In the beginning of 1990, the Republic of China saw the upheaval of a major contemporary movement in Chinese Artistry. Since the Cultural Revolution in China, there existed a beaten path and line for artists. Cynical Realism broke away all the shackles of the collective conservative mindset and concentrated on new themes. The artists took a pot shot on socio-political issues and events from the beginning of revolutionary China until date. The new angle and the point of view for all those events and happenings of Chinese history and present were visited. Contemporary artists in Modern China projected the changes in China, through their paintings, a reflection of ‘grassroots’ pain, uncertainty, and cynicism. Often humorous but always trying to send across a message to the viewer, Cynical Realism really gave a fresh lease of life to Chinese Art, especially painting. From Communism to industrialization and modernization they took it all with equal fervor.

The Artworks

Cynical Realism was in many ways, a strong reflection of the western influence on the Chinese art and culture. Chinese art historians and critics named it “Western Gaze.” It was indeed the influence of westerners. The volume of buyers from west enforced the faith of the artists that their work is in demand. The exhibitions of these paintings were organized on foreign soils. Artist Fang Lijun (born 1963), in October 2006, organized the first solo show in Mainland. His ‘baldheads’ are internationally accepted icons of Contemporary Chinese Art, Cynical Realism to be specific.

The Artists

As always, Cynical Realists are heavily criticized for the western influence in their artworks. These artists however, stay unfazed and are persistent on their efforts. Fang Lijun, Yue Minjun (born 1962), Yang Shaobin (born 1963), Wang Jinsong (born 1963), and Song Yonghong (born 1966) are some of the most famous Cynical Realists. They started their creative journey together, bonded together in bitter poverty, painting, drinking, and cavorting on the fringes of modern Chinese society.

“The art of painting original arrangements composed of elements taken from conceived rather than perceived reality.”-Guillame Apollinaire, 1912

The art movement known as Cubism was founded in 1907 by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque . As an aesthetic and philosophical innovation, this type of painting and sculpture revolutionized modern abstract art for the rest of the 20th century. Paintings in this style are easily recognized by their faceted nudes and still lifes in muted colors.

Cubism has roots in Pointillism, Fauvism, and traditional folk sculpture from Africa. Cubists created an abstract, non-representational method of painting to depict three dimensional objects on a two dimensional plane while preserving multiple perspectives. Europeans were importing African figures to study ethnology, but Picasso and Braque valued the nude figurines and masks from an artistic view. They were drawn to the way masks were abstracted and dramatized faces. Also, Africans used natural materials such as wood that inspired cubists to utilize earth tone colors of browns and greens.

Their paintings are characterized by unspecified edges,fractured geometric forms, and  muted, depthless colors. This method produced forms with a reclassified point of view not reliant on classical theories of perspective, the disappearing horizon, or precise angles of illumination. They sought to incorporate simultaneous angles of a view on the same canvas, and highlight objects as merely their geometric constituents. They made free use of the basic Euclidean geometric solids: pyramid, cube, sphere, cylinder, and cone. The name “cubism” was originally intended as an insult to their “simplistic” depictions.

The Leonardo da Vinci: Hand of the Genius Exhibit will be showing October 6, 2009-February 21, 2010 at the High Museum in Atlanta Ga

Leonardo da Vinci: Hand of the Genius features approximately 50 works, including more than 20 sketches and studies by Leonardo, some of which are on view in the United States for the first time.

Through an examination of the sculpture that Leonardo studied, the drawings he created for his own sculptural projects (the majority of which were never realized) and his interactions with other Renaissance sculptors, the exhibition sheds new light on Leonardo’s seminal role in the development of Renaissance sculpture and the work of artists who followed him.

The exhibition comprises three major areas:

Leonardo, Sculptor

This area features drawings associated with Leonardo’s plans for works in sculpture, including an in-depth examination of his plan to create the world’s largest and most complex statue, commonly referred to as the Sforza Horse. A 26-foot-high re-creation of this monument will be on display in the Sifly Piazza at the Museum.

Leonardo, Student

The second section examines the artist’s wide-ranging interest in sculpture by pairing his own sketches with existing sculptural works by his influential contemporaries, including his mentor Andrea del Verrocchio. Donatello’s famous Bearded Prophet, which has never been seen outside of Florence, Italy, was restored in preparation for Leonardo da Vinci: Hand of the Genius and will be included in this part of the exhibition.

Leonardo, Mentor

The exhibition concludes with Leonardo’s influence on a younger generation of artists including Peter Paul Rubens and Giovan Francesco Rustici. Rustici’s three larger-than-life-size bronze figures that compose John the Baptist Preaching to a Levite and a Pharisee—another outstanding work that has never traveled outside of Florence—will close out the show, examining a friendship and influence shared between the two artists.

Aaron Douglas (1899-1979)

For 27 years, Aaron Douglas, founder of Fisk University’s Art Department, was also head of the Art Department at Fisk University, influencing a great many students, including a number who were to become prominent African American artists. Prior to that, Douglas was considered the leading artist of the Harlem Renaissance, known especially for his striking murals in libraries and other public buildings. These murals usually depicted significant events and people in African American history.His striking illustrations, murals, and paintings of the life and history of people of color depict an emerging black American individuality in a powerfully personal way. Douglas linked black Americans with their African past and proudly showed black contributions to society decades before the dawn of the civil rights movement. While his murals were usually two dimensional and almost geometrical, his portraits, such as this one of “Marian Anderson,” were traditional and classical.