The Easel

Zhang Hongtu

When Hongtu emigrated to the US in the early 1980’s, he was, as the son of Chinese Muslims, a quintessential outsider. By the time of Tiananmen Square, he had adopted a hybrid Chinese / Western style for which he is now renowned. “[T] the works set up a kind of cross-cultural viewing experiment: which does one see first, a classical Chinese composition or its Post-Impressionist brushwork?” More images are here.