Lü Peng

b. 1956, Chongqing, Sichuan

Art historian, critic

A prolific writer, Lü made his mark in the contemporary art world with the publication of The History of Modern Chinese Art, 1979 to 1989 (Zhongguo xiandai yishushi 1979–1989, 1992), co-written with Yi Dan. This work was premised on redefining ‘tradition’ as the struggle against the fait accompli. As such, it championed avant-garde experiments as the only valid choice for Chinese artists. Lü’s career had been unusual: he had graduated in 1981 in political science and law at Sichuan Normal University and only later became involved in art. His ideas were dominated by Western modernism and art theory, which he helped introduce to the Chinese public through numerous essays and translations, and which were mostly elaborated in his Modern Art and the Critique of Culture (Xiandai yishu yü wenhua pipan, 1992).

In the 1990s, he shifted his effort to the building of a Chinese art market. In 1991 he founded the magazine Art and Market (Yishu yü shichang), which aimed to provide collectors with data on artists, including the analysis of art-related investments. In 1992 he organized the ‘First 1990s Art Biennale’ in Guangzhou.

This was created as a conscious competitor to the Chinese Artists’ Association’s National Art Exhibitions and was to be financed by investors rather than official patronage. It would be regulated by legal documents rather than official bureaucracy and a board of art critics would act as selection committee, instead of the politically nominated board typical of the Artists’ Association’s exhibitions. But Lü also continued to write extensively in the 1990s. In 2002, he again beat out other critics in the race to sum up the decade with the publication of 1990s Art China 1990–1999 (Zhongguo dangdai yishushi).

Further reading

Lü, Peng (1992). Zhongguo xiandai yishushi [A History of Modern Art in China]. Changsha: Hunan meishu chubanshe.

——(2000). Zhongguo dangdai yishushi, 1990–1999/ 1990s Art China. Changsha: Hunan meishu chubanshe.

Qian, Zhijian (2000). ‘The Changing Role of Critics in the 1990s’. In John Clark (ed.). Chinese Art at the End of the Millennium. Hong Kong: New Art Media, 25–8.

EDUARDO WELSH