The Charm of Coloured Shadows

Chinese shadow play looks back on over 1300 years of history. Initially Buddhist monks used paper figures to depict scenes from the life of the Buddha. This inspired storytellers to use the medium to illustrate their legends and myths. In time fragile paper puppets were replaced by ones made of more durable leather. The Österreichische Institut für China- und Südostasienforschung owns thousands of these artworks made of calf-, donkey- or camel leather or of cardboard or plastic. Many of them are over 200 years old and were created by celebrated artists. The collection comprises not only single figures but also large stage sets used for performances of popular plays such as “Journey to the West”, ”The White Serpent” or “The Female Generals of the Yang Family”. In addition to these classical pieces unique puppets for contemporary plays from the Institute’s collection are on show in the exhibition, which presents a survey of the many different styles of Chinese shadow play. The show’s programme features performances of shadow plays from Changsha in Hunan Province.

This exhibition is part of the celebrations commemorating 2011 as “China Year” and is organized by the Austrian Theatre Museum in collaboration with the Institut für China- und Südostasienforschung.