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Bloodline: Big Family series by Chinese artist


One of the world’s most comprehensive collections of Chinese Contemporary Art, the Ullens Collection spans generations, schools of thought, movements and media, chronicling the evolution of Chinese modern and contemporary art. Sotheby’s Hong Kong is honoured to once again present key works from this important collection in its autumn sales.

Zhang Xiaogang (b. 1958)
Sisters and Brothers
2009–2010, oil on canvas, 270.5 x 370 cm
In the 1990s, Zhang discovered, in yellowed family portrait photographs, a standpoint from which to narrate personal history, thus creating the Bloodline: Big Family series. Sister and Brothers features three figures: a sister and her two younger brothers, as compared to the two figure composition most commonly found in Zhang’s works. The sister wears a typical 1970s green coat, while the older of the two younger brothers, clad in the ‘Mao’ uniform, carries a ‘history’ book, representing intellectuals, and the youngest brother faces the viewer, looking bewildered. Appearing regularly in Zhang’s body of work, the siblings represent a shared experience of the Cultural Revolution, allowing viewers to trace stages of Chinese history through the artist’s surreal perspective.

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Photography from Sotheby's Hong Kong.