04.09.2009 to 17.01.2010
In 1990 the Museum of Asian Art purchased a series of seven large-scale woodcuts entitled 'Hymn of the Long Rainbow' which depicted the construction of the large bridge over the River Cháng Jiāng (Yangtze) in Nánjīng. The 6772 metre long construction, erected from 1960 to 1968, played a special role in shaping Chinese national identity, as the gigantic feat of engineering was completed without foreign assistance after ties with the Soviet Union were severed.
In keeping with the zeitgeist, the polychromatic prints executed in the style of Socialist Realism, were completed between 1972 and 1974 by a five person collective of Chinese printmakers using the elaborate traditional watercolour woodcut technique. The masterful prints, on display for the first time ever in Berlin, form a valuable document of the art of a period which was almost completely overlooked by Western museums and galleries at the time. The historical perspective of this exhibition is brought into a dialogue with the exhibition by Qiu Zhijie currently on show in the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Tiergarten.
Organizer
