Art for the Millions
24 Sep 2009 - 03 Jan 2010
ART FOR THE MILLIONS
100 Sculptures from the Mao Era
24 September 2009 - 03 January 2010
In conjunction with the Frankfurt Book Fair’s focus on China, the SCHIRN is pleased to present the spectacular sculptural group, “Rent Collection Courtyard”, seen for the first time in Europe. This ensemble of more than one hundred life-size figures is among the most important works in modern Chinese art history and is firmly fixed in China’s collective memory. Created as a site-specific installation in 1965 by teachers and students from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in Chongqing, the figural group soon became a model artwork of the Cultural Revolution. Several copies and variations of the work were made and exhibited throughout China in subsequent years, only one of which survives today. In a dramatic sequence of scenes, which unites traditional Chinese, Soviet, and Western elements, the work depicts the merciless exploitation of the rural population by a rich, pre- Communist era landowner. In recent years, young Chinese artists have repeatedly returned to the work, and it has found its way into current discussions on contemporary art in China.
Curator: Esther Schlicht (Schirn)
100 Sculptures from the Mao Era
24 September 2009 - 03 January 2010
In conjunction with the Frankfurt Book Fair’s focus on China, the SCHIRN is pleased to present the spectacular sculptural group, “Rent Collection Courtyard”, seen for the first time in Europe. This ensemble of more than one hundred life-size figures is among the most important works in modern Chinese art history and is firmly fixed in China’s collective memory. Created as a site-specific installation in 1965 by teachers and students from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute in Chongqing, the figural group soon became a model artwork of the Cultural Revolution. Several copies and variations of the work were made and exhibited throughout China in subsequent years, only one of which survives today. In a dramatic sequence of scenes, which unites traditional Chinese, Soviet, and Western elements, the work depicts the merciless exploitation of the rural population by a rich, pre- Communist era landowner. In recent years, young Chinese artists have repeatedly returned to the work, and it has found its way into current discussions on contemporary art in China.
Curator: Esther Schlicht (Schirn)