Li Qun, Member of the Party Group and Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism of China, visits the exhibition
On November 21, 2018, the “Meditation on Ancient Wisdom – An Exhibition Celebrating Li Kuchan’s 120th Birth Anniversary” kicked off at the National Museum of China (NMC). Those present at the opening ceremony were Li Qun, Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism of China; Shan Jixiang, Director of the Palace Museum; Wang Chunfa, Director of NMC; Wang Hongyong, Executive Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of the CPC Shandong Provincial Committee; Fan Di’an, President of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and Vice Chairman of China Artists Association; Tao Qin, Deputy Secretary of the Party Group and Deputy Secretary-General of China Artists Association; Sun Anmin and Tan Zhigang, member of the Standing Committee of the 12th CPPCC; Fan Zeng, Honorary Director of NMC Calligraphy and Painting Institute; Yang Xianrang, Professor of the Central Academy of Fine Arts; Xu Qingping, son of Xu Beihong, and Director of Xu Beihong Memorial Hall; and Wang Shinong, Secretary of the Party Group and Vice Chairman of Shandong Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles. Xie Xiaoquan, Deputy Director of NMC, presided over the opening ceremony.
As Director Wang Chunfa introduced in his address, Li Kuchan was a master of modern freehand flower-and-bird painting, and people’s fine arts educator. He was immersed in the traditional culture of his hometown from his childhood, and had dedicated himself to the art of Chinese painting for his whole life, being held in high esteem around the world for both his professional excellence and moral integrity. In modern China, where the old and new cultures, he had kept moving forward, and portrayed the image of the valiant eagle in his own way, leaving a number of masterpieces in history. Throughout his life, Li Kuchan had taken national survival, people’s happiness and cultural revitalization as his own mission, and remained determined and optimistic with broad visioned despite many a setback during his life. By combining the traditional tenet of Chinese painting with the elements of Western painting, he interpreted the grand theme of modern revitalization of Chinese painting with his bold and powerful works. To celebrate his 120th birth anniversary, NMC, with the support from his descendants and the Memorial Hall of Li Kuchan, planned this exhibition to pay homage to the art created by Li Kuchan and better interpret the meaning of China’s “cultural backbone” in the new era.
Wang Hongyong, Executive Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of the CPC Shandong Provincial Committee, Fan Zeng, Honorary Director of NMC Calligraphy and Painting Institute, Fan Di’an, President of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and Tao Qin, Deputy Secretary of the Party Group of China Artists Association delivered addresses at the opening ceremony. To support the development of culture and museums in China, the descendants of Li Kuchan decided to donate two works of the master to NMC.
Opening ceremony
The exhibition features more than 100 pieces of Li Kuchan’s excellent works in different periods. It is a presentation of Li Kuchan’s artistic life and an appearance of the highest level of freehand flower and bird art in recent decades. By comparing the styles of works in different periods, it fully demonstrates the inheritance, development and innovation of Li Kuzen’s traditional Chinese painting art, and fully reflects the self-confidence of the context tradition and Chinese culture of the master of art. In order to improve the academic quality of the exhibition, the National Museum provides four masterpieces, such as Xu Wei, Zhu Ji and Qi Baishi, to show the origin of Li Kuzen’s artistic style.
The exhibition was co-sponsored by the National Museum of China, the Propaganda Department of the Shandong Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Chinese Artists Association, the Central Academy of Fine Arts and the Shandong Federation of Literature and Art Circles until December 22, 2018.