Curator Conversations

Norton curators provide insight and context to exhibitions they have organized and art and artists they have studied and admire. 


VIRTUAL Curator Conversation / Butterfly Lovers: Painting, Poetry, Legend

Thursday, January 20 / 6PM-7PM

Friday, January 20 / 6pm

VIRTUAL Curator Conversation / Butterfly Lovers: Painting, Poetry, Legend

This virtual program will be streamed on the Norton's Facebook page.

Willow Hai, Director of China Institute Gallery and Laurie Barnes, Elizabeth B. McGraw Curator of Chinese Art explore the deeper meaning of Zhou Lianxia’s painting Butterflies and Corn Poppies on view at the Norton in The Other Half of the Sky: Twentieth-Century Chinese Women Painters until January 23, 2022. This work was painted by Zhou (1909 - 2000) in 1955, during a period when she was separated from her husband, and inscribed by her friend Lu Xiaoman (1903 - 1965), who tragically lost her husband in 1931. Join us for this Curator Conversation and learn more about the significance of this painting’s symbolic imagery, poetic inscriptions, and references to ancient legends of star-crossed lovers.

Support for Curator Conversations was provided by the Gayle and Paul Gross Education Endowment Fund.

Holiday Hours

The Museum is closed Christmas Eve, Christmas Day/First Night of Hannukah, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. We hope to see you soon – Happy Holidays!