Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Xu Bing: Landscape Landscript

(from 28th Feb until 19th May 2013)

Explore the innovative landscape work of one of China’s most renowned contemporary artists.

Detail of Family Plots, by Xu Bing, Beijing, 1988 (Museum no. LI2007.61)
  • This is a visual browsing tool that maps objects in this publication, gallery or collection trail by date of creation onto a timeline. 
  • The circular markers indicate where objects are on the timeline.
    • The size of the markers indicates the relative number of objects at that point on the timeline.
    • Hover over a marker to find out which objects are represented at that point in time.
  • To expand, collapse or hide the timeline, click these symbols found at the top right of the timeline.
  • 1740
  • 1760
  • 1780
  • 1800
  • 1820
  • 1840
  • 1860
  • 1880
  • 1900
  • 1920
  • 1940
  • 1960
  • 1980
  • 2000
  • 2020
  • All Objects

Landscapes

Xu Bing entered the printmaking department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, in 1977. He had spent the previous three years living and working in a rural people’s commune beyond the Great Wall. The early drawings, woodcuts and etchings shown here depict real places and reflect the Soviet influence in the art instruction he had received.

In the early 1980s, as a teacher at the Central Academy, Xu Bing travelled widely throughout China and continually sketched the landscapes around him. At this period China was opening up to the outside world following the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Western art, literature and ideas became readily accessible. Already interested in the possibilities of repetition in printmaking, Xu Bing encountered the works of Andy Warhol and began experimenting in his own art. These works explore the medium of print, yet retain subjects taken from landscape and nature.

Early drawings

Briquet stove (LI2007.13) Briquet stove (LI2007.13)   Peking University (LI2007.12) Peking University (LI2007.12)   The Friendship Hotel, Beijing (LI2007.14) The Friendship Hotel, Beijing (LI2007.14)
Farm buildings in Shouliang Gou village (LI2007.15) Farm buildings in Shouliang Gou village (LI2007.15)   Northern Hebei landscape (LI2007.16) Northern Hebei landscape (LI2007.16)   Fengtai train junction, Beijing (LI2007.17) Fengtai train junction, Beijing (LI2007.17)
Fengtai, Beijing (LI2007.18) Fengtai, Beijing (LI2007.18)   Forestry industry in Changbai (LI2007.19) Forestry industry in Changbai (LI2007.19)   Forestry industry in Changbai (LI2007.20) Forestry industry in Changbai (LI2007.20)
Terraced hillside in Hebei (LI2007.21) Terraced hillside in Hebei (LI2007.21)   Taihang Mountains (LI2007.22) Taihang Mountains (LI2007.22)    Stable and rural dwelling in Handan (LI2007.23) Stable and rural dwelling in Handan (LI2007.23)
Cave dwelling in Handan (LI2007.24) Cave dwelling in Handan (LI2007.24)   Kitchen in Handan (LI2007.25) Kitchen in Handan (LI2007.25)   Buddhist caves at Dunhuang (LI2007.26) Buddhist caves at Dunhuang (LI2007.26)

French Drawings

In March 1978 the National Gallery of China held an exhibition of French 19th-century rural landscape paintings. The exhibition was organised by the French Ministry of Culture and included works by Millet, Courbet, Corot, Pissarro and others. Xu Bing was then a student at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, very close to the National Gallery, and the exhibition made a deep impression on him. The rural landscapes and farm scenes depicted were reminiscent of his recent experience between 1974 and 1977 as an urban youth sent to the countryside for re-education. The style of the paintings was also familiar. Art instruction in China at that time followed a Soviet model, which was itself based on French Realism.

Exhibition of French 19th Century Rural Landscape Paintings (LI2008.1.a) Exhibition of French 19th Century Rural Landscape Paintings (LI2008.1.a)   Booklet for Exhibition of French 19th Century Rural Landscape Paintings (LI2008.1.b) Booklet for Exhibition of French 19th Century Rural Landscape Paintings (LI2008.1.b)   28 colour plates from Exhibition of French 19th Century Rural Landscape Paintings (LI2008.1.c) 28 colour plates from Exhibition of French 19th Century Rural Landscape Paintings (LI2008.1.c)

These drawings from the Ashmolean collection were selected for the present exhibition in conjunction with Xu Bing.

Man ploughing and another sowing (WA1951.22) Man ploughing and another sowing (WA1951.22)   Path through woods to a thatched house (WA1954.70.51) Path through woods to a thatched house (WA1954.70.51)   View of farm buildings across a field (WA1951.25) View of farm buildings across a field (WA1951.25)
Hillside with rocks and a clump of trees (WA1954.70.33) Hillside with rocks and a clump of trees (WA1954.70.33)   Three cottages with a background of trees (WA1961.53.8) Three cottages with a background of trees (WA1961.53.8)   Nanterre (WA1952.6.82) Nanterre (WA1952.6.82)
Interior with a barrel and pitcher and a woman working (WA1996.422) Interior with a barrel and pitcher and a woman working (WA1996.422)   View of Pont-en-Royans (WA1952.57) View of Pont-en-Royans (WA1952.57)   Corner of a kitchen press with shelves (WA1974.103) Corner of a kitchen press with shelves (WA1974.103)
Farmyard with a tree and an outhouse (WA1950.14) Farmyard with a tree and an outhouse (WA1950.14)   Cows at a watering place (WA1964.9.16) Cows at a watering place (WA1964.9.16)   View of a group of buildings with a tower across wasteland (WA1950.178.45) View of a group of buildings with a tower across wasteland (WA1950.178.45)

Click here to find out about the influence of socialism on the artist and his work.

Click here to find out about the artist Xu Bing’s connection with the countryside.

Click here to listen to the curator talking about the impact of French landscape painting on the artist.

Sketches and Sketchbooks

The sketches displayed here were drawn in the early 1980s, while Xu Bing was a student and then instructor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts. It was a period when he travelled widely across the country, particularly throughout north China. He sketched constantly. Several of the compositions can be seen in the small woodcut prints (in the next section). Others show methods of representing details of the landscape using simple, repeated forms. This use of his own conventions for plants, stones and other landscape elements anticipates the Repetitions series and Landscripts.

Apricot trees on a hillside in Hebei province (LI2007.27) Apricot trees on a hillside in Hebei province (LI2007.27)   Apricot tree on a hillside in Hebei province (LI2007.28) Apricot tree on a hillside in Hebei province (LI2007.28)   Sketchbook of southern Hebei landscapes (LI2007.29) Sketchbook of southern Hebei landscapes (LI2007.29)
Sketchbook of southern Gansu landscapes (LI2007.30) Sketchbook of southern Gansu landscapes (LI2007.30)   Sketchbook of landscapes from north west China (LI2007.32) Sketchbook of landscapes from north west China (LI2007.32)   Sketchbook of landscapes from southern China (LI2007.34) Sketchbook of landscapes from southern China (LI2007.34)
Sketchbook of Qinghai province landscapes (LI2007.33.a) Sketchbook of Qinghai province landscapes (LI2007.33.a)   Sketchbook of Qinghai province landscapes (LI2007.33.b) Sketchbook of Qinghai province landscapes (LI2007.33.b)   Sketchbook of Shaanxi landscapes (LI2007.35) Sketchbook of Shaanxi landscapes (LI2007.35)
Three sketches of crops (LI2007.36) Three sketches of crops (LI2007.36)   Three sketches of mountain sheep (LI2007.45) Three sketches of mountain sheep (LI2007.45)   Yellow River at Longyang Gorge (LI2007.46) Yellow River at Longyang Gorge (LI2007.46)

Click here to find out about more about the artist’s sketchbooks while travelling.

Click here to see the artist describing the importance of his travels through China on his landscape work.

Small woodcuts

These woodcuts were produced while Xu Bing was a student at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. Many depict interactions with nature, and capture the simplicity of rural life. The prints also show some of Xu Bing’s explorations of the print medium and his use of Chinese character forms in the compositions.

Fragrant Grasses (LI2007.1) Fragrant Grasses (LI2007.1)   Field (LI2007.9) Field (LI2007.9)   Warmth (LI2007.10) Warmth (LI2007.10)
Stone Roller (LI2007.6) Stone Roller (LI2007.6)   Threshing Ground (LI2007.2) Threshing Ground (LI2007.2)   Field's Edge (LI2007.3) Field's Edge (LI2007.3)
Forestry Scene (LI2007.5) Forestry Scene (LI2007.5)   Garden Patch (LI2007.7) Garden Patch (LI2007.7)   Backyard (LI2007.8) Backyard (LI2007.8)   Winding Mountain Road (LI2007.11) Winding Mountain Road (LI2007.11)

These prints all depict places in different parts of China that appear in drawings and sketches elsewhere in this gallery.

A Home in the Northwest (LI2007.4) A Home in the Northwest (LI2007.4)   Beyond the Great Wall (LI2007.47) Beyond the Great Wall (LI2007.47)   Houhai (LI2007.48) Houhai (LI2007.48)   Late Autumn Hillside (LI2007.49) Late Autumn Hillside (LI2007.49)

Click here to listen to the curator talking about the charm of Xu Bing’s woodcut prints.

Landscape Prints

Mountain Rhythm (LI2007.52) Mountain Rhythm (LI2007.52)   Mountain Plateau (LI2007.53) Mountain Plateau (LI2007.53)   Mountain Place (LI2007.50) Mountain Place (LI2007.50)   A Seed (LI2007.51) A Seed (LI2007.51)

Repetitions series

These prints belong to the multi-part work Five Series of Repetitions. A complete scroll from the series is also displayed here. Though many of the motifs in the prints, and particularly those relating to landscape, appear in Xu Bing’s early drawings and prints their use here is quite different.

Xu Bing has said that the Five Series of Repetitions include much of the groundwork for his Tianshu (Book from the Sky, 1987–91), which he had begun working on at the time some of these individual prints were produced. They mark his move away from the socialist subjects and concerns of his early career, and his move into the world of contemporary art.

Big River (LI2007.54) Big River (LI2007.54)   Black Pond (LI2007.55) Black Pond (LI2007.55)   Moving Cloud (LI2007.56) Moving Cloud (LI2007.56)
Field (LI2007.57) Field (LI2007.57)   Haystack Reflection (LI2007.58) Haystack Reflection (LI2007.58)   Black Tadpoles (LI2007.59) Black Tadpoles (LI2007.59)
Life Pond (LI2007.60) Life Pond (LI2007.60)   Family Plots (LI2007.61) Family Plots (LI2007.61)   Mountain Place (LI2007.62) Mountain Place (LI2007.62)
Series of Repetitions: Ziliudi (LI2007.63) Series of Repetitions: Ziliudi (LI2007.63)

Click here to listen to the curator talking about the influence of 1980’s Western art on the artist.

Notice

Objects from past exhibitions may have now returned to our stores or a lender. Click into an individual object record to confirm whether or not an object is currently on display. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis, so please contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular Eastern Art object.

© 2013 University of Oxford - Ashmolean Museum