Chinese Ink Paintings: A Selection of Modern Masters

With the establishment of a republic government in 1912, China entered a new historical era and fully opened itself to a globalized world. This exhibition presents highlights from the Chinese modern painting collection with a focus on ink masters from renowned regional schools in the second half of the 20th century, when artists’ trajectories became increasingly cross-cultural. “These paintings illustrate how various subjects and techniques were inherited, interpreted, and refashioned,” says Jenna Erwin, Curatorial Assistant, Chinese Art. “In a fast-growing society where traditional East Asian and newly introduced transnational influences interacted with each other, modern Chinese art as we know it began to thrive and bloom, with artists turning to ink to express themselves, reshape old ideas, and seek new identities.”

Image: Humble Administrator’s Garden in Suzhou, approx. 1980. by Wu Guanzhong (Chinese, 1919-2010). Ink and colors on paper. Asian Art Museum, Gift of the Jack Anderson Collection, 1994.94. Photograph © Asian Art Museum.