Paint the world a picture

Despite a growing interest in China, artworks from the country remain under-represented in the world's great galleries. Xu Jingxi chats with leading curators about how contemporary artists can take their place on the global stage.

Chinese art lovers bemoan the fact an ink painting by Zhang Daqian, one of the world's best-known Chinese artists of the 20th century, has been lying in storage since it was collected by the New York-based Museum of Modern Art in 1961.

"Ink painting is not so important in Western art as it is in Chinese art. Zhang's Lotus is the only ink painting we have, and it's difficult to fit it into our collection," Jay A. Levenson, director of the MoMA's International Program, says of why the painting has not been displayed.