Contested traditions: contemporary Chinese fiber art and Gu Wenda’s Wisdom Comes from Tranquility (1986)

Abstract

This study examines Gu Wenda’s mixed-media installation, Wisdom Comes from Tranquility (1986), as part of the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and the ‘culture fever’ of the 1980s; in this timeframe and Chinese art-historical framework the artwork exemplifies how seemingly innocuous traditions can, in fact, be politically charged. In Wisdom Comes from Tranquility, a pioneering Chinese installation that combined ink art and fiber art, Gu used his insider’s perspective to appropriate literati art and challenge its historicized value. Considering Gu’s art offers a broader perspective of the contemporary art field in 1980s China, which needs to include fiber art, especially in relation to the under-recognized Bulgarian artist and educator, Maryn Varbanov (1932–1989).

Keywords:

• Contemporary Chinese art
• post-Mao cultural exchanges
• Gu Wenda
• fiber art
• installation art
• Chinese avant-garde art

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my sincerest thanks to my teachers – Julia F. Andrews, Lisa Florman, and Byron Hamann – for their constructive comments and heartwarming support. In 2019, I was fortunate to interview Gu Wenda in Shanghai, and I would like to thank him for sharing his time and insights with me and allowing me to reproduce some of his artworks in this article. I want to thank Boriana Varbanov, who patiently answered my questions regarding Maryn Varbanov’s biography, and Shi Hui, whose knowledge of fiber art is impeccable.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In August of 1986, the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts and the Zhejiang Decorative Carpets Factory co-founded the Institute of Art Tapestry Varbanov.

2 For example, in his latest and very informative book, Total Modernity and the Avant-Garde in Twentieth-Century Chinese Art, art historian Gao Minglu (2011) does not mention Gu Wenda’s connection to Maryn Varbanov and IATV.

3 The term ‘four olds’ was used to describe old customs, old culture, old habits, and old ideas during the Cultural Revolution in which anything that was pre-communist and un-proletarian should be destroyed.

4 It is uncertain whether Zhivkova’s ideas directly impacted on Varbanov or if Varbanov already had parallel ideas to Zhivkova’s. When Varbanov left China in 1958, China was embarking on a similarly culturally nationalistic art project. From 1953-1957, the art academies and art associations not only promoted Soviet-style oil painting, but also revived traditional Chinese painting.

5 In April 1982, Maryn Varbanov was appointed as a full professor at the National Academy of Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria. Thus, from 1983 to 1986, Varbanov had to travel back and forth between Bulgaria and China in order to fulfill his teaching requirements in Sofia.

6 It is plausible that when Varbanov accepted the teaching position at ZAFA, Song Huaigui stayed in Beijing and kept running her restaurant and Cardin’s fashion business.

7 According to curator Hou Hanru, who was then a student at CAFA, Rauschenberg left a note in Varbanov’s exhibit notebook saying that ‘the exhibition of soft sculpture was one of the best he had ever visited.’

8 In the early 1980s, Cai Liang was ZAFA’s acting president, and Varbanov might have known Cai in Beijing since both studied at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in the mid-1950s. The connection shared by Varbanov and administrators at ZAFA might be an important factor in Varbanov’s opportunity to establish his experimental institute in Hangzhou. In addition to the connection shared between Varbanov and ZAFA’s administrators, ZAFA has been known for its good crafts program since the school’s establishment, and Hangzhou, historically, was the center of Chinese silk industry. Hence, these two factors potentially also led Varbanov to decide to establish IATV at ZAFA.

9 Meishu and Meishu yanjiu were launched in 1950 and 1957 respectively; Zhuangshi was launched in 1958.

10 In fact, since the 1980s, this situation has not changed much for Chinese artists working in the area of fiber art under the notion of ‘soft sculpture.’ For example, as listed in the China Artists Association’s official website, the category of ‘sculpture’ requires candidates to work in the material of bronze, iron, and wood to be selected for the Thirteenth National Art Exhibition. If fiber art artists wanted to be chosen, it would be more suitable for them to submit work through the genre of ‘Craft Design.’ Hence, the binary of craft and high art is still rooted in the Chinese official art system. For more detailed criteria, see ‘The Selecting Criteria for the Thirteenth National Art Exhibition,’ China Artists Association, January 30, 2019, https://www.caanet.org.cn/newsdetail.mx?id=6903 (accessed June 25, 2023).

11 Zao Wou-ki’s one-month workshop had twenty-seven students. They were teachers from the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts: Chen Haiyan, Cheng Nanyan, Liang Quan, Teng Ying, Tong Zhenguo, Xu Jiang, Yu Yangkui, and Zhang Xiaoming; students from the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts: Chen Ren, Geng Jianyi, Jiang Yaohui, Li Zheng, Liu Dahong, Ruan Jie, Sun Jinggang, Wang Lihua, Wei Guangqing, and Wei Xiaolin; Wu Xiaochang from the Central Academy of Fine Arts; Wei Lianfu from the Luxun Academy of Fine Arts; Liu Aimin from the Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts; Li Zhengkang from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute; Shang Yang from the Hubei Institute of Fine Arts; Ou Yang and Zeng Songlin from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts; Sun Jianping from the Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts; Li Xiaowei from Fujian Normal University, see ‘Guanyu huihua, Zao Wou-ki xiansheng de shiertiao jianyi,’ Sohu, October 21, 2017, http://www.sohu.com/a/199345792_500673 (accessed June 25, 2023).

12 Lu was a traditionalist painter who started his artistic career during the Republican era (1911-1949). In the early years of the PRC, Lu successfully modified his subject matter and style to make artworks, especially figure paintings, that followed the party’s policy. Despite his efforts, Lu was purged as a Rightist due to his outspokenness in the Anti-Rightist Campaign (1957-1959) and was sent to a labor camp. Abandoning political subject matter after the Campaign, Lu entered the mature stage of his artistic career. For a more thorough analysis on Lu Yanshao’s artworks, see Yin (2019).

13 In the discussion between Gu and the author, the artist commented that he designed the sail-shape tapestries to evoke a sense of Buddhism since Buddhist teachings function as a sailing ship, guiding and helping the sentient beings to overcome sufferings.

14 See Gu (1999) and Zhang (1994).

15 For instance, Xiao Lu (b. 1962) gained national and international fame for her installation, Dialogue (1989), since she took a shot at the opening of the 1989 China/Avant-garde exhibit in Beijing. Based on the artist’s recollection, during her process of making the installation, Varbanov was crucial to her creativity. For a detailed look at Xiao Lu’s discussion, see ‘Xiao Lu,’ Tate, November 12, 2013, https://www.tate.org.uk/research/research-centres/tate-research-centre-asia/women-artists-contemporary-china/xiao-lu (accessed June 25, 2023).

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Keyu Yan

Keyu Yan is a doctoral candidate at the Department of History of Art, The Ohio State University. His research interests include gender, sexuality, and Sino-foreign interactions in modern and contemporary Chinese art as well as the history of Chinese art history. His work has been presented at venues such as the Historical Society for Twentieth-Century China, Mellon Chinese Object Study Workshop, and Midwest Art History Society.