Chinese Drawings from Huxian, Jinshan and Qijiang
February 11 to July 19, 2009
The exhibition, Chinese Drawings from Huxian, Jinshan and Qijiang, celebrated three communities of artists who work collectively to create images of traditional agricultural life in China. The gouache paintings and woodcuts document China as it transitions from a centuries-old agrarian society toward technological modernity. The exhibition drew together works from Huxian County near Xian, home of the terracotta warriors in Shanxi province; from Jinshan County near Shanghai; and from Qijiang County, which is part of Chongqing, capital of Sichuan province.
The exhibition premiered at the Chongqing Art Museum (China), toured to venues in Huxian, Jinshan, and Qijiang, and to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection (Kleinburg) before coming to Guelph. Co-curated by MSAC director and curator Judith Nasby and Feng Bin, Director of the Chongqing Art Museum, the exhibition Chinese Drawings from Huxian, Jinshan & Qijiang was accompanied by a bilingual (Chinese/English) catalogue that was co-published by the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute and the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre. The publication contains an essay by Nasby.
In China, there is a growing interest in these works as they express a universal search for harmony between nature and humanity at a time when millions of young people are leaving their rural ancestral homes to start new lives in cities. The art works depict ancient Chinese agricultural and domestic practices that were passed down from generation to generation. They also acknowledge the importance and nobility of the contemporary farmers who farm steeply terraced slopes using primitive mechanization.
The earliest works were created in the social realist style during the Maoist period. Huxian paintings from this period depict fit and youthful heroic figures engaged in activities that convey educational or moralistic messages. Recent Huxian paintings continue the narrative intent with scenes of harvesting tobacco leaves, winnowing wheat, or weaving. Common themes include the farmer and his domesticated farm
animals and the fecundity of the earth itself.
The majority of the Jinshan artists are female, many of whom also excel at embroidery and weaving. Their works depict the countryside as a well ordered world with houses and abundant crops neatly aligned: a world in sharp contrast to the chaotic Chinese cities. Some Jinshan artists have turned to the modern city as a subject for expressing their desire for community well-being and environmental consciousness. The
painting Green Chemical Factory (pictured) shows a sanitized factory surrounded by manicured gardens and song birds; a plea for pollution-free industry.
In contrast to the Huxian and Jinshan gouache paintings, the Qijiang artists excel at a unique form of coloured wood block painting. This art form originated in the 1970s and is unlike the Western method that uses a different block inked and printed separately for each colour. In the Qijiang method, a single wood block is cut with the outline of an image in relief. The block is inked and printed onto a piece of
paper. The artist then applies gouache to the surface of the woodblock and presses the paper onto the block to pull up the colour. Correct registration is controlled by hinging the paper at one edge of the block. The result gives the appearance of a gouache painting with a linear design throughout. These prints could be described as colour woodblock monoprints since each one is somewhat different. The Qijiang prints are bold and expressionistic in style with exaggerated depictions of the human form, mixed perspectives, and enhanced coloration. In Tricks with the New Couple, a bride and groom kiss an apple while
giggling family members look on: the composition forms a giant double happiness symbol.
The Huxian and Jinshan paintings and Qijiang woodcuts reveal a search for harmony between nature and humanity. Each artistic community has a distinctive and recognizable style because of their shared heritage, stylistic affinity, and communal values. The artists seek to record the traditional rural society in the midst of a fast paced urban lifestyle that increasingly draws people from the countryside to the city. These outstanding art works remind us of our shared agrarian origins and the significance of agriculture in our lives today.
A complementary exhibition titled Art from the Native Soil was shown at the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre from April 1-26, 2009. This exhibition came to Guelph from Wellesley College (Boston). On April 23, the MSAC welcomed six visitors from China including Feng Bin, Luo Zhongli, President of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (Chongqing), and Gui Huanyong, one of the artists from Qijiang County whose work is represented in both of the drawing exhibitions.
Images:
Li Qiulan (Huxian), Travelling to Parents’ Home with their New Baby, 2006
(gouache on paper, detail)
Zhu Yaying (Jinshan), Green Chemical Factory, not dated
(gouache on paper, detail)
Li Chengzhi (Qijiang), Winding Thread, 1990
(coloured woodcut on paper, detail)