SHANGHAI 1930

China between the world wars was melting pot and powder keg at the same time. The Middle Kingdom was exposed to the influence of opposing political currents like never before in its history. The Austrian painter Friedrich Schiff has captured this period of Chinese history in his sketches, which communicate a spirit of optimism and hopelessness at the same time: without glossing over, his drawings document the contradictory capitalist milieu of Shanghai, the glittering epitome of moral depravity, but also its role as a meeting place for intellectuals and hotbed of the revolution