Chasing the Sun

Zhao Yannian, artist

1924–2014

Chasing the Sun, 1992

Portfolio/Series title: Myth Series

Where object was made: China

Material/technique: woodcut

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 400 x 560 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 472 x 612 mm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 15 3/4 x 22 1/16 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 18 9/16 x 24 1/8 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 24 x 32 in

Credit line: Museum purchase: R. Charles and Mary Margaret Clevenger Fund

Accession number: 2001.0082

Not on display

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Label texts

Archive Label 2003:
In his most recent work, such as the Myth Series, Zhao has departed from his earlier focus on social criticism to explore wider philosophical issues. In Chasing the Sun he affirms his belief in the overpowering regenerative force of nature.

Exhibition Label:
"Selections for the Summer," Jun-2006, Mary Dusenbury
In the 20th century, China experienced revolutionary zeal, brutal violence, the affirmation and rejection of tradition, fear, hope, despair, and dizzying radical changes. The four artists whose work is shown here interpreted the life of their times in very different ways: Ding Cong’s handscroll is a biting political satire; Zhao Yannian, another daring social critic, used his rough-carved woodblock prints to aid and celebrate the revolutionary cause; Zhao Shao-ang’s ink paintings evoke the past and the timeless beauty of nature and at first seem unrelated to the realities of contemporary Chinese life; Xu Bing plays with Chinese ideographs to comment on meaning and the distortion of meaning.

In the late 1990s, Zhao departed from his earlier focus on social criticism to explore wider philosophical themes. In Chasing the Sun he affirms his belief in the overpowering regenerative force of nature.