Tate’s first exhibition of ink painting brings around 80 works by the artists in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan who reinvented the tradition for the 20th century.
Tate Modern on Bankside opens Tate’s first exhibition of ink painting on Thursday 22 April 2027. It brings around 80 works by 20th-century artists from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Ink painting is practised across East Asia and its diasporas. Its tradition values continuity with the past and a close relationship with the natural world.
The artists shown here reinvented the form for the 20th century. Each found a way to honour the tradition while experimenting with it, and together they formed a regional network.
The exhibition is arranged in three themes: Life, the Garden and Breath. By tracing the links between its artists, it questions familiar Western accounts of modern art and their ideas of originality, expressionism and the avant-garde.
Among the works is Yuan Jai’s Jadeite Cabbage from 1999, painted in ink and colour on silk. Research for the show was supported by the Hyundai Tate Research Centre: Transnational.
The exhibition runs in the Eyal Ofer Galleries until Monday 30 August 2027. Tate Members go free, and Tate has yet to publish the ticket price.