Artists, Toe the Party Line
Holland Cotter of the New York Times reviews an exhibit of revolutionary art now on at Asia Society:
Under that party’s auspices, a month ago, some 16,000 performers offered an awesomely dressed, drilled and illuminated paean to China’s cultural brilliance, past and present, as a global audience watched the Olympics opening ceremony.
Also under its auspices, beginning nearly half a century ago, uncounted millions of Chinese died from starvation and political violence, both the direct result of a utopian social movement that was intended, among other things, to rekindle China’s luster in the modern world.
And it is in light of such histories, near and far, that the important exhibition “Art and China’s Revolution” at Asia Society poses its own different but perfectly timed post-Olympics question: What came before?
The article also includes a slideshow. Read also “China Won’t Lend Artworks to Asia Society Exhibition.”
