On June 13th Choi Centre Cloud House, Beijing, and the Embassy of Ireland in China celebrated #YeatsDay, the birthday of poet W.B. Yeats with the opening of the "W.B.Yeats: Lapis Lazuli" Contemporary Art Exhibition, curated by Hamilton Gallery from Sligo.
Commemorating the 45th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Ireland and China, Lapis Lazuli was opened by her Excellency Dr. Ann Derwin, Ambassador of Ireland to China. Acting Director of Choi Centre Cloud House Cher Wang, and Martina Hamilton, director of Hamilton Gallery, Sligo also addressed those in attendance for the event.
The exhibition features new paintings by 22 contemporary Irish artists. The artists created paintings paying homage to the iconic Yeats poem “Lapis Lazuli” which was in turn inspired by Chinese Qianlong-era lapis lazuli carving gifted to Yeats in 1935,
The individual works in the exhibition reflect powerfully upon the theme of the poem, which discusses the power of art to transcend cultures and generations, to connect hearts and minds. The exhibition itself was an embodiment of the theme , where a sculpture created by an unknown Chinese artist almost 300 years ago, had inspired W B Yeats to create one of his most powerful literary works, a poem which had in turn brought the work of 22 Irish artists back to China, where the original sculpture was created.
"Lapis Lazuli" is one of Yeats' later poems. In July 1935, Yeats' friend Harry Clifton gave him a Qianlong-era Chinese lapis lazuli carving as a gift for his 70th birthday, and Yeats wrote this poem in return. The figures and temple path mentioned in the poem are images from the carving. Yeats believed that art is not equivalent to reality; art has its intrinsic value. He thought that specific works of art and civilizations may perish, but that creativity, the act of artistic creation would also cycle and renew, endlessly. Through the detailed depiction of the carving, Yeats revealed the ancient Chinese people's philosophical attitude toward tragedy.
