This international conference is held in conjunction with the exhibition Qu Leilei: A Chinese Artist in Britain, opening at the Ashmolean Museum in November 2017, showing the artist’s progression from calligraphic collage to an exploration of new ink language blending lively brushwork with western technique.

The conference Qu Leilei: The Stars and After will discuss different aspects of Qu Leilei’s (b. 1951) painting and explore his story alongside those of fellow avant-garde ‘Stars Group’ members within the wider context of Chinese art history highlighting the impact of living in the West on individual artistic development. The conference will conclude with an in conversation event with Qu Leilei.

Confirmed speakers are Katie Hill (Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London), Franziska Koch (University of Heidelberg), Eric Lefebvre (Cernuschi Museum, Paris), Yan Liu (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford), Alexandra Munroe (Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York). The conversation will be chaired by Shelagh Vainker (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford).


CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

10.30 - 11.00
Registration

11.00 - 11.10
Welcome and introduction
Shelagh Vainker, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

Morning panel: Chinese Artists in the West
Chair: Yan Liu, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

11.10 -11.40
Another stage: Wang Keping and Ma Desheng in France
Eric Lefebvre, Cernuschi Museum, Paris

11.40 -12.10
Chinese Art in Britain. Reflections on three decades of artistic migration in the British-Chinese context
Katie Hill, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London

Coffee and tea break

12.30 - 13.00
A Case Study in Transference: Ai Weiwei, Xu Bing and Zhang Hongtu in New York, circa 1989
Alexandra Munroe, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York

13.00 -13.15 Question time and discussion

Lunch break

Afternoon panel: Artworks by Qu Leilei and the Stars
Chair: Lena Fritsch, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

14.15 – 14.45
Studying photographs of artworks created by the “Stars” in 1979/80 – (de)canonisation at work
Franziska Koch, University of Heidelberg

14.45 – 15.15
Transforming traditions: Qu Leilei and his ink art
Yan Liu, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

15.15 – 15.30 Question time and discussion

Coffee and tea break

15.50 – 16.45
Shelagh Vainker in conversation with Qu Leilei
followed by Q&A

For more information contact: chinesepaintingsprogrammeashmus.ox.ac.uk