Painter Zong Qixiang in the 1970s.[Photo provided to China Daily]

In the 1950s and '60s, he focused on soldiers and ordinary people in New China.

Zong traveled extensively across the country after the 1950s. And in the last two decades of his life, he lived and painted in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

Among his landscapes on show are those he painted when journeying through the mountains and waters of Guilin and the forest-enveloped villages of ethnic groups inhabiting Guangxi.

Yu says that Zong often told his students that to produce works that touch people, painters had to be versatile, focused and observant like actors.

Jia Youfu, now 75, and a student of Zong in the early 1960s, says Zong often criticized him for following textbooks in a mechanical manner.

"He said, 'How can you overlook the beauty of nature? If you see the world from the perspective of other people, without critical thinking, you will end up being a nobody,'" says Jia, an established painter.

"Some 50 years after I graduated, I have not forgotten his words."

If you go

9:30 am-5:30 pm, through Aug 27, Mondays closed. Central Academy of Fine Arts, 8 Huajiadi South Street, Wangjing, Chaoyang district, Beijing. 010-6477-15