同类中的佼佼者？

In some cases, the authors reserve their criticism, as in their almost apologetic descriptive account of a famous pastoral ink painting of a young Tibetan herdswoman, Two Lambs (1954) by Zhou Changgu (1929–1986). The work’s didactic function is commented on in a diplomatic way that invokes contemporary rhetoric of building a multi-ethnic nationalism in a manner that may well not convince all readers. No matter, a confluence of historical narratives from both the mainland and Western countries (whose scholarship is considered more historically objective) should be seen as a positive development, or as a transcendence of Cold War prejudices. Even if ideological disputes are temporarily postponed, in-depth critical exegesis will surely follow in decades to come.

How the book covers contemporary artists is of particular interest to readers of this magazine. In discussing both the end of “official art” and post-1989 practices, a predictably familiar selection of artwork is invoked, although the authors are to be applauded for not lionizing the now-infamous gunshot incident at the “China/Avant-Garde” exhibition in 1989. In the book’s last chapter—“The New Millennium, and the Chinese Century?”—the field of vision includes a selection of academic artists whose practices can be read as extensions of those of the literati painters. Xu Bing (b. 1955) is granted multiple illustrations, while current Central Academy of Fine Arts president Pan Gongkai (b. 1947) makes an unexpected cameo. A literati-esque prejudice against the market feels palpable when the authors demonstrate “mainstream” oil painters with an illustration of Wang Yidong’s (b. 1955) photo-realistic, Orientalized, peasant-maiden erotica.

Similarly, the “Biennial Decade” (2000–10) may be acknowledged as a pan-Asian trend, but there is little attempt to reconcile “official art” with the independent artists who have arisen since the establishment of the art market. It seems a silent criticism when a gongbi-style ink painting depicting pretty ballerinas at rest is used to illustrate “official art.” In addition, there is no mention of the culturally indistinct practices that prevail among China’s younger generations. Perhaps this is due to the lack of indigenous scholarship, or the dubious reputations of the art press and of “art criticism” in general, much of which lacks necessary distance or is funded by artists or galleries themselves. But the book’s most striking absence pertains to the Chinese diaspora. The only non-mainland-China narratives included—those of Taiwan and Hong Kong—are marginalized into one brief chapter. We are given no space to imagine a post-nationalist contemporary art. 

As the book’s title and vermillion openers suggest, this is modern art with “Chinese characteristics.” Perhaps in this respect The Art of Modern Chinashould be counted among the somewhat subdued formula of dialectical historical writing that prevails in sinological scholarship today. Happily, this ensures a volume containing the factual components with which to construct a more dynamic role for Chinese artists in both international Modernism and today’s contemporary movements. So, while we may not have quite yet broken free from a somewhat essentialist view of “Chinese art,” we do finally have a road map with which to chart a course into the future.