Getty Museum acquires Chinese contemporary photographs by Wang Qingsong, Hai Bo

CHINESE PHOTOGRAPHY MUSEUM ACQUISITIONS

The Getty Museum, ‘known for the depth of its historical holdings of American and European photograhs’ has made its first major acquisition of Chinese contemporary photography: 9 pieces by artists Wang Qingsong and Hai Bo.

The J. Paul Getty Museum is the latest institution to add works by Chinese contemporary artists to its holdings. Others include New York’s Museum of Modern Art, which recently acquired 28 works for its photography collection, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and the Brooklyn Museum, as well as global institutions such as the Tate and the Pompidou Center.

“The acquisition of these works affirms an important new direction for the Getty,” says noted photography dealer and collector Daniel Wolf, who helped establish the museum’s collection in the 1980s. “It reflects an interest in expanding the collection in this category. The Getty is a global institution, and this collecting strategy will help broaden the international scope of its contemporary holdings.”

Wang Qingsong, Vagabond, 2004

The artworks were acquired from AW Asia, a private organization in New York that promotes the field of Chinese contemporary art.

Since the early 1990s, Wang Qingsong and Hai Bo have been at the forefront of the photography movement that, over the past thirty years, has reinvigorated it as an art form in China. Before 1979, official publications and exhibitions of photography served government propagandist purposes, while the work of avant-garde artists remained underground.

Source: Artdaily

Related links: Getty Museum, AWAsia Wangqingsong website Hai Bo images

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