Yin Ji’nan

b. 1958

Art historian, critic and curator

Yin Ji’nan graduated from the History Department of Beijing University with a BA in Archaeology in 1982. In 1987, he earned an MA from the Art History Department at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied Classical Painting and Calligraphy Authentication. In 1991, he curated the exhibition ‘New Generation’ at the China History Museum. In 1993, he was engaged by the National Relics Bureau to train graduate students in the field of Chinese painting and calligraphy authentication. He authored a column in the magazine Dushu in 1996.

That same year, he worked as programme advisor for the TV art programme Meishu xingkong [New Space for Art] on CCTV (Chinese Central Television) and wrote a monthly column for the magazine Dongfang. From 1997 to 1999, Yin Ji’nan organized and led a proseminar, ‘Research in Chinese Contemporary Art Practice and Criticism’. In 2000, he was invited to give a presentation on ‘Chinese Contemporary Art and Women’s History’ at Cornell, Harvard and New York Universities. In 2001, he gave a paper on the subject of Gu Kaizhi’s Nüshi jiantu [Admonitions to the Palace Instructress] at the British Museum. Books that he has authored include: Duzi Koumen [Knocking on a Door Alone, 1993] and Houniangzhuyi [Post-Motherism, 2002] both published by the Joint Publishing Company. Yin Ji’nan is presently Director of the Art History Department at the Central Academy of Art, where he is also a professor and a member of the Board of Academic Advisors.

Further reading

Yin, Ji’nan (2001). ‘What Next, Ultra-Postmodernism?’. In John Clark (ed.), Chinese Art at the End of the Millennium. Hong Kong: New Media, 52–4.

ROBERT BERNELL