2015.04.08 Wed, by Translated by: 顾灵
Lady Liberty Loses the Lead

Zeng Fanzhi solo show “The Louvre Project”
ShanghART (Cao Chang Di, Beijing)
March 9 – March 22, 2015

He painted not only one, but four versions of “Liberty leading the people”. Zeng Fanzhi’s “Louvre Project” (exhibited at the Louvre Museum in 2014, and at ShanghART Beijing in early 2015) throws out a big hook that I can neither swallow nor spit out again. So many questions: Why four versions? Why has Lady Liberty become a statue? Why aren’t there any more people in the picture? Why do the project in the first place?

Apparently the story began in 1985, when the artist first encountered a tiny reproduction of Eugène Delacroix’s famous revolutionary painting in a textbook—at a time when in China, images of bare-chested women were not so easy to come by. As such, Delacroix’s painting inspired many young men, or so the story is told. However, as persistent as youthful fancy might prove, bringing the painting back fourfold to the Louvre is an entirely different matter.

Flashback: “Les Trois Glorieuses”, the three glorious days at the end of July 1830 that saw an uprising initiated by the liberal republicans for violation of the Constitution by the Second Restoration government. Between July 27 and 29, Charles X, the last Bourbon king of France, was overthrown and replaced by Louis Philippe, Duke of Orléans. Delacroix, who witnessed this, thought that as he did not fight for his country, he could paint for her. He began working on “Liberty leading the people” in September and completed it between October and December of the same year. It was bought by the French government in 1831 with the intention of putting it into the throne room of the “citizen-king” Louis-Philippe as a reminder of the July Revolution, through which he had come to power. It never was installed there, and after the June Rebellion of 1832 the work was returned to the artist for being too revolutionary. He then had to hide it until 1848, when the republic was restored again.

Since then, this iconic painting has been at the core of French identity. Even if Delacroix was not the first artist to depict the goddess of liberty in the style of what is called “Marianne” in France—a heroine wearing a Phrygian cap—he created the most prolific depiction. The painting has had a long history of influencing artists and inspiring people. Apparently, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi had it in mind when he created the Statue of Liberty for New York. It even made it onto the 100-franc banknote between 1978 and 1995.

Zeng Fanzhi, “From 1830 Till Now No.1”, oil on canvas, 297 x 370 cm, 2014 (©ZENG FANZHI STUDIO曾梵志,《从1830年至今No.1》,布面油画,297 x 370 cm,2014©ZENG FANZHI STUDIO

Zeng Fanzhi, “From 1830 Till Now No.1”, oil on canvas, 297 x 370 cm, 2014 (©ZENG FANZHI STUDIO; courtesy ShanghART)
曾梵志,《从1830年至今No.1》,布面油画,297 x 370 cm,2014 (©曾梵志工作室; 鸣谢:香格纳画廊)

Zeng Fanzhi, “From 1830 Till Now No.1”, oil on canvas, 297 x 370 cm, 2014©ZENG FANZHI STUDIO曾梵志,《从1830年至今No.1》,布面油画,297 x 370 cm,2014©ZENG FANZHI STUDIO

(Detail) Zeng Fanzhi, “From 1830 Till Now No.1”, oil on canvas, 297 x 370 cm, 2014 (©ZENG FANZHI STUDIO; courtesy ShanghART)
(局部)曾梵志,《从1830年至今No.1》,布面油画,297 x 370 cm,2014 (©曾梵志工作室; 鸣谢:香格纳画廊)

Thus, Zeng Fanzhi is up against a vast historical narrative. It is quite interesting to see how he approaches the “appropriation” of Delacroix’s masterpiece, if that is the right term. Version one begins with a rather faithful, yet much coarser rendition of Delacroix’s original. The faces of the revolutionary crowd have been abstracted towards the general look of Zeng’s famous masks-series. In addition, the forefront of the pictorial space is overgrown with the artist’s signature style branches which have been superimposed onto the original scenery causing an engaging effect. The branches in their electric elegance push back Delacroix’s painting in much the same way as a branch in front of your camera’s autofocus lens would push aside the landscape you had intended to photograph (sorry, this effect can only be seen on the 260 x 325 cm canvas, not your screen). This allover web of branches leaves an opening only for the upper body and head of the goddess of liberty, exposing and highlighting her slightly inflated breasts. One can also sense how the artist has delighted in them; it is as they have been painted in a distinctly different manner from the rest of the painting. “I pondered why the painting appeals to people so much. Delacroix portrayed the fighters in a realistic manner. He instilled all his imagination in the goddess,” Fanzhi said in a talk before the Louvre show. As in Delacroix’s original, she inhabits a space different from that of the painting’s other figures, with the erotic charge being a household marker of any proper uprising. Revolutions are sexy! The heightened sense of life does that, as even the diminutive forms in Western pop culture testify for us today.

In itself, version one is a solution that pays respect to Delacroix’s original, displays an understanding and appreciation of revolutionary dynamics and is balanced by a foreground of “branches” that appear like a special lightning effect; electric charges seem to emanate from the staff that Lady Liberty wields with her left hand. Had Zeng stopped there, most people would have been happy—in France, because a Chinese artist would have come to the Louvre to honor “La Grande Nation”; in China because a contemporary artist (who grew out of a very independent art scene in China when that was still difficult to do) carries forth the revolutionary torch. The art world would have applauded because of the obvious elevation of an artist by one of the world’s top institutions. The painting in itself would not have been a masterpiece or a key artwork, but it would have been good.

Zeng Fanzhi, “From 1830 Till Now No.2”, oil on canvas, 297 x 370 cm, 2014©ZENG FANZHI STUDIO曾梵志,《从1830年至今No.2》,布面油画,297 x 370 cm,2014©ZENG FANZHI STUDIO

Zeng Fanzhi, “From 1830 Till Now No.2”, oil on canvas, 297 x 370 cm, 2014 (©ZENG FANZHI STUDIO; courtesy ShanghART)
曾梵志,《从1830年至今No.2》,布面油画,297 x 370 cm,2014 (©曾梵志工作室; 鸣谢:香格纳画廊)

Zeng Fanzhi, “From 1830 Till Now No.2”, oil on canvas, 297 x 370 cm, 2014©ZENG FANZHI STUDIO曾梵志,《从1830年至今No.2》,布面油画,297 x 370 cm,2014©ZENG FANZHI STUDIO

(Detail) Zeng Fanzhi, “From 1830 Till Now No.2”, oil on canvas, 297 x 370 cm, 2014 (©ZENG FANZHI STUDIO; courtesy ShanghART)
(局部)曾梵志,《从1830年至今No.2》,布面油画,297 x 370 cm,2014 (©曾梵志工作室; 鸣谢:香格纳画廊)

Zeng, however, did not leave it at that, but instead took a radical detour. In version two, he first of all dropped the crowd completely, shrunk Liberty, put her on a pedestal and then thoroughly Zeng-ified the painting with a massive growth of branches and bushes covering the picture pane in rather subdued tones—the winter of liberty, or so it seems. He had gone too far.

Version Three opens up the scene again. Lady Liberty features rather more prominently again and the colors take on a slightly vitriolic hue. Still, the goddess is removed from her context: Liberty with no people to lead. It doesn’t make sense for her to even attempt to leave the pedestal and be on the same level with the people. “Seemingly, she doesn’t belong to the normal time and space of the others, but only exists in Delacroix’s subjective world. The unreal and the real come across in a dramatic scenario that explodes with strong emotions,” says the artist of the original. With Liberty still static on a pedestal, all movement has been exorcised from any imagination of liberty that one could have in looking at Zeng’s depiction of her. No movement, no revolution appears to be the message the artist delivers. In a country that for many years advocated a revolution in permanence, this notion might actually mean relief. Or, in the words of the artist: “No humans, no lives—maybe this is what the ultimate freedom should be.” That is one reading. And one could take this at face value. However, since the artist already slipped one decisive transfiguration under the door – from goddess to statue – might there not be another shift in symptom, to use a Freudian trope?! Within the context of Chinese culture, this writer can only think of one significant—albeit very temporary—statue of liberty that featured prominently in the late 1980s: she was also dubbed the goddess of democracy, and was built by students on Tiananmen. That could be the other reading, which makes things very uncomfortable all of the sudden.

Too uncomfortable—hence Version Four, which is not so very different from Version Three, and also features the static goddess all by herself. The scenery has become more sinister. Beyond the bushes in the foreground, one senses an entire city on fire. A few ruins of a gothic cathedral still standing, with the sun setting on the scenery—sending the message that this show is over. Now, the artist is on the safe side again, as the setting is clearly defined as Paris. The artwork rubs up against the Delacroix painting, its excitement and romantic elation. Gone is all revolutionary fervor and with it the ability to create a new future. The light is dimming over Paris; perhaps the entire age of enlightenment that Delacroix’s painting also stands for is coming to an end. Is that the message the artist sent into the Louvre? Or maybe it is all of the above, which is why Zeng has decided to keep all four paintings and present them together now for the first time, granting the viewer a most interesting insight into the artist’s thought and working process, and to come to conclusions that might get lost—or are at least much more difficult to decipher. Whichever way it is, things do not look good for East or West. Zeng Fanzhi applies a very skeptical gaze to all matters to do with freedom. And no release: the hook was expertly cast out over a general public—this viewer is still dangling from it. Liberty is not leading any more, but it also does not let go of you, the audience, because it is not true that there are no people anymore. We, in front of the work, are the ones being led in circles by the suite of paintings, urging upon us the question of what that could be today: liberty?

Zeng Fanzhi, “From 1830 Till Now No.3”, oil on canvas, 297 x 370 cm, 2014©ZENG FANZHI STUDIO曾梵志,《从1830年至今No.3》,布面油画,297 x 370 cm,2014©ZENG FANZHI STUDIO

Zeng Fanzhi, “From 1830 Till Now No.3”, oil on canvas, 297 x 370 cm, 2014 (©ZENG FANZHI STUDIO; courtesy ShanghART)
曾梵志,《从1830年至今No.3》,布面油画,297 x 370 cm,2014 (©曾梵志工作室; 鸣谢:香格纳画廊)

Zeng Fanzhi, “From 1830 Till Now No.4”, oil on canvas, 297 x 370 cm, 2014©ZENG FANZHI STUDIO曾梵志,《从1830年至今No.4》,布面油画,297 x 370 cm,2014©ZENG FANZHI STUDIO

Zeng Fanzhi, “From 1830 Till Now No.4”, oil on canvas, 297 x 370 cm, 2014 (©ZENG FANZHI STUDIO; courtesy ShanghART)
曾梵志,《从1830年至今No.4》,布面油画,297 x 370 cm,2014 (©曾梵志工作室; 鸣谢:香格纳画廊)

Exhibition View展览现场

Exhibition View (courtesy ShanghART Beijing)
展览现场(鸣谢:北京香格纳画廊)

Zeng Fanzhi曾梵志

Zeng Fanzhi
曾梵志