PHILADELPHIA — “Post-Mao Dreaming: Chinese Contemporary Art” opens at the University of Pennsylvania’s Arthur Ross Gallery on Jan. 22. 

Featuring 30 prints, drawings, photographs and paintings, this traveling exhibition organized by the Smith College Museum of Art offers a glimpse into the post-Cultural Revolution era in China, following Mao Zedong’s death.  It was the time when Chinese artists began to shrug off the restrictions established under Maoist Communism (1949-1979) and reclaim their individuality.

Including traditional and contemporary media from 22 noted Chinese artists and an illustrated catalog, “Post-Mao Dreaming” links China’s recent past and modern realities.

Special events include a Chinese New Year celebration, a gallery talk and a panel discussion.

Curator Joan Lebold Cohen and art dealer Ethan Cohen will deliver a gallery talk, “Evidence… Post-Mao Dreaming,” on Friday, Jan. 21, at 6 p.m. 

The panel discussion, “Putting Mao in Context,” is co-sponsored by the Arthur Ross Gallery and Penn’s Center for East Asian Studies.  It will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 23, at 4:30 p.m., and feature Jacques Delisle, Stephen A. Cozen Professor of Law and Chair, Center for East Asian Studies, and Nancy Steinhardt, professor of East Asian art, curator of Chinese art at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology and the graduate chair of East Asian Languages and Civilizations. 

“Post-Mao Dreaming” runs through April 3.

The Arthur Ross Gallery is at 220 S. 34th St.  Hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and weekends, noon-5 p.m.

Additional information is available at 215-898-2083 or www.upenn.edu/ARG.