The volume is comprised of a collection of iconic paintings by Peng Wan Ts made over the course of fifty years. Many of the works contained in the pages of this book that accompanies the show devoted to the artist by the Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris have never before been exhibited. The best example: Banquet, the work that will be donated to the museum on this very occasion.
Peng Wan Ts’s attempt to find a balance between Eastern and Western forms of thought and expression emerges clearly from his paintings. For this reason, he is a figure of reference for contemporary Chinese art. Pivotal to his approach is his interest for the human figure, an aspect inextricably tied to his discovery of Western art, especially Michelangelo. Aesthetics and plasticity are two key themes of his poetics, though we must never forget the tragic elements that allow him to reflect on humanity, on its individual and collective histories, and on its inner reality.
Peng Wan Ts was born in the Sichuan province,in China,in 1939. In 1965, after having studied plastic arts in Taiwan, he moved to Paris, where he lives and works to this day. He took part in the Biennale de Paris in 1961, 1969, and 1971; the Bienal de São Paulo in 1963; and documenta 6 in 1977. His work can be found in Finland, Hong Kong, Korea, Brazil, Taiwan, as well as Switzerland, Yugoslavia, Germany, and Belgium.
Fabrice Hergott is the director of the Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris.
François Michaudis the head curator of the estate of the Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, as well as curator of this show.
Christian Derouet is honorary general curator of the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
Gérard Audinetis the general curator of the estate and director of the Maisons de Victor Hugo, Paris/Guernesey.
Chang Ming Peng teaches History of Contemporary Art at the Université de Lille.