The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 19, 2024
An Actress of Hebei Opera, Huoshentai, Henan Province
2000
(Chinese, b. 1969)
Paper: 45.7 x 45.7 cm (18 x 18 in.); Matted: 71.1 x 66 cm (28 x 26 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 2012.106
Courtesy of the artist and Eli Klein Gallery © Liu Zheng
Location: not on view
Description
This work is part of a group of photographs representing the rebirth of more independent photography in China. Here we see a local opera star dressed for a female role. As cross-dressing among opera singers between male and female roles was common practice in traditional China, the gender of the singer—without the title—remains ambiguous. Traditionally, the social status of Liu’s actress would not make her a worthy portrait subject.Liu Zheng started his career as a photojournalist for the Workers Daily in the 1990s, a time of rapid social change, burgeoning individual prosperity, and increasing openness to the West. In 1994, Liu began his series The Chinese to chronicle and portray contemporary Chinese society of all social strata.
- Artist; Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg; Cleveland Museum of Art
- Facing the Ancestors: Chinese Portraits and Figure Painting – Chinese Gallery Rotation 240a, 241c. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (August 12, 2019-February 2, 2020).
- {{cite web|title=An Actress of Hebei Opera, Huoshentai, Henan Province|url=false|author=Liu Zheng|year=2000|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2012.106