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Wanted

Artist Ai Weiwei (Chinese, b. 1957)
Title Wanted
Date 2014
Medium Color lithograph on paper
Dimensions Image: 22 15/16 × 19 in. (58.3 × 48.3 cm)
Sheet: 23 15/16 × 20 in. (60.8 × 50.8 cm)
Credit Line Museum purchase with funds from the Thomas T. Solley Endowed Fund for Asian Art and the Clarence W. and Mildred Long Art Purchase Fund, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University
Accession Number 2018.10

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About this Work

One of the most infamous artists in the world today, Ai Weiwei is also an activist, architect, curator, and filmmaker. Openly critical of the Chinese government, he was arrested and imprisoned for eighty-one days in 2011 without specific charges and later released to house arrest. This print (our first work by the artist) shows a wanted poster with Ai’s passport photographs and an offer of reward but with a twist. Instead of describing an alleged crime, the text appeals for Ai’s release from prison and the return of his passport. The work’s format and conception are based on Dadaist Marcel Duchamp’s 1963 “Wanted” poster. In 2015, Ai immigrated to Berlin, where he continues to work.


Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

Publisher Francis Naumann Fine Art

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"Wanted | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=2018.10