News Releases -- Three Generations of Chinese ModernismApril 3rd, 1998 All in a Family- Three Generations of Chinese ModernismVancouver, B.C. – In collaboration with the city-wide project titled Jiang Nan- Modern & Contemporary Chinese Art from the South of the Yangzi River, Art Beatus Gallery and the Annie Wong Art Foundation are pleased to present Three Generations of Chinese Modernism from April 22 to May 30, in order to coincide with the International Symposium on Modern & contemporary art from the Jiangnan region to be held at the Emily Carr College of Art & design on April 24 & 25. Three Generations of Chinese Modernism looks closely at the lives of 3 women artists across 3 generations in China that covers 60 years of turbulent history. Artists Qiu Ti, Pang Tao & Lin Yan, with same family lineage, faced much hardship in different times in order to pursue their art practices. Their artworks are testaments to a past largely ignored by Modern Chinese art history. Qiu Ti, one of the two female painters in the short lived Storm Society at Shanghai in 1930’s. Her bold still life paintings on view at Art Beatus challenged conventional art practice at the time. Qiu Ti together with the Storm Society was the pioneering force to introduce the first wave of western modernism to China and had forever altered the course of modern Chinese art history. Qiu Ti died weeks after the persecution of her husband by the anti rightist movement in 1958. Pang Tao, as the daughter of the hated Qiu Ti, was exposed to modern art throughout her childhood. Due to Pang Tao’s background in 1957, at the age of 23 Pang was sent for reeducation in countryside and was subjected to produce official paintings. In 1980’s, Pang Tao had the rare opportunity to spend 1 year in Paris to absorb new western influence. Pang Tao, bearing the avant-garde vision of her mother, was the first professor to shift from realistic to semi abstract at the prominent Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing. The inspiration of bronze series on view is recent works of intriguing semi abstract representation of historical bronze vessels. Lin Yan, the daughter of Pang Tao, granddaughter of Qiu Ti, also studied art at the Central Academy. She was more fortunate than her mother and grandmother to pursue her art study at the Ecole Des Beaux-Art in Paris in 1985. Her current works are thoughtful resolutions of the deprived history of her grandmother. The use of blackness in her installation titled Grandma’s Garden leaves one a sense of grief and distance. Art Beatus, with galleries in Vancouver, Canada and Hong Kong, focuses on international contemporary Chinese art. The Vancouver gallery is on the upper plaza at 888 Nelson Street. For further information, please contact: |