A portrait of Chen Shizeng by Li Yishi painted in 1920 Photo

 

 Art school exhibit shows how Western aesthetics got into Chinese oil painting

These days there are so many young Chinese artists specializing in oil painting, but of course that wasn't always the case. In fact it wasn't until the first decades of the 20th century that artists began to travel to Europe and Japan to study Western aesthetics after building their foundation on Chinese techniques.

Now, young artists don't even need to go abroad: they can get an education in Western painting techniques here in China. But what people commonly forget is how young the systematic development of this field of study is in China as compared to the West.

To present this important time period in Chinese art history to a modern public, the Museum of the Central Academy of Fine Arts is holding an exhibition of documents and selected oil paintings created at the National Beiping Art School. The rather limited in number exhibits (around 40) allow scholars and the public to analyze this important transition period and will be on display until April 25, 2013.

History reviewed

National Beiping Art School was founded in 1918 by Cai Yuanpei, the then president of Peking University. As the first national art school in China, it is connected with many big names, including Qi Baishi and Xu Beihong, whose works easily sell for millions of dollars at auctions now.

By merging with the art school of Huabei University in 1950, it became what it is today - the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFAM). It experienced many changes due to political and social movements.

Standing at the time of the New Culture Movement (1915-23) and facing transitions between old and new, tradition and modernization, power and knowledge, National Beiping Art School and the related works and people were not only a key part of Chinese art history but also an important part of Chinese cultural history. "Unfortunately, our perception and research on the school remained at the threshold for long." Wang Huangsheng, curator of the exhibition wrote in his preface.

The War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45), the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) - China endured hard times in the last century, which makes the rediscovery and preservation of artworks during this time period very difficult, not only technically but also ideologically.

One of the paintings not included in the exhibition portrays a Kuomintang army unit after Japan's defeat. It was damaged with a big black cross on the painting during the Cultural Revolution. Wang told the Global Times that he struggled to decide whether to restore the painting. Technically it would be difficult to remove the cross, and emotionally, the cross is a part of its history. "Some scholars suggest keeping the cross as it is a reflection of the history," said Wang.

After a long process of rediscovery, systematic research and scientific classification of some key artists' works from National Beiping Art School, many of the paintings are making their debut to the public for the first time in this exhibition.