"From Far East to West": the Chinese-American experience in the American Old West

     Our favorite St. Petersburg, Florida museum has launched another great exhibit, on view through January of 2024.  Called "From Far East to West," the exhibit chronicles the lives of the Chinese -American immigrants who came to the western United States in the mid-1800s.  Mostly young men, the immigrants were first drawn by news of the California Gold Rush and by the opportunities of work building railroads.  Many saw the US as a chance to acquire riches to take back to China, and the West was known as "Gold Mountain" among the immigrants.  There was wealth to be had, real wealth relative to what their life prospects would have been had they stayed in China. A few men did return quite wealthy, and many villages prospered from the wealth sent home from America.  However, more immigrants ended up staying in America and fighting to survive political, economic and racial discrimination.  Chinese immigrants were targeted by swindlers, con artists, and thieves, and they were lynched and attacked in racially-motivated riots.  Life was difficult, but there were still a few immigrants who became wealthy by organizing labor gangs and opening laundries, restaurants, and other businesses.

    There are a few artifacts and a few photographs of real-life individuals in the exhibit, but the "hook" or twist of the exhibit is that it focuses on paintings of Chinese-American life in the 1800s painted by 21st century Chinese-Americans who have immigrated from China to the US.  That's a really interesting perspective.  And on top of that, the paintings are fabulous.

    The exhibit includes a collection of western paintings by Z.S. Liang.  Several of Liang's works are part of the Museum's permanent collection.  He's unique in that his work focuses on Native Americans rather than the Chinese-American experience.

  

    If you're in Tampa Bay this fall and winter, go to The James and check out the exhibit.  ( https://thejamesmuseum.org/ )

The Stories They Tell

     Our favorite Florida Museum, The James Museum ( https://thejamesmuseum.org/ ) in St. Petersburg, has done it again. Another fabulous exhibit is on display through May 14. If you don't know, the James is a museum of western and wildlife art, one of the best in the nation, at least top three along with the Booth Western Art Museum and the Buffalo Bill Center of the West.

    This exhibit is called "The Stories They Tell: Indigenous Art and the Photography of Edward S. Curtis," and it masterfully juxtaposes Curtis photographs with indigenous art objects, old and modern, Curtis is considered one of the premier photographers of American Indian culture in the late 1800s and early 1900s. At the time he made his photographs, he thought - as did most of the country - that he was documenting the last gasps of a dying people, racing to document as much of their culture as he could. Now, one must be careful to realize that he was a photographer with an artistic eye first, and an anthropologist or historian second, so there may be some mistakes made for artistic license.  Nevertheless, his photos are an important anthropological and historical record and, simultaneously, fantastic works of art.

    What the James has done in this exhibit is to display some photos alongside art works made by the people of the societies and locations depicted in the photos, demonstrating the continuity of the cultures that are still with us, thankfully. The objects range in age from the 19th through the 21st century proving the cultural resilience of their makers.  In most cases, the same activity depicted in a photograph is depicted in the accompanying art object.

    The works are divided by location, including several different pueblos of the southwest and the Northwest.  

    It really is a great experience, worthy of any museum. We're so fortunate to have it just an hour away.