Breakthrough: Work by Contemporary Chinese Women Artists

Museum of Art Museum of Art

Exhibition: Breakthrough: Work by Contemporary Chinese Women Artists

Dates:

Location:

Shaw Ruddock Gallery, Boyd Gallery
Breakthrough presents work by eight exemplary contemporary Chinese women artists: Cai Jin, Cao Fei, Chen Qiulin, Hung Liu, Lin Tianmiao, Peng Wei, Xing Danwen, and Yin Xiuzhen.

Selected Works

Peng Wei, "Autumn of Tang Dynasty," 2008. Courtesy of the Artist
Lin Tianmiao, "Hand Signal No. 20," 2005. Copyright of the Artist, Courtesy of Galerie Lelong, New York.
Xing Danwen, "Urban Fiction (Image 10)", 2006, C-print. Courtesy of the artist and Artist Pension Trust Beijing
Chen Qiulin, "Old Archway" (from "Peach Blossom"), 2009, giclee print. Courtesy of the artist and Beam Contemporary Art, New York, London
Hung Liu, "Relic 8," 2004, oil on canvas, Courtesy of Nancy Hoffman Gallery, New York.
Cao Fei, "Deep Breathing" (from "COSPlayers" series), 2004, digital c-print. Courtesy of the artist and Lombard Freid Gallery.
Cai Jin, "Banana Series 310," 2008, oil on silk. Private collection.
Yin Xiuzhen, "Yin Xiuzhen," 1998, set of ten color photographs on paper. Courtesy of the artist and Chambers Fine Art

About

Breakthrough presents work by eight exemplary contemporary Chinese women artists: Cai Jin, Cao Fei, Chen Qiulin, Hung Liu, Lin Tianmiao, Peng Wei, Xing Danwen, and Yin Xiuzhen. This exhibition displays more than two dozen works in a variety of media by artists who have shaped the panorama of contemporary art, both within China and internationally. Much of the work in Breakthrough features the human figure, which provides a central metaphor for the interplay between individual and collective responses to shifts of modernity and globalization and the rising self-awareness among women artists.

The exhibition is organized by Sarah Montross, Andrew W. Mellon Post-Doctoral Curatorial Fellow at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art with Bowdoin faculty Shu-chin Tsui, Associate Professor of Asian Studies and Film Studies and Peggy Wang, Assistant Professor of Art History and Asian Studies. 

Breakthrough is supported by James and Winnie Chan P ’97, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Becker Fund for the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Stevens L. Frost Endowment Fund, Lowell Inness Fund, Karl R. Philbrick Art Museum Fund, and Katharine J. Watson Fund.

Programming

September 27, 2013 | 4:30 p.m | Kresge Auditorium, Visual Arts Center

Lecture, “Women Artists in 20th Century China: A Prehistory of the Contemporary

Julia F. Andrews, Professor of Art History at The Ohio State University, is a renowned scholar of modern Chinese art and was one of the first American art historians to conduct dissertation research in China after the establishment of US-China relations in 1979. This keynote address will open the exhibition, Breakthrough: Work by Contemporary Chinese Women Artistsand the symposium Female Embodiment of the Visual World: Women’s Art in Contemporary China.

September 27, 2013 | 5:30 to 7:00 p.m.

Fall Open House at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art

A festive reception to celebrate the fall exhibitions at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art and to open the symposium Female Embodiment of the Visual World: Women’s Art in Contemporary China.  

September 28, 2013 | 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. | Beam Classroom, Visual Arts Center

Symposium: “Female Embodiment of the Visual World: Women’s Art in Contemporary China.”  Details are available at the Symposium website.

October 9, 2013 | 12:00 noon | Bowdoin College Museum of Art

Gallery Talk: Exhibition organizers Sarah Montross, Andrew W. Mellon postdoctoral curatorial fellow at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art and Shu-chin Tsui, associate professor of Asian Studies and film studies at Bowdoin College, will discuss selected works in the exhibition.

October 20, 2013 | 2:00 p.m. | Bowdoin College Museum of Art

Gallery talk for Museum Members: Sarah Montross, Andrew W. Mellon postdoctoral curatorial fellow at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art and Hongbei Li Bowdoin Class of 2014 will discuss selected works in the exhibition.

November 7, 2013 | 7:00 p.m. | Kresge Auditorium, Visual Arts Center

 Lecture: " Summoning Ghosts"
Hung Liu, Chinese-American artist, is best known for her drip-style paintings that merge archival photographs of Chinese people with traditional symbols. She will speak on her creative practice and personal history. Her work is included in the exhibition Breakthrough: Work by Contemporary Chinese Women Artists.

November 14, 2013 | 7:00 p.m. | Bowdoin College Museum of Art

Nancy Riley, professor of sociology, Lea Zuo, assistant professor of history and Asian studies, and Belinda Kong, associate professor of Asian studies and English, will lead an interdisciplinary discussion in the exhibition galleries