SU Xinping (1960–) Light from above.
1992 lithograph.
Purchased with funds provided by Ms. P. Arnott 1993

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This exhibition reveals the very distinct journey Chinese printmaking has made from the 1930s to today. Comprising of around 60 prints by nearly 40 artists, drawn from the collections of the Art Gallery of NSW and Sydney University, the exhibition will provide an intriguing insight into Chinese cultural history: from the politicized voice of the collective mass ('WE') during socially and politically turbulent times, to the rediscovery and expression of the self ('ME') in the post-cultural revolution era. 

Chinese woodblock prints have over a thousand-year old history, serving in books and illustrations, used in creating posters celebrating festivals, and for warding off bad spirits. In the early 20th century, the impulse toward modernity in art brought into China compelling aspects of European, Japanese and Soviet techniques and styles of prints-making. Although an important thrust of the new woodcut movement was self-expression in a modernist mode, this soon gave way to a pressing matter for the moment - the country' s entry into the turmoil of foreign invasion and civil war. Folk connections and popular appeal made the prints the ideal low-cost medium for communicating social concerns to a broad audience. During the turbulent period of the Cultural Revolution in 60s and 70s, prints again became a propaganda instrument, serving to transmit government dogma. In nearly half a century, Chinese prints had served politics and the masses, which voiced only a 'WE' approach, with self recognition and individual creativity being forcibly oppressed.

When China was reopened in early 80s, an art form so closely connected to a political legacy had to struggle to find a new identity, balancing a rich tradition with the sudden influx of Western influence. Gradually freed from countless political bonds Chinese artists turned to the rediscovery of the outward universe, and brought to light the full nature the notion of individuality. They had tackled a wide range of subject matter, from portraits and landscapes to abstracts, embracing diverse stylistic methods from traditional woodcuts to lithographs and etchings. For Chinese artists, this exploration was a journey of self-discovery. Their mission was to seek a source of identity that was at once Chinese and cosmopolitan, modern and traditional.

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