Skip to content

Shanshui: Landscape in Chinese Contemporary Art

Yang Yongliang - View of Tide

Yang Yongliang
View of Tide, 2008 (Detail)
Inkjet print on rice paper, 45×1000 cm
© the artist

Liu Wei - Untitled

Liu Wei
Untitled, 1998
Oil on canvas, 200×120 cm
© the artist

Shanshui: Landscape in Chinese Contemporary Art Kunstmuseum Lucerne presents ‘Shanshui – Poetry without Sound? Landscape in Chinese Contemporary Art’. Curated by Ai Weiwei, Peter Fischer and Uli Sigg, the exhibition tries to advance the international reception of the changing Chinese contemporary Art.

May 21, 2011 – October 2, 2011

]]>

Source: Kunstmuseum Lucerne / theartwolf.com

One of the richest forms of artistic expression in Chinese Art is the “shanshui”, which literally translated means “mountain-water-painting”. “Shanshui” (or “Shan shui”) painting arose to prominence during the 5th century, and has become part of humanity’s cultural heritage.

The exhibition combines 70 major works (all dated between 1994 to 2011) from the Sigg Collection, considered the most comprehensive collection of Chinese contemporary art worldwide. In addition to these paintings, the exhibition also features early paintings such as Zhao Mengfu’s “Blue-Green Landscape” (around 1300) or Dong Quchang’s “Landscape” from 1624.

According to the press note of the exhibition, “a further purpose of the exhibition ‘Shanshui’ is to advance the internationalreception of Chinese contemporary art”. For this purpose, the exhibition has been created with the help of Uli Sigg, the Swissexpert on China. Several works by his collection were displayed in the exhibition “Mahjong” in 2005 at the KunstmuseumBerne, showing the “potential and wealth” -the press note says- of the current Chinese art scene to the Western world.

The exhibition is curated by Ai Weiwei, Peter Fischer and Uli Sigg. Ai Weiwei is arguably the most famous contemporary Chinese artist, especially after his arrest on April 3rd in Beijing, which result in the “Free Ai Weiwei street art campaign”.

Related content

Photography from the New China at the Getty Museum (exhibition, 2010-2011)
Ai Weiwei at the Mori Art Museum (exhibition, 2009)
Li Cheng: ‘A solitary Temple amid clearing Peaks’ (from theartwolf’s “50 masterworks of painting” series)

Follow us on:

Shanshui: Landscape in Chinese Contemporary Art