Bloodline

Artist

Zhang Xiaogang (Chinese, b. 1958)

Date

2003

Medium

Lithograph on wove paper

Dimensions

Sheet : 27 x 32 3/8 in. (68.58 x 82.23 cm)
Mat : 30 x 36 in. (76.2 x 91.44 cm)

Credit Line

Hope College Collection

Object Number

2016.7.2

Label

During the tumult of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), Zhang Xiaogang’s family was split up by the Chinese government and sent to different places for work and “re-education.” This traumatic experience later provided inspiration to Zhang after he discovered a box of old photographs in his parents’ house and realized how much his family and other families had suffered as a result of government policies. Begun in 1993, Zhang’s Bloodline-Big Family series typically portray stiffly-posed, almost ghostly figures enlivened by small patches of color and connected by thin lines that suggest both the fragility and resilience of familial relationships.