In 1979, Huang Rui produced a series of paintings at the Old Summer Palace, Yuanmingyuan, in Beijing. The series of three paintings represent the ruins of the ‘Western Mansions’ (xiyang lou) at the Old Summer Palace, which were commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor (1711-1799) and largely designed by the Italian Jesuit priest Guiseppe Castiglione (1688-1766) during his time in China, from 1715 to his death in 1766. In 1860 the Old Summer Palace was looted and burned by joint British and French forces, leaving the palace in ruins. In his painting Huang Rui moves from the actual structure of the ruins in the first painting, Yuanmingyuan: Last Testament, to their casting of shadows in the second painting, Yuanmingyuan: Rebirth, to finally their representation as a hand coming out of the ground grasping the moon in Yuanmingyuan: Funeral. These paintings represent a role for the future, looking at the rebirth of China after the Cultural Revolution. In the second painting, Yuanmingyuan: Rebirth, the cast shadows form what looks like wrapped figures and human sculptures, which will become important references for performance artists working in the second half of the 1980s. On September 27, 1979, the Yuanmingyuan paintings were featured in the First Stars Exhibition at the gates outside the China Art Gallery.
exert from Huang Rui website Back |
Huang Rui, Yuanmingyuan N. 1-1 and N. 1-2, 1979, Pencil on paper , 2 drawings, each 27 x 39 cm
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