Exhibit focuses on recent cultural icons
A rare exhibition of more than 90 works of fine art, manuscripts, and other pieces from 43 Chinese cultural icons of the 20th century opened on Saturday at the National Museum of China in Beijing.
The event, Century Masters: The Exhibition of the Works of Forty-Three Grand Masters in Literature and Arts, was launched by several national institutions including the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Chinese National Academy of Arts, and China Literature and Art Foundation.
It was organized to welcome the upcoming 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and is presented in keeping with President Xi Jinping’s call in recent years for strengthening cultural projects.
The 43 masters, none of whom are still living, are household names in China, ranging from novelists Lu Xun and Ba Jin, painter Zhang Daqian and calligrapher Qi Gong, to musician Xian Xinghai and the Peking Opera icon Mei Lanfang.
“These masters are great inheritors and creators and some leading figures in Chinese culture,” Lyu Zhangshen, director of the National Museum of China, said on Saturday. “They have inspired generations of followers.”
He added that a review of their biographies also gives a retrospective of recent Chinese history.
In addition to these works, some modern art pieces have been put on display in homage to these artists. For example, Wu Weishan, head of the National Art Museum of China, brought his series of sculptures depicting these masters.
The Century Masters exhibition is modeled after a similarly titled, long documentary project that began in 2013. The 110-episode documentary gives biographies of the 43 cultural icons mixed with many interviews of relatives, friends, students and other scholars.
The first two seasons of the documentary have been released via China Central Television, provincial satellite TV stations, and some foreign counterparts, for example in Malaysia.
Cai Wu, former minister of culture and chief counselor of this project, said on Saturday that the production of all the episodes has recently been completed. The documentary is meant to fully show the cultural achievements Chinese can make.
“Their spirits stood out in last century, when old and new values and morals collided with each other,” he said. “They connected their personal destiny with that of our entire country. Their stories encourage us to enhance cultural self-confidence today.”
Lan Tianye, 90, a veteran stage actor and former student of several of the masters on the list, is interviewed in the documentary.
“The project preserves people’s memory of them,” Lan said. “I was lucky to have close connections with several masters. However, living people who once had contact with these masters are getting fewer and fewer.”