A province blessed with natural beauty, social prosperity and cultural vibrancy, Jiangsu is home to many celebrated artists from both historical and modern times. These include Gu Kaizhi, a calligrapher, writer and painter who lived in the fourth and fifth centuries and excelled in figure painting, and the Four Masters of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), who were active in Suzhou and took landscape art to a new height.
This artistic lineage has continued to nourish a new generation of artists in the province today. Thirty of them have brought dozens of artworks to Beijing, which are currently on display at the ongoing Radiance of Jiangsu, Art Horizons of Spring exhibition, at the National Art Museum of China.
The paintings, oil works, prints and watercolors span a variety of themes, presenting techniques that exemplify the contemporary character and artistic vitality of Jiangsu.