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

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

Art in China in the 1960s and 1970s

(from 15th Apr 2011 until 15th Jan 2012)

Explore woodblock prints and ink paintings from around the period of the Cultural Revolution in China.

Detail of Dancing: Highland Barley Series No. 2, China, 1961 (Museum no. EA2007.80)
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  • Description

    This print depicts a Tibetan shepherd reading a book, implying that under Communist rule, Tibetan shepherds, who used to be slaves, have become literate. Li worked as a full-time printmaker in the Sichuan Artists’ Association for four decades, and is one of the leading representatives of the Sichuan School of printmaking. He has used various woodcut techniques to portray the lives of Tibetan people and an underlying social comment is often found in his work.

  • Details

    Associated place
    Asia China (place of creation)
    Date
    designed 1962
    printed 1984
    Artist/maker
    Li Huanmin (born 1930) (printmaker)
    Material and technique
    woodcut, printed with oil-based ink
    Dimensions
    sheet 67 x 77 cm (height x width)
    print 55 x 63 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    Technique index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Purchased, 2007.
    Accession no.
    EA2007.35
  • Further reading

    Weimin He, and Shelagh Vainker, Chinese Prints 1950-2006 in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2007), no. 37 on p. 45, illus. p. 45

Past Exhibition

see (1)

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Publications online

  • Chinese Prints 1950-2006 in the Ashmolean Museum by Weimin He and Shelagh Vainker

    Chinese Prints 1950-2006 in the Ashmolean Museum

    I depict people, their noble characters, their rich inner world and their graceful bearing, because people are the motivational force of history.

    Li first studied art in 1947 at the National Peking Art College. Having experienced a time of turmoil, he studied in the special classes for cadres at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing between 1949 and 1951. In 1951 he was appointed art designer in Chongqing for the Xinhua Daily. Following the establishment of the Sichuan Artists’ Association in 1953, Li worked as a full-time printmaker for four decades. He has used various woodcut techniques to portray the lives of Tibetan people; his observation of character is perceptive and there is often an underlying social comment to be found in his work.
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.

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