The New York Times reviews an exhibit currently at the China Institute in New York of Chinese shadow puppets:
Long before the invention of film the Chinese developed a remarkable art form of moving images. Shadow puppets, made of pierced and embossed rawhide and manipulated with sticks behind an illuminated screen of transparent cloth, entertained both emperors and rural peasants. Accompanied by music, shadow theater brought good luck at weddings and offered welcome distraction at funerals.
An entertaining new exhibition at the China Institute, “Enchanted Stories: Chinese Shadow Theater in Shaanxi,” explores this rich folk art tradition, which originated in Shaanxi Province (in the north-central area of the country known as the cradle of Chinese civilization). Western viewers may not be familiar with the traditional story lines or characters of shadow puppetry, but anyone who has seen the cut-paper silhouettes of Kara Walker will get the idea.
