On the afternoon of September 22th, the opening ceremony of "Chinese Spirit--Research Exhibition of oil painting scenery" was held in the Chinese Academy of Oil Painting that is affiliated to the Chinese National Academy of Arts. This exhibition has gathered a group of excellent scenery oil painters from China. They are Yang Feiyun, Zhao Kaikun, Liu Jianping, Wang Keju, Zhang Dongfeng, Duan Zhengqu, Wang Kun, Sun Gang, Bai Yuping, Yao Yong, Ren Chuanwen, Zhu Chunlin( sorted by age )who are active in different areas, confronting different physiognomies and human landscapes. They committed themselves to inosculating Chinese and western painting languages, exploring individual temperament in the painting language, presenting time, spirit and national sentiment as well as the implication of Chinese culture and Chinese spirit through different artistic perspectives and contemporary feelings. They have created a collection of masterpieces. Under the artistic principle of "finding unknown sources and pursuing a doctrine" and based on the academic responsibility for oil painting study, the Chinese Academy of oil painting displays the achievements of contemporary oil painting scenery so as to open new exploration possibilities and create a high level landscape painting that belongs to the present which can be compared with our ancestors'.
At 2 o'clock, the press conference was held on time through which we learnt about related information on the exhibition. After the press conference, the opening ceremony was inaugurated at 3 o'clock. Apart from the participating artists, some oil painters of the old generation like Zhan Jianjun, Zhao Youping, Su Gaoli, the program director of Chinese Literature Foundation Chen Yigong, Professor Peng Feng of the philosophy Department of Beijing University, Director of the Huan Tie Times Museum Sun Xiaojuan and other guests also were present at the ceremony.
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In the speech of Zhan Jianjun, the honorary president of the Chinese Oil Painting Society, praised the achievements of the Chinese Academy of Oil Painting in relation to the academic hotpots of oil painting and the prompting of the development of Chinese oil painting in recent years. He thought that the Chinese Academy of Oil Painting in turning their attention to the subject of oil painting scenery and naming it as "Chinese Spirit" was a generalisation of the characteristics of oil painting scenery, that is, coming from life, above life and away from life. Every participating artist is the hard core of Chinese oil painting, whose artistic progress is Chinese oil painting's progress, the pure works have represented Chinese oil painting's development over time. Zhao Youping, professor of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, also delivered a speech. She said that Chinese traditional painting has paid particular attention to the principle" Learning from nature, getting inspiration from the heart", after understanding the real meaning of Chinese and Western art styles, the most critical point is emotion moving with what happens in the heart and giving it form, the personal presentation of the artist's feeling is regarded as an effective way to synchronise the Chinese and Western styles. The effects presented today are excellent, but there are still some problems that deserve deep discussions that only after solving them can we do better in the future.
In the speech of Yang Feiyun, the Dean of the Chinese Academy of Oil Painting, he offered a brief review of the developments of Chinese landscape painting and western landscape painting. Chinese landscape painting advocates nature and is good at expressing nature and inner feelings of the landscape so as to edify their temperament and to enter the aesthetic world of " man and heaven in one", however, the western landscape painting is a combination of nature and human spirit. Since the Republic of China, the predecessors have added the spirit of Chinese landscape painting into the principles of western painting. After this, Chinese landscape painting has both a Chinese poetic expression and a Western rational framework as well as a modern personality and vision. With the efforts of the former generation and the exploration of contemporary people, Chinese oil painting scenery has achieved a great development. Through this exhibition, we hope to step further into the field of academic research in oil painting scenery, to explore a kind of contemporary oil painting scenery which both starts from the noumenon of oil painting and inherits the spirit of ancient landscape painting and represents the aesthetic feelings in Chinese people's blood and our national temperament. The meaning of the exhibition lies in opening up avenues, hackling with knowledge for the development of oil painting scenery.
The exhibition will last until October 10th, 2012.
