Zhang Xiaogang

Hanart TZ Gallery, Hong Kong

Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Hanart T Z Gallery and Galerie Enrico Navarra, Eds., Umbilical Cord of History: Paintings by Zhang Xiaogang, Hong Kong 2004, p. 98, illustrated in colour

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate. Condition: This work is in good condition. There is very light wear to the top left and right corner tips. In keeping with the artist’s practice and choice of media, the canvas weave is apparent beneath the pigment in places. There is a light 3 centimetre diagonal rub with associated paint loss to the centre left of the lower edge. There are three faint horizontal creases to the canvas in the lower right quadrant. Inspection under ultraviolet light reveals some areas of fluorescence on the girl’s forehead and on the boy’s neck.
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A dynamically composed painting which examines complex themes with great sensitivity, Bloodline: Sister and Brother forms part of Zhang Xiaogang’s iconic Bloodline series. Painted in 1996, the year after Zhang Xiaogang’s triumphant showing at the Venice Biennale, the current work displays the artist’s superb painterly technique whilst revealing his highly assured distillation of the various socio-cultural aspects that influenced this series. The siblings that form the subject of Bloodline: Sister and Brother appear curiously identical in expression, as though united in their concern to prevent any suggestion of individualism. Born in 1958, Zhang Xiaogang’s youth was dominated by the political and social repression that existed within China during Chairman Mao’s rule: in terms of appearance and attitude, Mao provided the pattern upon which the youth of China were required to willingly model themselves. The girl conforms to these dictates of apparel, wearing her Mao jacket - the standardised uniform of the worker-peasant, male and female alike -  and with neatly braided hair. The collared shirt and tie, so innocuous in any other context, here invites dangerous associations with the attire of students or intellectuals, a group who were most severely persecuted under the rigours of the Cultural Revolution. Bloodline: Sister and Brother thus takes on yet another layer of meaning: despite the carefully blank expressions on each face, the boy’s rejection of the Mao jacket arguably indicates his own, however seemingly insignificant, brave bid for independence.

Whilst the predominately grey palette and delicately shaded background tones of Bloodline: Sister and Brother recall the 1960s Photo Paintings of Gerhard Richter - encountered by Zhang Xiaogang on a trip to Germany in 1992 - it is early examples of black and white photography from the artist's childhood and family that have been a crucial influence on the gestation of the Bloodline series. In 1995, Zhang Xiaogang recalled the importance of old photography on his artistic practice, indicating that such photographs provide a reassuring sense of continuity within today’s chaotic world: “I have no way of saying whether these old photos that have undergone spiritual polishing open a road into the deep recesses of the soul, but they seem to throng my mind with thoughts, and I become unwilling to let them go. Perhaps precisely because in these times old photos do more than fulfil people’s nostalgic yearnings, or perhaps in their visual language that is pure and direct, yet full of illusion, they justify my loathing for enigmatic formalism and exaggerative romanticism” (the artist cited in: Exhibition Catalogue, Hong Kong, Hanart T Z Gallery, Umbilical Cord of History, Paintings by Zhang Xiaogang, 2004, p. 17). Zhang Xiaogang maintains the photographic illusion within Bloodline: Sister and Brother through the inclusion of lighter patches of pigment that resemble the damage sometimes seen on early photos, as well as by the injection of bright red to the tie and pink on the girl’s face, a technique that recalls the practice of hand-colouring black and white photographs.

Bloodline: Sister and Brother, in common with the rest of the Bloodline paintings, examines the importance of family and tradition within a rapidly changing world. The eponymous ‘bloodline,’ a line of vivid red pigment, weaves sinuously between the siblings, indicating the unbreakable bonds forged between family members. The ‘bloodline’ seems to continue beyond the edge of the canvas, linking the pair to their unseen relatives and re-enforcing the strength of hereditary ties amongst generations. Zhang Xiaogang further indicates a form of near-universal humanity within the Bloodline series, declaring that: “We are like a big family. In this family, we must learn to confront all our blood relations: family blood, social blood, cultural blood… The unavoidable collectiveness” (the artist cited in: Caroline Puel, ‘Forget and Remember’ in: Exhibition Catalogue, Paris, Galerie de France, Zhang Xiaogang: Memoire et Oubli, 2003, p. 19). Ultimately, the Bloodline series can be seen as an authoritative exploration of the historical clash between family and nationhood, group and self-identity; themes which are poignantly and powerfully expressed within Bloodline: Sister and Brother.