Mountains and Waters: Chinese Animation Since the 1930s
Mountains and Waters: Chinese Animation Since the 1930s
8 December 2012 — 14 April 2013
Following the inclusion of animation programs in APT5 (Japan Fantastic: Before and Beyond Anime) and APT6 (The Cypress and the Crow: 50 Years of Iranian Animation), the Gallery's Australian Cinémathèque presents a landmark retrospective of Chinese animation as part of APT7. Mountains and Waters: Chinese Animation Since the 1930s features around 200 works of animation in techniques ranging from the use of ink-wash painting, shadow plays and papercuts, to puppetry and woodblock prints.
The program opens with profiles of contemporary artists and filmmakers whose works participate in this extraordinary tradition. Contemporary feature animations screen in January, while a highlight for February is a focus on animations from Hong Kong and Taiwan. From March to April, Mountains and Waters showcases classic works by the Wan brothers, who pioneered animation in China from the 1920s, as well as key directors of the Golden Ages of Chinese animation between the 1950s and the 1980s — Te Wei, Hu Jinqing, Jin Xi, A Da, Qian Jiajun and many others.
The Gallery’s Australian Cinémathèque acknowledges the generous assistance in the presentation of the Mountains and Waters retrospective of the China Film Archive, Beijing; the Centre de Documentation sur le Cinēma Chinois, Paris; the Hong Kong Film Archive, Hong Kong; Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong; the Chinese Taipei Film Archive, Taipei; Sunny Sun at A4 Contemporary Arts Center, Chengdu; Kiki Fong, Brisbane; Dr Leong Ko, Geng Liying, Huang Liwen, Li Bing, Liu Yamin, Sun Mei, Zheng Yujie at the University of Queensland, Brisbane; and the artists and filmmakers together with their representatives.
Contemporary Art & Animation in China
The links between Chinese contemporary art and animation are very strong. A surprising number of artists are making works of animation, and often exploring through the animated moving image established artistic techniques and practices, from printmaking to ink wash painting, drawing and sculpture.. Read more
Creating Classics: The Golden Ages of Animation in China
Animation began in China with the Wan brothers in Shanghai in the 1920s. The four brothers grew up making shadow puppet plays and then taught themselves to make animated films, having seen screenings of cartoons from the United States by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer in the cinema in Shanghai.. Read more
Cult Hong Kong: From Buddha’s Palm to McDull
Hong Kong was home at different times to key figures in early Chinese animation history, including animation pioneers Wan Laiming and Wan Guchan who arrived in the late 1940s from Shanghai, where they had made the first Chinese feature animation Princess Iron Fan 1941.. Read more
Hong Kong: Contemporary Animation
The field of independent and art animation in Hong Kong today is increasingly vibrant. The Hong Kong Independent Film and Video Awards have played an important role over the last three decades. Read more
Ghosts and Heroes: Animated Features from Taiwan
A string of interesting feature animations have been produced in Taiwan since the late 1990s, a selection of which is included in the Mountains and Waters retrospective.. Read more
Taiwan: Contemporary Animation
The 1970s and 80s saw a flowering of independent animation using diverse techniques in Taiwan. From the 1990s, with the beginning of computer animation, international outsourcing of commercial animation. Read more
