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.
Boats on Lake Tai
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Description
Qian Songyan was born in Yixing, Jiangsu province. He studied painting and calligraphy at a private school before attending a further education college. He subsequently taught at several schools, but spent most of his career at Wuxi College of Fine Arts in Jiangsu. Qian is known primarily as a traditionalist landscapist under the influence of the Ming and Qing literati painters. In 1960 he became one of the chief figures in the newly founded Jiangsu Chinese Painting Academy. That Autumn, Qian spent three months travelling across six provinces to develop new ways of depicting landscape, together with Fu Baoshi, the head of the Academy, and other Academy artists including Ya Ming, Song Wenzhi and Wei Zixi. Later these artists are known as the ‘Jiangsu group’ for their extensive travels around the country and their subject of nationalistic celebration.
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Details
- Associated place
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Asia › China › Jiangsu province › Nanjing (place of creation)Asia › China › Jiangsu province › Lake Tai (subject)
- Date
- probably 1960s
- Artist/maker
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Qian Songyan (1899 - 1985) (artist)
- Material and technique
- ink and colour on paper; mounted on layers of paper, framed with ling silk pieces; backed with paper scroll
- Dimensions
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frame 86.5 x 52.5 x 1.5 cm (height x width x depth)
mount 83.6 x 49.3 cm sight size (height x width)
painting 54.3 x 35 cm (height x width)
- Material index
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organic › animal › animal product › silk,
- Technique index
- Object type index
- No. of items
- 1
- Credit line
- Presented in honour of the forthcoming 70th birthdays of Jose Mauricio and Angelita Trinidad Reyes, 1995.
- Accession no.
- EA1995.233
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Further reading
Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 24 September-1 December 1996, Modern Chinese Paintings: The Reyes Collection in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Vainker, Shelagh (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 1996), no. 69 on p. 54, p. 8, illus. p. 54 fig. 69
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
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Modern Chinese Paintings: The Reyes Collection in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Qian Songyan from Yixing in prosperous Jiangsu province was a traditional landscape painter who worked mostly in Nanjing, producing in the 1950s and early 1960s many industrial landscapes regarded as combining romanticism with realism. This quiet scene represents Lake Tai in the Jiangnan (Jiangsu and Zhejiang) region of "fish and rice" referred to the inscription.
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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