Fantastic monograph by Mr Ante Glibota, Croatian art critic and historian of art, about Zhou Yingchao, distinguished Chinese artist.
The monograph has been printed in Bejing in English and Chinese in 2011, issued by DELIGHT PUBLISHER LTD.
Many thanks to Mr. Ante Glibota for permission to use the photos of his books on this page.
372 pp, format: 31 x 24.5 cm

A detail from the monograph by Ante Glibota about Chinese painter Zhou Yingchao.
This is one of the most beautiful books that I ever had in my hands.

Retrospective And Monographs By Zhou Yingchao 15th October 2011. The Shanghai Museum of Art and Urbanity (MAUS), has announced the world premiere of the presentation the first comprehensive retrospective of paintings by the Chinese artist, Zhou Yingchao, and at the same time, the presentation of a monograph jointly published for this occasion by Delight Edition and the MAUS. The monograph is dedicated to the Chinese artist himself, and the author is the art historian, Ante Glibota, Member of the European Academy of Arts, Sciences and the Humanities. The exhibition and the monograph will be presented to the press on Saturday, 15th of October at 16:00 GMT at the MAUS, 120 Maolian Road (Jiuyi Road), Songjiang District, Shanghai. The artist himself will be present, Mr Zhou Yingchao in addition to the monographʼs author and Curator of the retrospective exhibition, Mr Ante Glibota. ZHOU YINGCHAO : LIFE Zhou Yingchao was born in the town of Xuzhou, in the Jiangsu province, on the 20th of February 1951. He attended primary and secondary school in his native town. His interest in poetry, litterature and philosophy grew and drove him to study Chinese litterature at Nanjing Normal University. He graduated from there in 1984, whilst working in the field of painting and design at the same time. Following this, he studied painting at the Peking Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), graduating in 1989. He has been living and working in Peking ever since. ZHOU YINGCHAO : THE WORKS These fifty years spent in the pursuit of art and these sixty years of living together constitute a long trajectory and one which is made all the longer because, as Cioran says, in order to live, or even breathe, we have to go to great lengths to persuade ourselves that the world or our concepts contain within them a base of truthfulness. It is precisely on this base of truth that Zhou Yingchaoʼs has built his own way forward, mapping out his own route, a profusion surrounded by rarity, or better still, mapping it out not just via his pictorial and graphical work, but also through his work in design, illustration, ceramics, and drawing to spellbinding effect. Ante Glibota, ballerina, and Zhou Yingchao, who painted her. Photo from the monograph of Mr. Ante Glibota, on this web with permission of the author. By the way, did you know that Croatian ballerina Mia Slavenska, was one of the greatest in the 20th century. His young works, already bearing figurative references, demonstrated, by means of their expressive formal conception, a great sensitivity in terms of how the subject was dealt with, and the archictecture of the canvas, in addition to an understandable or readable subtlety in terms of the surface of the canvas. Thus, his cultureʼs pictorial touch had already been safeguarded within him. It is particularly interesting to highlight these elements because it was only much later on that his formal education as an artist began. Certain of his already significant works were created and accomplished almost fifteen years prior to his entry to the Peking Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA). In fact, his work took on the appearance of one which evolved, both in form and sensitivity, in accordance with his creative cycles, each with its own solid foundations. He challenges the idea of linearity in his work or the exploration of artistic or commercial success. Zhou Yingchao creates work via the contemplation of form and subject, and then builds up the work in terms of steps, or creative series. The purpose of this is to summon up a serene atmosphere in which his work, in its totality, can have a tangible effect on the eye of the observer. In reality, the artist renders his creative verve serene once again, and in doing so paves the way forward for the transfiguration of the observerʼs feelings and visual jubilation. For all that, he is a staunch advocate of his sense of belonging to ancient Chinese tradition. The artist delved deep into this tradition as a student, immersing himself simultaneously in its history, art and architecture, applied art and artefact, and its litterature and poetry... The taking into account of these elements, in the light of the interpretation of his own civilizationʼs past, is what has allowed Zhou Yingchao, in an enterpise of great audacity, to gain a greater insight into the the essence of the era we live in and our modernity. He has done this by creating work in the spirit of his own time, thereby prolonging an enlightened page in humanity. Lastly, we cannot overlook the fact that, throughout his life, Zhou Yingchao has always showed himself to be capable of a very fertile creativity, and of great energy, giving rise to a significant quantity of works, paintings, drawings, engravings, ceramics and other illustrated works. In the essence of his work, Zhou Yingchao transmits a sense of gracefulness to us, of self-revelation, by means of the lifeblood contained within the creative energy that lives in his pictorial writing, and the imprint of his graphical work; whether or not these symptoms are they visible or invisible, his work brings remedy via the management of the internal energy of the human being in its entirety. RETROSPECTIVE The retrospective exhibition covers the creative period of forty years of painting, with 150 of some of the most significant works taken from the period ranging from his beginnings to the present day. Some of the works are large in size, bordering on monumental, reaching up to 10.60 metres by 3.05 metre, and cover all the creative stages in the artistʼs life in equal measure. Also on exhibition, in documentary fashion, will be around thirty drawings and a certain number of ceramic works, together with books featuring drawings or illustrations by the artist. This will enable the public to grasp the important role of one of Chinaʼs foremost artists. MONOGRAPH This bilingual Chinese/English volume, consisting of 372 pages, in large 31 by 24,5 format, in hardback edition and with a sleeve, dedicated to the work of Zhou Yingchao, is published by the MAUS and Delight Edition. It is the fruit of the work of the art historian Ante Glibota, who has dedicated five years of research to the work of this Chinese artist. This book reveals, without staging, mystification or artifice, three decades of the artistʼs work in all its truthfulness, and thus allows such a work to speak for itself, and to be fully grasped and appreciated. Glibotaʼs desire has been to present an artist both in his creative authenicity but also in terms of the logic and coherency of his life and his humanity. Through reading this book the artist is revealed as being a human being of great sensitivity, beaming with an acute creativity, with a thirst for life, and one whose wish is to create work which has the power to induce real pleasure in us, and to satisfy the observer with its underlying truth. Different periods follow on from eachother according to an ordered chronology, going from the first works that the artist has kept to his most recent ones, and which are a testimony both to the varied nature of his research and the intensity of his primary preoccupations, in addition to the way he works creatively. At the end of this pictorial work, the reader will also find the illustrated works of Zhou Yingchao, his works of applied art, which constituted his main bread-winner during the difficult early years. In the monograph, they are presented separately and in more modest fashion, in order that they should be given the place they deserve, but without being ignored. THE AUTHOR AND EXHIBITION CURATOR Ante Glibota is an internationally renowned art historian and French architecture historian. In 1979, he was nominated as Artistic Director of the Paris Art Centre and went on to become Director General in 1982. He kept this post until 1994. At the same time, his trips around the world became more frequent, including China, Japan, Korea, and various countries in Europe and the Americas. He visited artists studios, museums, galleries, universities and Academies, and made it his aim to enter into direct contact with the artists and creators themselves, whilst also giving lectures in prestigious universities and national Academies of the arts and sciences. In his professional work, he underlined the importance of the urban space and the environment, with a strong emphasis on architects and architecture, organizing thematic exhibitions or exhibitions dedicated to important representatives of contemporary architectural creation. He focused on the relationships in existence between science and art and the interrelation between them, organizing numerous symposiums, exhibitions and international gatherings. He has been the instigator of an artistic community, and of a creative force which calls for sensitivity of a global nature, based on total experience, and which reunites the creativity of painters and sculptors working alongside poets, writers, playwrights, architects, musicians, scientists, and philosophers... Ante Glibota has conceived and organized over 400 exhibitions dedicated to painting, sculpture, architecture and literature in museums and galleries across all the different continents. They include a number of retrospectives dedicated to great contemporary artists and architects, as well as literary and musical manifestations, dance-related events, symposiums and artistic and scientific conferences. In particular, he was nominated as Curator and editor of the “Olympiad of the Arts” manifestation organized in Seoul (South Korea) as part of the 1988 Olympic Games during which he created one of the largest sculpture parks in an open space in the world. More recently, he was nominated as Curator and editor of “Art and Sport”, organized by Adidas and the IOC for the Olympic Games in Peking, 2008, which included the presence of leading international artists at the centre of an exhibition which toured to seven of Chinaʼs principal museums, and which was presented at the Today Art Museum in Peking during the Olympic Games in Peking. One of his exhibitions, “ Chicago, 150 years of architecture” was singled out as the most significant exhibition of the XXth century by the French newspaper Le Monde in its supplement Le Monde - The Century 1900-1999, which was published to mark the new millennium. As the author and editor of over 200 books and catalogues devoted to architecture, contemporary art and literature, he has also made numerous limited edition books in collaboration with major contemporary artists and poets, and has also written volumes of poetry illustrated by artists. Ante Glibota has also collaborated with various international art magazines including Cimaise, Cahier dʼart, Paris ; Prometheus, Rome ; Spirale, Milan ; New York Art Magazine, NYC... Since 2010, he has been a member of the Board of Editors for the Science and Society magazine. Ante Glibota is a Member of the European Academy of Science, Arts and the Humanities and is an Honorary Member of the American Institute of Architects... In 2004, the China International Culture Exchange Centre (CICEC) in Peking nominated him as Overseas Consultant for International Cultural Exchanges. Since 2010, he has been the vice-president and Head Curator of the Museum of Art and Urbanity in Shanghai, China. Ante Glibota lives in Paris, France and Shanghai, China. Source www.mausmuseum.com

Monograph by Ante Glibota and Fernando Arrabal, The Five Lights of Chinese Art,
published by DELIGHT EDITION LTD in French, Chinese and English in 2011, printed in Bejing.
458 pp, format: 30.5 x 31 cm

Ante Glibota and Darko Žubrinić in Zagreb, 1st December 2012

The name of Mr. Ante Glibota in Chinese.

Dedication

The name of Mr. Ante Glibota in Chinese.

Mr. Ante Glibota and Darko Žubrinić in Zagreb, 1st December 2012

Some of other books published by Mr. Ante Glibota:

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