Acclaimed Curator of Chinese Art to Speak at The College of Wooster Art Museum on Oct. 20

Wooster alumnus Hao Sheng to deliver free public lecture on Wednesday, Oct. 20, in Ebert Art Center

WOOSTER, Ohio — Hao Sheng, the Wu Tung Curator of Chinese Art at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) in Boston and a 1996 College of Wooster graduate, will speak at The College of Wooster Art Museum on Wednesday, Oct. 20. His lecture, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 7 p.m. in Room 223 of Ebert Art Center (1220 Beall Ave.). This event replaces the Faculty Roundtable, which had been scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 14.

Sheng will discuss his forthcoming exhibition, "Fresh Ink: Ten Takes on Chinese Tradition," which opens Nov. 20 at the MFA. This groundbreaking exhibition features 10 leading contemporary Chinese artists who created new works in response to masterpieces from the MFA's collection. Three of the artists in "Fresh Ink" — Liu Dan, Li Huayi, and Xu Bing — are also represented in the current exhibition at The College of Wooster Art Museum: “Chinese and Japanese Calligraphy and Painting."

Born in Shanghai, Sheng came to the United States at the age of 18 as an exchange student at the Sidwell Friends High School in Washington D.C. The following year, he enrolled at The College of Wooster, where he initially chose to major in physics but then switched to studio art and art history. Sheng received a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship in his senior year at Wooster to travel to Japan after graduation, where he apprenticed with the late master potter Shimaoka Tatsuzo in the rural village of Mashiko for three years. He returned to the U.S. and earned his M.A. in Chinese art history from Harvard University, where he is currently completing his PhD.

Sheng’s tenure with the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston began in 2004 when he became the Assistant Curator of Chinese Art. Three years later he was named Wu Tung Curator of Chinese Art. During his six years at the MFA, Sheng has curated a series of well-received exhibitions, including “Through Six Generations: The Weng Collection of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy” (March-August 2007), which is regarded as one of the greatest private collections of Chinese art in the United States. He also organized “Master Paintings from the Collection” (2010-2011), “Gentlemen of Suzhou”(2007-2008), "Understanding the Master: Dong Quichang and his Circle” (2006-2007), "Laughing Buddha and Dancing Immortals: Gods of Chinese Popular Religion” (2005-2006), and a number of other exhibitions. In April 2010, The New York Times featured Sheng as one of nine emerging curators of the next generation.

For more information about Sheng’s address, call 330-263-2290 or visit the Art Museum's website.