Art

In the 1980s and 1990s, London art dealer James Birch built quite a reputation selling works by British surrealists and emerging young British artists (YBAs) from his Chelsea gallery. Then the globally renowned Francis Bacon agreed to let him arrange an exhibition for him in Moscow in 1988. His memoir of that adventure, Bacon in Moscow (Cheerio Publishing, 2022), is both funny and frustrating by turn, and many who did …

A newly revamped British Council programme, “China Now”, stands at the forefront of fostering artistic collaboration between the UK and China, writes Tom Pattinson. After a challenging period for cultural exchange between the two countries, it provides an essential resource for UK arts organisations and artists wanting to work in mainland China. Two decades ago, cultural relations between China and the UK were at an all-time high. At the time, …

The story of the return of two priceless Ming artefacts to the Shanghai Museum demonstrates the challenges – and importance – of getting it right when shipping museum pieces and fine art to China In late 2021, two Ming dynasty terracotta clay figurines returned to China after residing in a private collection in the United States for nearly a century. The figurines were presented to the Shanghai Museum for inclusion …

How can Shanghai’s vibrant art market coexist with state control, and how does a top-down emphasis on art and design support or contradict city’s desire to be an international finance centre? Paul French speaks to author Jenny Lin to find out Jenny Lin lived in Shanghai for many years and is now Associate Professor of Critical Studies at the University of Southern California. Her recent book “Above Sea: Contemporary Art, …

Swire Properties has partnered with the UK designer Paul Cocksedge Studio to tour a public art installation around China – and visitors are going to be delighted. British design firm Paul Cocksedge Studio has joined with Swire Properties to tour a major public artwork called Please Be Seated. The large-scale installation first showed at the Temple Plaza in the Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu and will travel across the country to …

By Clizia Sala In Shanghai, only ten years ago nobody would have wanted to go for a cultural stroll along the Xuhui Waterfront. No travel guide book or city directory mentioned its West Bund Cultural Corridor, simply because it did not exist. Instead, art lovers would rather have headed to M50, a hip, cosy complex of former factories filled with independent art galleries on Moganshan Road. That has now changed. …

By Tom Pattinson One of Britain’s most popular and celebrated artists David Hockney will be exhibiting a first survey exhibition in China in partnership with the Tate Museum, at M Woods gallery in downtown Beijing until January 2020. David Hockney: Works from the Tate Collection will be the launch exhibit at M Woods – Hutong, the second branch of the popular gallery in Beijing. Drawing on many different sources, including …

Heavy investment in high-speed rail has been well publicised but autonomous rail transit will be the future of urban railways, writes Mark Xu Over the past decade, China has been investing heavily in its high-speed rail industry. The CBBC has followed this sector closely, both within China, as well as the ever-growing international market – including countries across Africa. Rail is one of the 10 priority sectors under China’s Made …