(The Suspended Landscape and Awkward Brushstrokes-The Wuming Amateur and Anonymous Painting Group’s Search for a Language in Their Paintings from Life 1964-1986)
Lacking in-depth research on independent art creation during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76), art of the second half of the 20th century in China is marked by successive ruptures following political campaigns.
My PhD thesis (2022) examines the landscape painting of amateur painters of the Wuming (No Name) group from 1964 to 1986 under the Chinese society. It was in the landscape paintings from life that No Name amateur painters found a free space of creation and being. This groundbreaking study explores the genesis of Chinese contemporary art in demonstrating the continuity of a modern language in the history of art of China in the second half of the 20th century, which developed entirely outside academic institutions in an embryonic natural environment.
LI Shan (李姗), White Pagoda (白塔), 1974, 32.6 cm x 21.7 cm
Dissertations:
Xu, Liwei, 2022. Le paysage suspendu et les traits maladroits-La recherche du langage du collectif de peintres amateurs et anonymes Wuming à travers leur peinture d’après nature (1964-1986). ((The Suspended Landscape and Awkward Brushstrokes-The Wuming Amateur and Anonymous Painting Group’s Search for a Language in Their Paintings from Life 1964-1986),) PhD diss, Sciences Po - Institut d'études politiques de Paris.
Xu, Liwei, 2016. Les expositions pluridisciplinaires du Centre Pompidou (The Pluridisciplinary Exhibitions of Centre Pompidou), MA diss, Université Paris VIII Vincennes-Saint-Denis, 2016.
Publications:
Xu, Liwei. “In Search of Smells in History and of Beings and Things Without Traces” (寻觅历史中的气味与没有痕迹的人与物), in A History of Smell – 16th Century to Early 19th Century (气味的文明史——16世纪至19世纪初), Shanghai: Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press, 2025, pp. 1–11.
Muchembled, Robert. A History of Smell – 16th Century to Early 19th Century (气味的文明史——16世纪至19世纪初), translated by Liwei Xu, Shanghai: Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences Press, 2025.
Xu, Liwei. “What Fatigue Tells Us Today,” in Spring Out of Tiredness (Jaillir de la fatigue), exhibition catalogue, Paris: Mémoire de l’avenir, 2024, pp. 4–13.
Xu, Liwei, 2014. “Le Japon des avant-gardes 1910-1970 : la réécriture de l'histoire de la modernité et la pluridisciplinarité des manifestations.” (Japan of the Avant-gardes 1910-1970: the Rewriting of History of Modernity and the Pluridisciplinaire of Events), Histoire des expositions, Carnet de recherche du catalogue raisonné des expositions du Centre Pompidou, https://histoiredesexpos.hypotheses.org/1704.
Xu, Liwei, 2018. “‘五月’之后打破对立的法国蓬皮杜艺术文化中心” (Defusing the Antagonism: The Creation of Centre Pompidou after May 68). 思想市场(Thoughts), Thepaper.cn, https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_2206156.
Art critiques:
Xu, Liwei, 2018. “艺术家真的不可能被机器所替代吗？巴黎这一大展给了回答” (Can Artists be Replaced by Robots? This Exhibition Tries to Answer the Question), Thepaper.cn. https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_2249782
Xu, Liwei, 2018. “雨果故居展’疯狂大脑’作品，向医生和作为艺术家的病人致敬” (Exhibition Madness in The Head of Victor Hugo's House Pays Tribute to Doctors and to Patients as Artists), Thepaper.cn. https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_2026868
Xu, Liwei, 2017. “30年前的这个公共摄影项目重新定义了人们眼中的法国风景” (The Projet of Photography DATAR Realised 30 Years Ago, Redefines the French Contemporary Landscape), Thepaper.cn. https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1911809
Xu, Liwei, 2017. “专访史法利尔：数字艺术带我阅读建筑，重塑自然“ (Miguel Chevalier: Digital Art Brings Me to Reread Architecture and to Recreat Nature), Thepaper.cn. https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1652397
Xu, Liwei, 2017. “专访法国造型艺术中心：最好的公共艺术应融入呼应已有环境“ (National Center for Visual Arts, CNAP: How Public Art should integrate and Respond to Its Environment?), Thepaper.cn. https://m.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_1622147