Hundred Layers of Ink

1990

Not on view

For a decade between 1989 and 1999, Yang Jiechang worked on the series Hundred Layers of Ink, to which this painting belongs. It is the result of focused repetition: Yang applied ink to the same piece of paper, day after day, until the rectangle at its center was completely saturated. As the paper reaches saturation, the ink takes on a shimmery, luminescent quality, and the paper itself shifts from a two-dimensional surface to a three-dimensional object, merging figure and ground, coming close to sculpture. Though these are the same materials used by literati to make traditional paintings, Yang has reinvented them here, removing entirely the artist’s gesture as an index of meaning.

Artwork Details

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Provenance

Title: Hundred Layers of Ink
Artist: Yang Jiechang (Chinese, born 1956)
Date: 1990
Culture: China
Medium: Ink on paper over canvas; framed
Dimensions: Image: 70 in. × 38 1/8 in. (177.8 × 96.8 cm)
Framed: 71 7/8 × 39 7/8 × 1 7/8 in. (182.6 × 101.3 × 4.8 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Gift of Liu Shilai, 2016
Object Number: 2018.658
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

More Artwork

By Yang Jiechang

In the same medium

From the same time and place

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Crying Landscape, Yang Jiechang Chinese, Set of five triptychs; ink and color on paper, China — Crying Landscape
Yang Jiechang
2002

100 Layers of Ink, No.1, Yang Jiechang Chinese, Ink and acrylic on paper laid down on canvas, China — 100 Layers of Ink, No.1
Yang Jiechang
1994

100 Layers of Ink, No.2, Yang Jiechang Chinese, Ink and acrylic on paper laid down on canvas, China — 100 Layers of Ink, No.2
Yang Jiechang
1994

100 Layers of Ink, No.3, Yang Jiechang Chinese, Ink and acrylic on paper laid down on canvas, China — 100 Layers of Ink, No.3
Yang Jiechang
1994

Stele for the Confucius Temple, Ink on paper, China — Stele for the Confucius Temple
China
Stele: Song dynasty (960–1279), 960–68; rubbing: 20th century

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