AT THE ALLEN / SPRING 2023 / 5 divedmore fully intoWestern painting, studying abroad, andmaking these styles andmethods fully their own. The river of history splits into two strong currents in the next two parallel sections. One, titled “Cogs and Wheels: Socialist Realism and Political Art” looks at paintings from the 1970s done in a style known as “Socialist Realism,” introduced from the Soviet Union and understood as a tool of political propaganda used for educating andmobilizing the people. It includes an important portrait of Chinese Premier Zhōu Ēnlái by Shěn Jiāwèi, exhibited with the artist’s preparatory sketches. The other current, titled “Guóhuà: Ink Painting is National Painting” considers paintings from roughly the same period, but more connected to earlier Chinese painting traditions. Known as Guóhuà, or “National Painting,” it made use of traditional materials, usually ink and opaque watercolors painted on paper or silk, and various conventional subjects, such as landscapes, birds, and flowers. Styles of Guóhuà, however, ranged widely and allowed a greater creative freedom than was found in Socialist Realism. The final section of the exhibition, titled “The ReformEra and Beyond” covers the decades since the beginning of China’s economic reforms in 1978. In the arts, the relative loosening of restrictions on artists during the ReformEra has led to an unprecedented explosion of creativity in all artistic forms andmediums, and artists fromChina have become a major force in global contemporary art. Some, likeWáng Guǎngyì and Zēng Fánzhì, are based in the PRC, some, like Hung Liu and Mansheng Wang, have emigrated to other countries, and some, like Xú Bīng, work both in China and internationally. The works on view, paintings made from the 1990s to the present, illustrate some of the remarkable diversity, originality, wit, and expressive power found in Chinese contemporary art. Organized by Kevin R. E. Greenwood, Joan L. Danforth Curator of Asian Art, with contributions fromMengchen Xu (OC 2016), Zimeng Xiang (OC 2018), Milin Zhou (OC 2019), Jingyi Yuan (OC 2021), and Kai Li, Oberlin College Senior Instructor in Chinese. Special thanks to the Shih-YanWu Family and Driek (OC 1965) and Michael (OC 1964) Zirinsky. Opposite: Wáng Guǎngyì 王广义, (Chinese, b. 1956), Chanel, from the Great Criticism Series, 1994. Oil on canvas. Oberlin Friends of Art Fund, 2001.20. Left: Liú Hǎisù 刘海粟 / 劉海粟, (Chinese, 1896–1994), Landscape After Mi Fu, 1972. Ink and color on paper. Gift of the Shih-YenWu (OC 1954) Family, 2016.28.1. Above: ZaoWou-Ki (ZhàoWújí) 赵无极 / 趙無極, (French, born in China, 1921–2013), Landscape, 1951. Oil on canvas. Gift of Norbert Schimmel, 1957.65.
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