Floating Time : Chinese Prints, 1954-2002

Floating Time: Chinese Prints, 1954–2002 brings together, for the first time, the University of Sydney Art Collection’s ninty-three modern and contemporary Chinese prints. This substantial collection includes national prize-winning prints and works by internationally acclaimed artists, including Zhao Zongzao and Su Xinping. The half-century represented here reveals not only the development of the powerful woodcut tradition under Mao, but also the rapid expansion of printmaking as artists embraced a broader set of themes and more experimental techniques. Such developments reflect the tumultuous periods in which these works were produced and offer a unique and intimate glimpse into the lives of these fifty artists – a vastly different perspective from the familiar forms of contemporary Chinese art seen in better known international art circuits.

Stephen H. Whiteman is lecturer in Asian art in the Department of Art History and associate curator for China projects for the Chau Chak Wing Museum at the University of Sydney. Minerva Inwald is a PhD candidate in the Department of History at the University of Sydney. Bingqing Wei is a PhD candidate in the Department of Art History at the University of Sydney. John Clark is professor emeritus in art history at the University of Sydney.