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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections
Title: Regeneration
Identifier/Call Number: 2023.PR.14
Physical Description:
18 prints
(1 portfolio)
Date: 2021
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Abstract: The portfolio
Regeneration showcases the work of eighteen contemporary young Chinese printmakers who are experimenting with and revitalizing the traditional
woodblock printmaking process. The prints range from single-block monochrome images to complex multi-block prints using as
many as fifty-three blocks. Some are printed with oil-based ink, while others use the traditional Chinese technique of printing
with water-soluble colors that suggest wash-like effects.
Language of Material: Collection material is in Chinese.
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Library Reproductions and Permissions .
Regeneration, 2021, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2023.PR.14.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/archives2023pr14
The portfolio
Regeneration showcases the work of eighteen contemporary young Chinese printmakers who are experimenting with and revitalizing the traditional
woodblock printmaking process. This process, with its origins dating back to at least the 8th century in China, has continuously
played a vital role in Chinese culture. The prints range from single-block monochrome images to complex multi-block prints
using as many as fifty-three blocks. Some are printed with oil-based ink, while others use the traditional Chinese technique
of printing with water-soluble colors that suggest wash-like effects.
The portfolio was commissioned by the Muban Educational Trust (MET), which is a registered charity dedicated to the research,
collection, and promotion of Chinese woodblock prints and printmaking. The annual MET woodblock printmaking award is for young
printmakers of Chinese nationality who graduated from undergraduate and postgraduate printmaking courses in China.
The printmakers selected for this portfolio, which is the second portfolio commissioned by MET, are: Cao Ou (1987-), Chen
Mingming (1982-), Gu Xiuhua (1988-), Guo Shuang (1990-), He Sanqing (1988-), Li Wenpeng (1991-), Liu Jing (1983-), Liu Keji
(1992-), Lu Yan (1980-), Shao Weifeng (1990-), Shi Lei (1982-), Wu Jiantang (1986-), Xu Na (1986-), Xu Zhonghong (1991-),
Yao Yuanlu (1987-), Zhang Lingrui (1992-), Zhang Qiuyuan (1993-), and Zuo Wei (1987-).
To address the topic of the portfolio, "regeneration," the printmakers have variously reflected on human life cycles, the
extinction of animal species, the metamorphosis of butterflies, the COVID-19 pandemic, the place of humankind within the cosmos,
and Buddhism. While the work of Zhang Qiuyuan is abstract, many of the other compositions are landscapes that include traditional
motifs such as mountains, forests, cranes, and butterflies. The compositions of Xu Zhonghong and Liu Jing focus with nearly
photographic realism on large-scale images, respectively a Covid surgical mask and human figures. Li Wenpeng has cut directly
into the woodblock to create minute intricate landscape scenes, while most of the printmakers made preparatory drawings for
their compositions.
The portfolio was issued in an edition of 60.
Each sheet is signed, titled in Chinese, dated ("2021"), and numbered ("14/60") in pencil by the artist in the lower margin.
For statements from the artists and from the judges who selected the printmakers, see:
Regeneration: The Making of the Prints: A Companion Volume to a Portfolio of 18 Contemporary Chinese Prints... (London : Muban Educational Trust, 2022).
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Acquired with support from MUFG N.A. (Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. U.S. Operations). Acquired in 2023.
Karen Meyer-Roux cataloged the portfolio in August 2023.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Landscapes -- China
Life cycle, Human
Prints, Chinese -- 21st century
Prints (visual works) -- China -- 21st century.
Relief prints -- China -- 21st century.
Woodcuts (prints) -- China -- 21st century.
Wood engravings (prints) -- China -- 21st century.
Color prints (prints) -- China -- 21st century.