A history of art in 20th century China

Lü Peng

Born in 1956 in Chongqing, Sichuan province, Professor Lü studied in the political education department of Sichuan Normal University, 1977-82 ; was chief editor of the journal Theatre and Film, 1982-85 ; served as deputy-secretary of the Sichuan Dramatists Society, 1986-91 ; was executive editor of the magazine Art and Market, 1990-93 ; artistic director of the Guangzhou Biennale (officially titled the First Guangzhou Biennial Art Fair), 1992 ; and, graduated and was awarded a PhD in critical theory from the China Art Academy, 2004. Lü Peng is associate professor in the department of art history and theory at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, and is the director of the Chengdu Museum of Contemporary Art.

In 2009, he (together with Achille Oliva) curated the invitational exhibition « A Gift to Marco Polo » (Venice Biennale), and in 2010 curated « Reshaping History : China's New Art 2000-2009 » (Beijing). He was also curator of the « Pure Views » series of exhibitions (Louise Blouin Foundation, London, 2010 ; Asia Art Museum, San Francisco, 2011 ; Chengdu Biennale, 2011 ; Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, 2013 ; Santa Monica Art Museum in Barcelona, 2013). At the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013, Lü Peng (together with Achille Oliva) curated the invitational exhibition « Passage to History : 20 Years of La Biennale di Venezia and Chinese Contemporary Art. » He has also curated a number of solo exhibitions for contemporary Chinese artists.

Lü Peng's extensive publications include : Modern European Aesthetics of Painting (Lingnan Fine Arts Press, 1989) ; Modern Painting : New Imagery Language (Shandong Literature and Art Press, 1987) ; Art-Revelation of Man (Lingnan Fine Arts Press, 1990) ; (with Yi Dan) Twentieth-Century Art Culture (Hunan Fine Arts Press, 1990) ; Critique of Modern Art and Culture (Sichuan Fine Arts Press, 1992) ; (with Yi Dan) History of China Modern Art : 1979-1989 (Hunan Fine Arts Press, 1992) ; Art Operation (Chengdu Publishing House, 1994) ; History of China Modern Art : 1990-1999 (Hunan Fine Arts Press, 2000) ; Pure Views-Remote from Streams and Mountain : Chinese Landscape Painting in the 10th-13th Centuries (Chinese People's University Press, 2004) ; A History of Art in Twentieth-Century China (Peking University Press, 2006, revised edition, 2009 ; English edition : Charta, 2010) ; Artists in Art History (Hunan Fine Arts Press, 2008) ; The Story of « Art » in China (Peking University Press, 2010 ; English edition, Charta, 2011) ; (with Yi Dan) A History of Chinese Art since 1979 (China Youth Publishing House, 2011) ; A Chronicle History of Art in China Year by Year : 1900-2010 (China Youth Publishing House, 2012) ; (with Kong Lingwei) Documents of Contemporary Chinese Art in the Twentieth Century : A Sourcebook (China Youth Publishing House, 2013).

Lü Peng's principal published translations are : Herschel B. Chipp, Selected Letters of Paul Cézanne, Vincent Van Gogh, and Paul Gauguin (Sichuan Fine Arts Press, 1986 ; 2nd edition : Guangxi Normal University Press, 2003 ; 3rd edition : Chinese People's University Publishing House, 2004) ; W. Kandinsky, The Spirit in Art (Sichuan Fine Arts Press, 1986) ; and Kenneth Clark, Landscape into Art (Sichuan Fine Arts Press, 1988).