Detail of C. C. Wang, no title (Abstract Work with Blue and Green), 1998. Ink and color on paper, overall: 33 3⁄4 x 15 5⁄8 inches (85.7 x 39.7 cm). Collection of Pao Yung Chao.

C. C. Wang, Landscape After Wang Meng, ca. 1940s. Hanging scroll, ink and color on paper, 42 x 19 ⅝ inches (106.7 x 49.8 cm). Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Chang. Image copyright the Estate of C.C. Wang. Photo: Stan Narten.

C. C. Wang, Still Life, 1956. Casein on canvas, 26 x 40 inches (66 x 101.6 cm). Private Collection, New York. Image copyright the Estate of C.C. Wang. Photo: Stan Narten.

C. C. Wang, Landscape No. 475, 1983. Hanging scroll, ink and color on paper, 39 ⅞ x 20 inches (101.3 x 50.8 cm). Private Collection, New York. Image copyright the Estate of C.C. Wang. Photo: Stan Narten.

C. C. Wang, no title (Landscape after Fan Kuan), 1985. Hanging scroll, ink on paper, 49 x 26 inches (124.5 x 66 cm). Private Collection, New York.  Image copyright the Estate of C.C. Wang. Photo: Stan Narten.

C. C. Wang, no title (Landscape No. 970-B), 1987. Ink on paper, 17 ¾ x 30 ⅞ inches (45.1 × 78.4 cm). Private Collection, New York and Fu Qiumeng Fine Art, New York. Image copyright the Estate of C.C. Wang. Photo: Stan Narten.

C. C. Wang, no title (Linear Brushwork Experiment), 1989. Ink on paper, 45 x 24 ¼ inches (114.3 × 61.6 cm). Private Collection, New York and Fu Qiumeng Fine Art, New York. Image copyright the Estate of C.C. Wang. Photo: Stan Narten.

C. C. Wang, no title (Mountain Valley at Night), 1989. Ink on paper, 18 ¾ x 25 inches (47.6 x 63.5 cm). Private Collection, New York and Fu Qiumeng Fine Art, New York. Image copyright the Estate of C.C. Wang. Photo: Stan Narten.

C. C. Wang, no title (Blue Forest), undated. Ink and color on paper, 5 ¾ x 13 ¾ in inches (14.6 × 34.9 cm). Private Collection, New York and Fu Qiumeng Fine Art, New York. Image copyright the Estate of C.C. Wang. Photo: Stan Narten.

C. C. Wang, no title (Mark Rothko’s Carriage House), 1994. Hanging scroll, ink and color on paper, 14 ½ x 18 ½ inches (36.8 × 47 cm). Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Chang. Image copyright the Estate of C.C. Wang. Photo: Stan Narten.

C. C. Wang, Leaf from Splendid Views of Rivers and Mountains, 1995–2001. Album in 19 parts, 16 painted leaves and 3 colophons; ink and color on paper, approximately 12 × 18 ½ inches each (30.5 x 47 cm). Collection of Pao Yung Chao. Image copyright the Estate of C.C. Wang. Photo: Stan Narten.

C. C. Wang, no title (Abstract Work with Blue and Green), 1998. Ink and color on paper, 33 ¾ x 15 ⅝ inches (85.7 × 39.7 cm). Collection of Pao Yung Chao. Image copyright the Estate of C.C. Wang. Photo: Stan Narten.

C. C. Wang, no title (Phonebook with Artist’s Calligraphy Practice), 1998. Ink on telephone book, 10 ¾ x 19 ½ x 2 inches (27.3 × 49.5 × 5.1 cm). Private Collection. Image copyright the Estate of C.C. Wang. Photo: Fu Qiumeng Fine Art.

C. C. Wang, no title (Abstract Calligraphy), 1998. Hanging scroll, ink on paper, 53 ¼ x 26 ½ inches (135.3 × 67.3 cm). Private Collection, New York. Image copyright the Estate of C.C. Wang. Photo: Stan Narten.

C. C. Wang, no title (Scholar’s Rock), dated to the artist’s 95th year (2001). Hanging scroll, ink on paper, 55 x 28 ⅝ inches (139.7 × 72.7 cm). Private Collection, New York. Image copyright the Estate of C.C. Wang. Photo: Stan Narten.

February 2–April 29, 2023
Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 12–5 pm

Opening Reception: February 2, 7–9 pm

Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Gallery
132 East 68th Street
New York, NY 10065
Entrance between Lexington and Park Avenues

Born to a family of scholar-officials at the twilight of the Qing dynasty, C. C. Wang (Wang Chi-ch’ien 王己千, 1907–2003) mastered the traditional ink and brush techniques in Republican Shanghai and immigrated to New York City in 1949. There he sought to preserve the tradition of classical Chinese painting through engagement with new ideas, materials, and forms. Drawing inspiration from past masters in the history of Chinese painting, as well as New York’s artistic climate in the wake of World War II, Wang advanced breakthrough transformations in ink painting.

C. C. Wang is best known as a preeminent twentieth-century connoisseur and collector of pre-modern Chinese art, a reputation that often overshadows his own art. Held twenty years after the artist’s death, C. C. Wang: Lines of Abstraction recenters Wang’s extraordinary career on his own artistic practice to reveal an original quest for tradition and innovation in the global twentieth century. Spanning seven decades, the exhibition focuses on the artist’s distinctive synthesis of Chinese ink painting and American postwar abstraction.

In concert with the exhibition, the Hunter College Art Galleries are producing a comprehensive catalogue published in collaboration with the Weisman Museum of Art at the University of Minnesota and Hirmer Publishers. This book is the first retrospective monograph on the renowned artist, collector, and connoisseur C. C. Wang (1907–2003) and features texts by scholars Wen-shing Chou, Daniel M. Greenberg, Joseph Scheier-Dolberg, and Arnold Chang with additional contributions by Hunter College Graduate Art History candidates and an undergraduate student from the University of Minnesota. Support for this publication is provided by the Wolf Kahn Foundation and Emily Mason and Alice Trumbull Mason Foundation on behalf of artists Emily Mason and Wolf Kahn.

Curated by Wen-shing Chou and Daniel M. Greenberg with Hans Hofmann Graduate Curatorial Fellow Margaret Liu Clinton.

C. C. Wang: Lines of Abstraction was developed through a two-semester curatorial seminar at Hunter College led by Professor Wen-shing Chou with M.A. Art History students Thais Bignardi-Engstrom, Carolyn Bishop, Rawls Bolton, Jeremy Gloster, Sophie Kaufman, Emerald Lucas, Lindsey Poremba, and Mia Ye.

C. C. Wang: Lines of Abstraction is made possible by the generous support of the James Howell Foundation, the Leubsdorf Fund, the Wolf Kahn Foundation and Emily Mason and Alice Trumbull Mason Foundation on behalf of artists Emily Mason and Wolf Kahn, and the Renate, Hans, and Maria Hofmann Trust.

Please find the full press kit here. For further press inquiries please contact Sarah Watson, Chief Curator, at swat@hunter.cuny.edu.