The Empress Dowager November 13, 2011

In 1903, the Grand Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) allowed a young aristocratic photographer named Xunling to take elaborately staged shots of her and her court, designed to convey imperial authority, aesthetic refinement, and religious piety. As the only photographic series taken of Cixi - the supreme leader of China for more than 45 years - it represents a unique convergence of Qing court pictorial traditions, modern photographic techniques, and Western standards of artistic portraiture. The exhibition will also feature two original prints of Cixi that were presented as diplomatic gifts to President Theodore Roosevelt in 1904 and to his daughter Alice in 1905. A display of film clips will demonstrate the evolution of the Empress Dowager as a character throughout the twentieth century - from a depraved tyrant to a long-suffering ruler.