Chinese Prints 1950-2006 in the Ashmolean Museum
A catalogue of the Ashmolean’s collection of Chinese prints from 1950-2006 by Weimin He and Shelagh Vainker (published Oxford, 2007).
Publications online: 129 objects
The Return of the Graduate
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Literature notes
I have depicted mountains, water, yet what I have depicted is in fact myself.
Li Xiu graduated from the Middle School attached to the Yunnan Academy of Fine Arts in 1964. She further studied at the Department of Fine Art of the Guangxi College of Arts and graduated in 1968. Li is one of an extremely small number of Yi minority female printmakers. The rich mystical land and the colourful life of ethnic minority peoples in Yunnan have provided inspiration for her art. Her work The Return of the Graduate has exercised both political and social influence since the 1970s. From the late 1980s, her woodcuts gradually evolved from the representative depiction of figures into the construction of landscapes, and her most recent work expresses a mystical atmosphere. -
Description
The people’s smiling faces show traces of the style usually seen in the Cultural Revolution. However, this print also subtly conveys a new atmosphere, and it quickly became one of the most published prints of the late 1970s across China. This work is often regarded as a depiction of the artist’s own experience. Li Xiu is one of an extremely small number of Yi minority female printmakers.
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Details
- Associated place
- Date
- 1977
- Artist/maker
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Li Xiu (born 1943) (printmaker)
- Material and technique
- multi-block woodcut, printed with oil-based ink
- Dimensions
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sheet 97 x 79.2 cm (height x width)
print 85.7 x 71.6 cm (height x width)
- Material index
- Technique index
- Object type index
- No. of items
- 1
- Credit line
- Purchased, 2007.
- Accession no.
- EA2007.43
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Further reading
Weimin He, and Shelagh Vainker, Chinese Prints 1950-2006 in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2007), no. 47 on p. 56, illus. p. 56
Past Exhibition
see (1)
Location
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- 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
I have depicted mountains, water, yet what I have depicted is in fact myself.
Li Xiu graduated from the Middle School attached to the Yunnan Academy of Fine Arts in 1964. She further studied at the Department of Fine Art of the Guangxi College of Arts and graduated in 1968. Li is one of an extremely small number of Yi minority female printmakers. The rich mystical land and the colourful life of ethnic minority peoples in Yunnan have provided inspiration for her art. Her work The Return of the Graduate has exercised both political and social influence since the 1970s. From the late 1980s, her woodcuts gradually evolved from the representative depiction of figures into the construction of landscapes, and her most recent work expresses a mystical atmosphere.
Notice
Object information may not accurately reflect the actual contents of the original publication, since our online objects contain current information held in our collections database. Click on 'buy this publication' to purchase printed versions of our online publications, where available, or contact the Jameel Study Centre to arrange access to books on our collections that are now out of print.
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