Exhibition View

The National Centre for the Performing Arts (abbr. NCPA) recently opened “Memories of A Historical City: Artworks on the Theme of Beijing’s Hutongs” to the public, and “Impressions of Beijing: Sketching Exhibition of Hutongs by the Central Academy of Fine Arts (abbr. CAFA)” was launched simultaneously. Co-organized by CAFA and NCPA, the exhibitions were sponsored by the CPC Publicity Departments of Dongcheng District and Xicheng District in Beijing with the generous support from Beijing Municipal Cultural Heritage Bureau. The opening ceremony was attended by Zhu Di, Member of the Party Leadership, Vice Chairman and Secretary of the Secretariat of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles; Wang Ning, President of the National Centre for the Performing Arts; Feng Yuan, Deputy Director of China Central Institute for Culture and History and Honorary Chairman of China Artists Association; Lin Mao, President of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, as well as heads of relevant department and representatives of faculty members and students from CAFA.

Exhibition View

Zhu Di, Member of the Party Leadership, Vice Chairman and Secretary of the Secretariat of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles; Wang Ning, President of the National Centre for the Performing Arts; Feng Yuan, Deputy Director of China Central Institute for Culture and History and Honorary Chairman of China Artists Association; Lin Mao, President of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, painted Hutongs on the screen to launch the exhibitions.

Being large-scale themed exhibitions on “Hutongs in Beijing”, more than 300 artworks by over 130 artists and 80 students from the Central Academy of Fine Arts are showcased. Through diversified expressions and experiences, these artists have conveyed their feelings about Hutongs, which belong to a type of narrow streets or alleys commonly associated with Northern Chinese cities, especially Beijing. The ethnic sentiments about cultural heritage, epochal development and national spirit can be detected in their creations closely related to the Hutong culture in Beijing.

Exhibition View

More than 150 teachers and students from the Fundamental Department of Plastic Arts, School of Chinese Painting, Department of Oil Painting, Printmaking Department, Department of Sculpture at CAFA, have jointly visited the historical communities in Beijing including: Bell Tower, Drum Tower, White Pagoda Temple, Dashilan, Imperial College, Nanluoguxiang, Dongjiaominxiang, Laoshe Theater and so on. Their works on display are full of innovation and vitality, as they have interpreted ancient hutongs with modern and contemporary expressions. They embrace with both traditional heritage in paintings and experiments in new art media while they depict both details of life and developments in the city. Hutongs have been injected with new vitality by these integrated art expressions with innovations in a genuinely contemporary way.

Skeching in Hutongs

About the Exhibition

Dates: December 22, 2024 – March 16, 2025 

Venue: National Centre for the Performing Arts

Courtesy of National Centre for the Performing Arts, edited by Publicity Department of CAFA.