1st Edition
Surrealism and the People’s Republic of China From Mao to Now
By Lauren Walden
Copyright 2026
274 Pages
35 Color & 51 B/W Illustrations
by
Routledge
274 Pages
35 Color & 51 B/W Illustrations
by
Routledge
Also available as eBook on:
This study investigates cultural exchange between the Surrealist movement and the People’s Republic of China (1949-present).
Surrealist art was officially prohibited under Mao’s rule (1949-1976). However, the book interrogates potent tensions in clandestinely created surrealist artworks by Zhao Shou and Sha Qi, who discovered the movement while studying abroad. Furthermore, Walden explores how... Read more
Introduction 1. Clandestine Surrealism in Maoist China 1949-1976 2. The Soul versus Socialism: European Surrealists, Pseudo-Characters and China’s Mao-Dao dialectic 3. European Surrealists in Mao’s China: From Admiration to Alienation 4. Chinese Surrealism in the 1980s: an overview 5. Surrealism and the 85’ New wave: the spiritual surrealism of the Red Travels group (1986-1988) and Northern Art Group (1984-1989). 6. Surrealist pop in 90s’ China 7. Chinese Surrealism in the New Millenium: From Subverting the Western Canon to Internal Socio-Political Critique.
Biography
Lauren Walden is a Research Fellow in Contemporary Chinese Art at Birmingham City University, UK.
