About the author: Caterina is an art historian and writer living in Edinburgh, UK. She holds a PhD in art history from the University of Glasgow and a Master in Chinese Studies from the University of Edinburgh. She has been studying Chinese art, culture, and history for twenty years. More about Caterina.
China’s Art Market in 2023
According to the ArtBasel and UBS Global Art Market Report, in 2023 the Chinese art market (Mainland China & Hong Kong) became the second largest market globally. The United States remained the leading market, accounting for 42% of art sales worldwide. In China, the early part of 2023 saw a post-lockdown increase in sales by 9% (est. $12.2 billion), as well as an increase in auction sales by 14% year-on-year to $7.9 billion.
Chinese calligraphy and painting accounted for 54% of total sales by value, while the fastest growing sector was letters and manuscripts with an increase of 113% year-on-year (data from Art Basel). These numbers clearly indicate that the art market in China, including the sale of Chinese art, is valued and valuable.
The Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads sculptures, 2015, Ai Weiwei, Princeton University's Scudder Plaza. © EQRoy/Shutterstock
The Global Emergence of Chinese Art
The availability of Chinese art and the interest in it on the international markets is a relatively recent phenomenon. It wasn’t until the late 1970s, after the death of the leader of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) Mao Zedong in 1976, that the country began to open up to the world. Mao’s death marked the end of the Cultural Revolution (1965-76), one of the most turbulent decades in Chinese modernity, and China’s isolation from international capitalism.
In the late 1970s, the government lifted the ban on publications of art magazines and journals. For the first time since the end of the Cultural Revolution, Western art made its appearance on the pages of Chinese magazines. The 1980s saw a wave of optimism and experimentation. Famous artists who began their artistic pursuits during those years include Ai Weiwei (b. 1957), Yue Minjun (b. 1962) and Wang Guangyi (b. 1957). The enthusiasm that characterised the early 1980s was then quashed by the events that took place in Tiananmen Square in Beijing on June 4th, 1989.
The emergence of an internationalised infrastructure for making, selling, and showing contemporary art happened in the 1990s. Through international and local galleries, as well as auction houses, Chinese artists had the opportunity to showcase their work on the global art market. One of the most famous art centres that was born during this time is the 798 Art Zone located in a decommissioned factory in the Chaoyang district in Beijing. It was opened in 1995 and quickly became known for its contemporary Chinese art. In 2007, UCCA (Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art) was the first international institution to open a space in 798. Since then, it has hosted more than 180 exhibitions showcasing local and global artists, such as Maurizio Cattelan (b. 1960), Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Liu Xiaodong (b. 1963), Yan Pei-Ming (b. 1960), and Zhang Wang (b. 1962).
Similarly, Pace Gallery was the first Manhattan gallery to open in 798, showing a mix of American, Asian, and European artists. There are now plenty of galleries that support and share the work of Chinese artists: auction houses such as Sotheby’s and Christie’s regularly host events dedicated to Asian art where some pieces are sold for thousands of dollars.
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The history of Chinese art spans thousands of years. Most people around the world would know what a Ming vase is because of how culturally ubiquitous it has become (think of the cover of Herge’s The Adventure of Tin Tin: The Blue Lotus). Why are some of these art pieces so famous and valuable? And what has their impact been on contemporary artists?
The Legacy of Chinese Painting
Chinese traditional painting, also known as guohua, is created with brush and ink on paper or silk. Landscape paintings were regarded as the highest form of art, a stark difference from the Western art, where landscape gained recognition as a respectable subject only in the 17th century. The three main genres of Chinese paintings are landscapes, figures, and wildlife (specifically birds and flowers). The traditional orientation of the scroll was predominantly vertical, and the additions of calligraphy and seals – a distinctive feature of Chinese collecting and connoisseurship – were frequent. The lack of perspective and the purposely created blank spaces allowed the viewers to travel with their eyes within the painting.
During the Maoist period (1949-76), art was meant to inspire the emulation of socialist heroes, celebrate the achievement of the Party, and represent revolutionary themes. In this context, traditional Chinese landscapes were labelled ‘bourgeois’ and those artists who defied the system had to resort to clandestine exhibitions and live under the threat of imprisonment. For instance, Zhao Wenliang (1937-2019) worked outside of the Party’s artistic guidelines. During the 1960s, Zhao produced a variety of impressionistic paintings and in 1973 he became the leader of the Wuming Huahui (No Name Group). The group’s exhibitions had to be held in private apartments as they included genres that were discouraged by the Party, such as still lifes, portraits, and landscapes. During the second half of the 1970s, the Beijing-born Kang Wanhua (b. 1944) created Made in Prison, a series of little oil pastel drawings made during his imprisonment between 1975-78 (where he ended up for having openly criticised Mao Zedong).
Modern and contemporary artists continue to create landscapes, an indication that traditional subjects and techniques still hold meaning. Don Hong-oai (1929-2004), a pictorialist photographer born in Canton, became famous for his use of negative layering. His images were created by layering three negatives (background, middle-ground, and foreground) of different subjects to create serene landscapes, very much connected to traditional Chinese paintings. In turn, the avant-garde artist Wei Dong (b. 1968) utilised traditional landscape painting techniques paired with Western practices and Renaissance figures. The tranquil landscapes, a direct reference to 10th century Chinese mountain-and-water painters, stood in stark contrast to the hyper-realistic figures that appear in Wei’s work.
Ceramics in Chinese Art
Ceramics are another compelling form of Chinese art. Porcelain was invented in China (hence the word china) and the first pottery items can be traced back to the Palaeolithic era. The development of a structured way to produce Chinese ceramics was introduced during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) by the Yongle emperor. During his reign, the city of Jingdezhen in Jiangxi became the only area allowed to create the ceramics destined to the imperial court. The translucence, bright colours, and quality of Chinese ceramics became coveted all around the world. The characteristic blue and white glaze of the pieces produced in Jingdezhen became the trademark of Ming porcelains.
The first major sale of Chinese pottery in Europe happened in 1600 and 1603 in Amsterdam as a consequence of the maritime trade that had begun a century before. Chinese ceramics became so popular that they appeared in Dutch still lifes and contributed to the development of Chinoiserie, the style that imitates Chinese motifs and subjects in Western art, architecture, and fashion.
Among the many artists who worked with ceramics in the modern and contemporary eras, Ai Weiwei is arguably the first that comes to mind. In 1995, Ai created one of his most famous pieces, Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn. The series of photographs shows Ai dropping a 2,000 year old vase made during the Han dynasty. The Han are commonly seen as the golden age of China, an era that saw technological and scientific sophistication, as well as the emergence of Confucianism as the basis for state and social life. By deliberately breaking the vase, Ai was not just throwing away centuries of culture, but catching our attention towards frequently overlooked objects. “People always ask me: how could you drop it?” Ai noted during an interview with Tiffany Wai-Ying Beres “I say it’s a kind of love. At least there is a kind of attention to that piece [because of the photograph].”
More recently, in 2024 at the Art Basel gallery in Hong Kong, the Taiwanese multidisciplinary artist, Charwei Tsai (b. 1980), presented a collection of ceramics upon which she had inscribed a quote from the Heart Sutra by the Zen master Shunryu Suzuki (1905-1971).
Between Tradition and Contemporary Art
As the examples above show, traditional painting and ceramics still influence present-day artists within and outwith mainland China. The influence that the art of the past exerts on contemporary artists is, of course, not exclusive to the Chinese environment. After all, artists do not live or create in isolation: different genres and techniques feed on and affect each other. Being able to spot the overlaps, the inspiration, and the innovation behind an artist’s work can help us further appreciate it. To know where an artist comes from, not simply geographically, but artistically and historically, is one of the elements that allow collectors to create a cohesive and innovative art selection. Furthermore, being aware of the evolution of an artist’s work can contribute to the long-term vision and investment decisions of a collector.