In 1984 Xu Bing spent three months in Shaanxi province, north China. The area is rich in folk traditions (see LI2007.4), and his Shaanxi sketchbooks include drawings of ancient bronzes and ceramics from the region in addition to the landscapes. The early 1980s were a period when many aspects of Western culture became accessible in China, and Xu Bing began to think about different ideas in his printmaking. Some of that experimentation is evident in the simplified style of the drawing on this page opening.
Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 28 February-19 May 2013, Xu Bing Landscape/Landscript: Nature as Language in the Art of Xu Bing, Shelagh Vainker, ed. (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2013), no. 37 on p. 74, p. 25, illus. pp. 74-75 fig. 37
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