Twentieth-century Chinese Painting

Book excerpt: Richly illustrated with 200 black-and-white and 32 color plates, this stimulating collection surveys the full range of 20th-century Chinese painting, covering all the schools and major artists, both within the People's Republic and elsewhere. Chinese artists now draw their inspirations from an amazing variety of subjects--airplanes and automobiles, Vietnamese refugees and Beijing opera, ancient cave murals and historical figures--and they have developed new techniques and formats that have greatly expanded the range of Chinese paintings. Their work reveals how traditional techniques, when reintroduced into unexpected contexts, can bring about strikingly new results. In light of the tremendous variety of artistic impulses and stylistic approaches that exist in 20th-century Chinese painting, and the rapidity with which these changes have occurred, it is quite remarkable that China's artistic tradition has not only been able to sustain itself, but continues to evolve in new and exciting directions. This beautiful volume captures the vibrancy of a national art that is stunning in its complexity and diversity.