This book is about avant-garde art in Shanghai in the 1980s which challenges the narrative in the current discourse on the appearance of contemporary art in China. Offering fresh perspectives and new insights into the art and the artists of this period, the book includes critical events in Shanghai, that will attract the serious attention of art professionals and collectors. The emergence of the Shanghai art scene in the 1980s mirrors the revitalisation of Shanghai that was tasked to lead China’s economic development trajectory onto the world stage. Shanghai, with its semi-colonial, political, economic and cultural history, including the strong legacy of the early twentieth century modernist art movement, has played a vital role in China’s modernisation and presents itself as a unique case in the evolution of contemporary art in China.
Author(s): Lansheng Zhang
Series: Contemporary East Asian Visual Cultures, Societies and Politics
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 395
City: Singapore
Acknowledgements
Praise for The Spirit of Individualism
Contents
About the Author
List of Figures
1 Introduction
The Term Avant-Garde Art
Scope and Approach
2 The Spirit of Individualism in the Chinese Modern and Contemporary Art Context
New Culture Movement
The Modernist Art Movement
Early Modernisation in Shanghai’s Cultural Industry and Art Education
Changes in the Modern and Contemporary Sphere
Conclusion
3 National Discourse, Local Voice: Contemporary Chinese Art of the 1980s
4 The Matrix of Art Institutions and Organisations and Unofficial Art Exhibitions in Shanghai in the 1980s
The Matrix of Art Institutions and Organisations
The Critical Early Unofficial Art Exhibitions in Shanghai in the 1980s
Twelve Persons Painting Exhibition
Experimental Painting Exhibition: The Stage 1983
Concave-Convex Exhibition
The 1980s Art Exhibition and the M Conceptual Art Performance
Key International Exhibitions in Shanghai in the Late 1970s and Early 1980s
Exhibition of French Rural Landscape Paintings from the 19th Century
American Paintings from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Conclusion
5 The Shanghai Art Museum—Bureaucratic System and Individual Influence (1979–1989)
Political and Bureaucratic Structures in the 1980s
Initiatives of Individuals in the 1980s
Shanghai Art Museum: Key Exhibitions in the 1980s
Shanghai Art Museum’s New Building Completion Exhibition
The Last Supper Exhibition
Shanghai Biennale
Conclusion
6 Zhang Jianjun: Experimenting in the Search for Eternal Elements
The Modernist Influence
Exploration and Experimentation
From Political Censorship to the First Prize Award
Individualist Character and Interactions with Other Avant-Garde Artists
International Influences and Interactions
Conclusion
7 Li Shan: A Nonconformist Artist
An Independent Mind
The Influence of Modernism and the Pursuit of Freedom in Artistic Expression
The Role in ’85 Art New Wave Movement: Events and Art Exhibitions
Conclusion
8 Yu Youhan: A Lonely Traveller
Connections of Early Twentieth-Century Modernist Art
The “Higher Education” Experience and the Early Exploration of Modernist Art
Influence and Friendship with Younger Artists
Abstract Art and Daoism in the 1980s
Political Pop and Personal History
Conclusion
9 Chen Zhen, Cai Guoqiang, and Gu Wenda
Chen Zhen
Cai Guoqiang
Gu Wenda
Conclusion
10 Conclusion
Appendix
Two Diagrams on the Chinese Bureaucratic Structure of Cultural Organisations
Glossary
Artist and Other Associations and Groups
Art Education Institutions
Art Galleries and Museums
Art Movements
Exhibitions
Political Campaigns and Groups
Political Slogans
Publications and Media
Illustration Credits
Bibliography
Index
