Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Painting Into Being: Underground Art During China's Cultural Revolution

Painting Into Being: Underground Art During China's Cultural Revolution

Wang, Aihe

Hardcover

Series: Harvard East Asian Monographs

Art HistoryChinese HistoryChinese Art

ISBN10: 0674303474
ISBN13: 9780674303478
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: Apr 28 2026
Pages: 420
Weight: 2.42
Height: 1.03 Width: 7.10 Depth: 10.25
Language: English

Amid the political turmoil of China's Cultural Revolution, a small group of painters in Beijing defied state control, creating art in secrecy that challenged the ideological constraints of their time. Painting into Being is the first in-depth study of underground art during this period, focusing on the Wuming (No Name) Painting Group, active from 1972 to 1981, in conjunction with other clandestine cultural movements.

Aihe Wang brings a singular perspective to this history as both a former Wuming artist and a Harvard-trained historian and anthropologist. Analyzing nearly one hundred oil paintings against sophisticated theoretical frameworks and intricate historical narratives, she examines how underground artists cultivated individual agency, forged collective solidarity, and subtly resisted authoritarianism. This book also illustrates how Wuming aesthetically engaged with both modern Western art and traditional Chinese art in creating a distinct form of Chinese modernism.

Interweaving history, theory, and lived experience, Painting into Being expands our understanding of modern Chinese history, global modernism, and the power of creative expression within repressive regimes.

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