Art legends Warhol and Beuys meet in China

The show includes Dollar Sign, Don't Treat on Me, which Andy Warhol collaborated with Jean Basquiat from 1984 to 1985. Provided to China Daily

A swarm of flies struck the opening of pop art pioneer Andy Warhol's show on Sept 29 at the Art Museum of Central Academy of Fine Arts. Coincidentally, the German Fluxus-movement artist Joseph Beuys' show had also been hit by flies at the same place two weeks earlier.

As both Warhol and Beuys were known for their performance art, some viewers joked that the unexpected flies were a special welcome to them.

It's the first time the work of two leading figures of contemporary art has been exhibited at the same time in China, says Wang Huangsheng, director of the CAFA art museum who helped organize both shows.

Wang says both artists gave early inspiration to Chinese contemporary artists through books and videos since the 1980s, 30 years before their artworks came to the country. However, both of them, Beuys in particular, are unfamiliar to many Chinese audiences.

Most people have seen Warhol's iconic works, like the Marilyn Monroe portraits and his Campbell's soup can, copies of which are widely printed on T-shirts and accessories. But they are unlikely to put the name of the pop artist with his works, and may never even have heard of the artist.

Eric C. Shiner, director of the Andy Warhol Museum at Pennsylvania's Pittsburgh, says the Americans "love their Warhol", but he also hopes the Chinese masses can learn about Warhol and know more about the artist, not only his Monroe portraits, but also his films, photographs and other ephemera which are on display.

Warhol visited Beijing in 1982, his first and only visit to China. Like any tourist, he went to Tian'anmen Square and the Forbidden City, posing at each site. At that time, the already well-known artist in the West was nobody in China, says Shiner. Now his works hang on the walls of one of China's top museums.