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Liu Haisu (1896-1994) is probably one of the most controversial
artists in modern Chinese art history.
On the one hand, he is believed by many to be the founder of the
first art academy in China with a Western-style curriculum.
Many also believe he was the first Chinese art educator to employ
the nude in painting classes.
Still others view him to be a man of great courage and moral
integrity who refused to co-operate with Japanese invaders in the
1940s when the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was
waged across China.
However, 12 years after his death, many Chinese artists and
critics are still divided over and questioning the details in his
art and his personal history.
"History has its own logic. I believe each of the great figures
will receive their final, fair judgment some day in the future,"
said Zhang Peicheng, curator of the Shanghai-based Liu Haisu Art
Museum, during last week's press conference for the art exhibition
commemorating the 110th anniversary of Liu's birth.
"At present, why shouldn't we focus on the bare facts we have
already known about and see what we can learn from the veteran
artist?"
The exhibition opened this Monday at the National Art Museum of
China in downtown Beijing and runs until March 17.
Jointly organized by the National Art Museum of China and Liu
Haisu Art Museum, the exhibition features 95 of Liu's selected
works, including 54 oils and 41 Chinese ink paintings.
Also on show are some of Liu's letters, manuscripts, and old
photos depicting Liu's early years in Shanghai, his journeys to
Europe in 1929, 1931, 1933, and 1989, and his 10 trips to the
picturesque Mount Huangshan in east China's Anhui Province in the
early 1980s.
Coinciding with the exhibition, an academic seminar on Liu's art
will be held on March 16 at the Yanhuang Art Museum in northern
Beijing. All the exhibits on display in Beijing are from the Liu
Haisu Art Museum, which is widely believed to have housed the
largest collection of Liu's works and his private collection of
many ancient Chinese ink masterpieces he donated to the government
in 1994.
Liu staged his first art show in Beijing at the same museum in
1979.
"This time, with quite a few exhibits for the first time ever
greeting the public and art circles alike, the exhibition will
offer Beijing viewers a most comprehensive account of Liu's art and
life," said Fan Di'an, director of National Art Museum of
China.
The highlighted works include Liu's signature oil work entitled
The Qianmen Gate, which was shown in Paris in 1929 and won sweeping
critical acclaim, and a 1930 oil painting entitled Madame L which,
with unstrained strokes and patches of colours, portrays a young
lady in traditional Chinese clothes. In addition, it also features
Liu's five other earlier works that were lightly damaged and have
been repaired only recently by researchers from the Liu Haisu Art
Museum and some experts from the Shanghai Research Institute of Oil
and Sculpture Art.
(China Daily March 13, 2006)
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