Call of the wild

For art historians, Xu Beihong (1895-1953) is a pioneer of modern Chinese art whose style straddles the East and the West. But for the average Chinese, he is simply a master painter of galloping horses, roaring lions and lovely birds.

The largest retrospective show to honor the master painter has been drawing throngs of visitors from all walks of life since it opened at Yanhuang Art Museum in northern Beijing.

On display are over 80 of Xu Beihong\’s signature sketches, ink and oil paintings. The highlights are Xu\’s monumental ink paintings with historical themes like Yu Gong Moves the Mountain, Jiu Fang Gao and Galloping Horses, his oil works like Lady with a Flute and Self Portrait, and his early pencil sketches of horse herders and female nudes.

The exhibition coincides with the 60th anniversary of the founding of New China and the 90th anniversary of the May Fourth New Culture Movement.

In fact, Xu\’s career as an artist and his personal experiences are closely associated with Chinese history, says Peking University art professor Zhu Qingsheng.

\”Based on his deep understanding and deliberate choice of Western painting traditions, Xu advocated a Realist approach and style for Chinese art. He played a pivotal role in transforming modern Chinese art,\” Zhu says.

Born in Yixing, Jiangsu province, in 1895, Xu grew up in an artistic family and showed talent at an early age.

He studied classic Chinese works and calligraphy with his father Xu Dazhang when he was 6 and Chinese painting, when he was 9.

In 1915, he went to study in Shanghai, a melting pot of Chinese and Western cultures where he met the scholar and political reformer Kang Youwei (1858-1927), who became his mentor and greatly influenced his thinking about the need to integrate Western practices and ideas into Chinese art.

\”Xu felt that traditional Chinese art had become a mere copying of other paintings and was divorced from nature and social reality,\” says Central Academy of Fine Arts professor Huang Xiaoming.

\”Xu was not the first to formulate the idea but he was one of the first to seek a solution and a direction.\”

Xu came up with the idea of applying Western scientific methods, using very precise anatomical proportions and integrating Western approaches, such as perspective and shading in his works, notes Huang.

In 1917, Xu traveled to Tokyo to study art. On his return to China, he began to teach at Peking University\’s art school at the invitation of principal Cai Yuanpei (1868-1940) in 1918. http://www.cne.cc