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Article: Rocks of ages Behind an exhibit at the Sackler are a local sculptor and a Chinese art tradition written in stone
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- May 4, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1997 The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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They're history's first abstract sculptures, first found-object
art, and first environmental art.
Not to mention the first pet rocks.
Chinese scholars' rocks (eccentrically shaped stones that are
landscapes in miniature) were treasured by that country's literati
starting in the Song dynasty (960-1279). They were so identified
with the upper classes that, like French aristocrats masquerading in
peasant garb to escape the guillotine, they were unceremoniously
dumped in the yard by their owners during the Cultural Revolution, as
if they were ordinary rocks.
As art objects, they were all but extinct by the time the
Boston-area sculptor Richard Rosenblum happened to spot one.
That was 25 years ...