“Power/Play: China’s Empress Dowager” at Sackler Gallery

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

1050 Independence Avenue SW
Washington, DC 20560
Phone: 202.633.4880

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Smithsonian

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Grand Empress Dowager Cixi, who headed China’s Qing dynasty until her death in 1908, is the focus of an exhibit at the Sackler Gallery. “Power/Play: China’s Empress Dowager” demonstrates how she used photography, a relatively new technology, to boost her public image. The 35 glass-plate negatives, now in the museum’s collection, are the only portraits of their kind held outside of China.