EXHIBITION OVERVIEW

The special exhibition, “Muses, Madonna and Maidens—500 Years of Female Image in East and West,” charted the history and evolution of the female image in the East and West from the Renaissance to the present, paying tribute to the capacity of women to inspire peace, beauty and rejuvenation in both the artist and audience. It featured 245 works of representative artists in Asia and Europe from each of the five centuries, allowing for contrasts and comparisons of womanhood over the ages and an exploration of visual expressions of women in the modern era. Among the works drawn from museums and private collectors in Japan, France, England, Italy, Austria, Russia and Taiwan, were 75 Japanese paintings, woodblock prints and painted screens, 95 oil paintings and 75 photographs.