AI WEIWEI: 1000 YEARS OF JOYS AND SORROWS: A MEMOIR

New York City, NY: Crown Publishers, 2021. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. As New/As New Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: Crown Publishers, 2021. Hardcover. As New/As New. First Edition/First Printing. 400 pages. The artist's highly anticipated memoir. One of the most important artistic and cultural events of our time. The first appearance of the title in English and in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run by Crown Publishers as a hardcover original only. "Signed Copy" round gold sticker pasted in front. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents Ai Weiwei's "1000 Years of Joys And Sorrows: A Memoir" in a felicitous English translation. Essentially, his artistic manifesto, disguised as an intimate memoir, and a moving homage to his ill-fated father. "Once a close associate of Mao Zedong and the nation's most celebrated poet, Ai Weiwei's father, Ai Qing, was branded a rightist during the Cultural Revolution. He and his family were banished to a desolate place known as Little Siberia, where Ai Qing was sentenced to hard labor cleaning public toilets. Ai Weiwei recounts his childhood in exile, and his difficult decision to leave his family to study art in America, where he befriended Allen Ginsberg, and was inspired by Andy Warhol and Marcel Duchamp. With candor and wit, he details his return to China and his rise from artistic unknown to art-world superstar and international human rights activist. Ai Weiwei's sculptures and installations have been viewed by millions around the globe, and his architectural achievements include helping to design the iconic Bird's Nest Olympic Stadium in Beijing. His political activism has long made him a target of the Chinese authorities, which culminated in months of secret detention without charge in 2011. Ai Weiwei explores the origins of his exceptional creativity and passionate political beliefs through his life story and that of his father, whose creativity was stifled" (Publisher's blurb). "A majestic masterpiece" (Andrew Solomon). An absolute "must-have" title for Ai Weiwei collectors. This is an Autographed Copy, indicated as such in front. It is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the publisher's tipped-in page by Ai Weiwei. This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few such pre-signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing (American) still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. A scarce signed copy thus. Lavishly illustrated with vintage photographs and original art by Ai Weiwei. One of the greatest artists of our time. A fine copy. . ISBN 0553419463.