Modern China

From the renewers of ink painting via Socialist Realism to one of the largest art scenes in the world.

When the empire fell in 1912, artists debated how Chinese art should be modernised. Qi Baishi renewed ink painting with shrimps, flowers and humour, while Xu Beihong brought European realism into the Chinese tradition.

After 1949 art was to serve the revolution. Socialist Realism, posters and, during the Cultural Revolution of 1966–1976, strictly controlled model images shaped art, and many artists were persecuted.

From the 1980s the country opened up. The Stars group and the '85 New Wave pushed at the boundaries, and from the 1990s Chinese contemporary artists such as Ai Weiwei, Xu Bing and Cai Guo-Qiang became internationally known.