The Celestial City: A Closer Look at Treasures Illuminating China’s Contributions to Newport
In this insider’s look at the Preservation Society’s groundbreaking new exhibition The Celestial City: Newport and China, exhibition curator Dr. Nicole Williams and collaborator Dr. Bing Huang will share insights into dazzling artworks in the show that reveal the unsung contributions of Chinese and Chinese-American individuals to life in Newport. Dr. Williams and Dr. Huang will tell inspiring stories about the Chinese artists, merchants, immigrant entrepreneurs and women suffragists who shaped the city’s culture, economy and politics. Dr. Williams also will discuss the show’s innovative curatorial process that engaged descendants, contemporary artists and scholars across multiple disciplines.
Dr. Nicole Williams
Dr. Nicole Williams is Curator of Collections for The Preservation Society of Newport County. Dr. Williams earned her BA from Harvard College and her PhD from Yale University in the History of Art with a specialization in American art. Her work as a scholar and curator focuses on the global contexts for 19th-century American art, women’s histories, intersections between art and the law, and practices and theories of handcraftsmanship in the age of industry. Her research has been published in museum catalogues and scholarly journals, including Woman’s Art Journal, The Journal of Modern Craft, Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide, Photography and Culture, and Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art. Dr. Williams is the curator of The Celestial City: Newport and China, which opened September 1 at Rosecliff and continues through February 11, 2024.
Dr. Bing Huang
Dr. Bing Huang is Assistant Professor of Art History at Providence College. Dr. Huang earned her PhD from the History of Art and Architecture department at Harvard University. Her research interests are broad and interdisciplinary, encompassing the confluence of Chinese and European artistic influences, the intricacies of Han Dynasty tombs and architecture, Buddhist art, and the evolving landscape of media and advanced technologies, including virtual reality and artificial intelligence generative art.
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Beneath The Breakers Tour
Daily
10:00am
Explore the underground systems that made this great house a marvel of technology for its time.
June 1 - September 1, offered at 10 am & 2 pm
Third Floor Preservation in Progress Tour
Daily
12 pm and 2 pm
For the first time in the 129-year history of The Breakers, the private third-floor family space occupied by generations of Vanderbilts is open for public tours.
Servant Life Tour
Daily
10 am and 2 pm
See and hear how the other half lived. This tour will highlight the stories of some of the men and women who worked to service the social whirl of Newport during the Gilded Age.
June 1 - September 1, offered at 10 am, 12 pm & 2 pm
Inside “The Gilded Age” Tour
May 2 – June 27, 2025
Fans of HBO’s "The Gilded Age" will love this guide-led tour of locations in four of the Newport Mansions where Julian Fellowes' historical drama series was filmed. Fridays only, May 2 through June 27.
