Stories from the Billings Collection” will highlight examples from each of the five sections of the Asian Treasures exhibition: Collecting, Articles of Life, Burial Objects, Buddhism, and The Imperial Court.
Ceramics predominate the collection, as shown by earthenware, stoneware, and porcelain, which was invented in China. Silk, paper, and jade were other significant areas of creation. Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Japan produced unique devotional objects. Imperial patronage permeated the arts of architecture, decorative arts, and opera.
Alice R. M. Hyland earned her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and her M.A. and Ph.D. in the History of Art (Chinese) from the University of Michigan. She worked in the Painting and Calligraphy Department at the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan. She was part of a Chinese painting group which traveled extensively in the People’s Republic of China in 1980. She has taught the history of Asian art at the University of Missouri Kansas City, Rhodes College (Memphis, TN), the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Trinity University (San Antonio, TX), Yale University and retired from teaching at Trinity College (Hartford, CT) in 2015. She was the Curator of Asian Art at The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and was Consulting Curator at The Art Complex Museum in Duxbury, MA. She has organized numerous exhibitions, published many articles and catalogues and lectured extensively. She co-organized Curators’ Choice: China for The Art Complex Museum in 2006. She served as the Study Leader for the American Museum of Natural History Family China tour in June 2005 and 2007. She curated an exhibition for the New Britain Museum of American Art, Contemporary Combustion: Chinese Artists in America, in 2007 and one for The Art Complex Museum, Asian Connections, in 2014. She has served as an Asian art consultant for Caramoor, Katonah, N.Y, and The Slater Museum at The Norwich Free Academy, Norwich, CT. She is the guest curator for Asian Treasures from the Billings Collection which opened at the NHA in May.
Thank you to our Exhibition Lead Corporate Sponsor
With generous support from:
Julie Jensen Bryan & Robert Bryan
Susan Blount & Richard Bard
The H. L. Brown Jr. Family Foundation
Kaaren & Charles Hale
Franci Neely
Melinda & Paul Sullivan
Jason Tilroe