Visual Culture in Communist China

Zhang Xiaogang was born in 1958, Kumming, China. He graduated from Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts in 1982. Two major events in China that shaped his artworks and artistic practice were the cultural revolution and the revolution at Tiananmen Square. Growing up during the Cultural Revolution, gave Zhang Xiaogang a traumatic childhood. His parents were sent to “study camp” in the countryside and he never had a close relationship with his father and his mother was suffering from schizophrenia. This detached emotions from the family was reflected upon his “Bloodline: The Big Family” series. During his early career, he experimented different forms of western art styles: Cubist, Surrealist and Expressionist. One of the major turning points in his career was the Tiananmen Square Revolution in 1989. With China opening up more to Western influences, plenty of artists were copying western artists and their styles. However, Zhang felt lost and was not able to distinguish himself amongst thousands of artists copying western styles. In 1993 he had an opportunity to study in Germany for three months. Most of the experiences during these three months dramatically changed his view on art and was a major contributing factor to his well-known artworks. He traveled around Europe and saw artworks of Van Gough, Magritte, Beuys, Kiefer, Baselitz and Richter. These artists inspired him to create his own visual style and color palette. Even though he was categorized by many art critics and art historians as Post-1989 or Post-Mao era artist, his works are different from many of his contemporaries. Unlike most of Post-1989 artists, Zhang does not focus on current politics, but his works reflect on a nostalgic feeling influenced by his childhood and the scares left by previous Chinese generation.

Zhang Xiaogang. Bloodline: Big Family No.3, Oil on Canvas. 1995. Image source: artnet.com (http://www.artnet.com/WebServices/images/ll00145lldQZ9GFgSeECfDrCWvaHBOcjXJE/zhang-xiaogang-bloodline:-big-family-no.-3.jpg)

Bibliography

Huang, Yiju. “4 Ghostly Vision: Zhang Xiaogang’s “Bloodline: The Big Family””. In Tapestry of Light, (Leiden, The Netherlands: BRILL, 2015)doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004285590_005

Lü, Peng, and Bruce G. Doar. A History of Art in 20th Century China. Paris: Somogy Éditions Dart, 2013.

“Now Modern and Contemporary Asian Art – Evening Sale.” Steichen, Edward ‘the Pon ||| Photographs ||| Sotheby’s N08165lot387hmen. Accessed January 20, 2019. http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2014/modern-contemporary-asian-art-evening-sale-hk0528/lot.145.html.

Yu Hong was born in Xi’an, China in 1966 during the age of Communist China led by Mao Zedong. Her passion for art started at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing where she studied oil painting and received her Master of Fine Arts degree. She is now a teacher at the same Academy and influences her students to secure the necessities of life and only paint when they have free time on the weekends. Yu Hong was specifically trained in realist painting where she focused on human interaction amongst society. She creates pieces from her personal accounts that reflect specific events that occur in each year of her life. Yu Hong and a group of colleagues were regarded as the “New Generation” artists because of their representational, figurative work. Additionally, she has created portraits of women facing daily challenges in everyday life, ultimately promoting social and economic reforms for women. She specifically states that in the beginning of her career, most people had not heard of feminism because of the Communist Revolution. Lastly, in her most recent work she comments on society by depicting her figures as being lonely: a remark on the scarce resources that challenge individuals to better themselves.

Bibliography

Merlin, M. (2018, March 20). Yu Hong 喻红. Retrieved from https://www.tate.org.uk/research/research-centres/tate-research-centre-asia/women-artists-contemporary-china/yu-hong

Yu Hong – Long March Space. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.longmarchspace.com/en/yu-hong-2/

Yu Hong. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.portrait.gov.au/content/yu-hong

Figure 1, Photograph of Zhang with one of his wall murals

On his website, Zhang Dali introduces himself as a multimedia, multifaceted artist. (Zhang) He is best known for his graffiti, sculpture, painting, and installation art. Zhang Dali was born in Harbin, China in 1963. He went on to study at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing and graduated with a BA in 1987. From a young age, Zhang showed signs of rebellious behavior. He protested against the Chinese government at Tienanmen Square and ended up surviving the massacre in 1989. It was at this time that he was exiled from China and fled to Italy for six years. In Europe he practiced Western art, studied art history and first discovered graffiti as a perfect medium for expressing his rebellious attitude. He returned to China with new interests in portraiture and public urban art and quickly became recognized as China’s first graffiti artist. Zhang Dali describes his work as “a means of interacting with and memorializing the temporary environment that surround me in Beijing.” (Artsy) He now works in a studio in Bejing and is recognized globally, having displayed artwork in many notorious museums and galleries. 

Bibliography:  

Zhang, Dali. “Home.” Zhangdaliart.com, www.zhangdaliart.com/en/index.html.

“Zhang Dali.” 11 Artworks, Bio & Shows on Artsy, Artsy, www.artsy.net/artist/zhang-dali.

http://www.artnet.com/artists/zhang-dali/“Zhang Dali.” Zhang Dali Biography Artnet, Artnet, www.artnet.com/artists/zhang-dali/.

Liu haisu was born in Changzhou in the Jiangsu province. He was the ninth brother in his own family. In his early life, his mother was the one who educated him a lot. His mother was well educated. Liu haisu showed a great rebellious spirit in his early years. He always gave his teacher a lot of hard questions. In 1912, he and his friends established the Shanghai Art College. Cai yuanpei was one of the founders of Shanghai Art College. He was also in the New Culture Movement of the mid 1910s and 1920s. Model storm was the most famous event in this particular period. They hired nude models and draw their sketch. After that, Cai yuanpei wanted him to go to Europe to learn more from the art in the western world. He accepted it. After studying in Europe, he wrote a book about the western arts. In his last few years, he donated all of  his own work to the museum.

Bibliography

Shi, Nan. “Liu Haisu: the biography”. Beijing shi: Beijing hang kong hang tian da xue chu ban she, 2009.

Liu haisu biography. http://www.lhs-arts.org/aboutlhs/lhs.html

Pan Yuliang, Self-portrait in front of window, oil on canvas, date unknown. Artnet.com
(http://www.artnet.com/artists/pan-yuliang/self-portrait-in-front-of-window-Ib9j_dTwi0XsBvO01_7zlw2)

Pan Yuliang, born on June 14, 1895 in Yangzhou, is known for being one of the first Chinese women to paint in the Western style. After being orphaned at a young age, Yuliang was adopted by her mother’s brother and was then sold into a brothel as a result of an extremely impoverished life and the 1911 Revolution (Thein 2018). She then met Pan Zanhua, a customs official, who removed her from the brothel and made her his second wife; however instead of taking Yuliang into his household, Zanhua settled her in Shanghai in 1916 where she learned to read and write (Teo 2016, 37). Yuliang was then invited to study for two years at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris in 1923 (Thein 2018). From here, Pan Yuliang would go on to produce over 4,000 works of art with a majority of paintings depicting women, overwhelmingly nudes, self-portraits and portraits of other women (Teo 2016, 36). Her modernist art embodies a fusion of eastern and western traditions elaborating upon social issues such as the excessive promotion of masculinity and the emergence of feminism (Teo 2016, 36). Yuliang died in Paris in 1977 and lived a life largely affected by the cultural movements in China, residing in Paris for 40 years, never to return home.

Bibliography

Teo, Phyllis. Rewriting Modernism: Three Women Artists in Twentieth-Century China:  Pan Yuliang, Nie Ou, and Yin Xiuzhen. Chicago: Leiden University Press, 2016.

Thein, Madeline. “From Republican-Era Shanghai to Postwar Paris: Pan Yuliang’s Bold Portraits.”Last modified March 12 2018. https://frieze.com/article/republican-er a-shanghai- postwar-paris-pan-yuliangsboldportraits.

Huang Yong Ping was a very influential artist during his time for several reasons. He was born in 1954, and created work mainly throughout the 1980’s. Not only did he influence Chinese work, but he was named a French artist, which spread his name throughout the world and his art became very well known due to this (Vine 2011; 8). In 1989 he participated in the exhibition, Les  magicians de la terre which took place in Paris. This exhibition made it clear that his work was moving abroad, and not just being shown in one place (Lu & Bryson 1998; 183).  Throughout his artwork, there were several messages that he would aim to portray such as the diminishment of cultural differences, and also participation in a campaign against cultural determinism and subjectivism (Vine 2011; 53). One of his works that represents this is that of the two manuals that stated information about the differences between cultures that he placed in the washing machine and then formed them together.  He also participated in a book burning with several other Dada inspired artists that was mainly used to “liberate the arts spiritual essence from its material manifestations”(Vine 2011; 54).

Bibliography

Kao, Ming-Lu, and Norman Bryson. Inside out: New Chinese Art. Univ. of California Press, 1998.

Kinsella, Eileen. “His Notorious Animal Artwork Censored at the Guggenheim, Huang Yong Ping Is Back in New York With a New Show.” Artnet News, Artnet News, 6 Apr. 2018, news.artnet.com/market/huang-yong-ping-gladstone-gallery-1259480.

Li, Yu-Chieh, and 黄永砯 Huang Yong Ping. “Book Washer, Shaman, and Bug Keeper: A Conversation with Huang Yong Ping, Part II.” Voices of Dissent: Art in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1976 to 1989 | Post, post.at.moma.org/content_items/592-book-washer-shaman-and-bug-keeper-a-conversation-with-huang-yong-ping-part-ii.

Vine, Richard. New China, New Art = Zhongguo Dang Dai Yi Shu. Prestel, 2011.

Li Keran and his work Landscape in Red, Photograph, Source: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/1879250/mao-zedong-inspired-landscape-painting-sold-artist-li-keran-80

Li Keran on March 26th, 1907 in Xuzhou, China to a poor family. He showed artistic skill from a young age and in 1925 graduated from the Shanghai Art Academy. During school he studied under several famous western painters, notably Andre Claudot. This led to his unique take on traditional Chinese painting, adding in elements from western styles and using western techniques. In 1931 Keran married Su E, together they would have four children. Keran also taught art at several schools, both before and after the Second World War. During the war, Keran worked for the Nationalist government painting propaganda and party art. His work became less popular and was even criticized when the revolution happened, and Mao took power. After the revolution ended, he began to paint again, creating some of his most famous works. Li Keran died on December 5^th, 1989.

Bibliography:

Roberts, Claire. A Century of Li Keran: Commemorating the Centenary of a guohua Artist. China Heritage Project. http://www.chinaheritagequarterly.org/scholarship.php?searchterm=012_CenturyliKeran.inc&issue=012.

Andrews, Julia Frances.. The art of modern China. Berkeley : University of California Press, c2012.

Mao Zedong-inspired landscape painting, sold by artist Li Keran for 80 yuan four decades ago, fetches 184 million yuan at auction.  South China Morning Post. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/1879250/mao-zedong-inspired-landscape-painting-sold-artist-li-keran-80