On April 26, 2016, the National Art Museum of China held a press conference to announce the relevant circumstances of the “Immortal Inheritance – the Invitational Exhibition of Academics Works of Académie des Beaux-Arts” which opened on April 30, this exhibition was co-hosted by the National Art Museum of China and the Académie des Beaux-Arts, it is one of a series of exhibitions of international exchanges of the National Art Museum of China, featuring works in oil painting and prints by the 9 academics from the Académie des Beaux-Arts, offering a new window for Sino-French exchanges and will lead to Chinese people understanding French art. Director of National Art Museum of China Wu Weishan, French curator Didier Bernheim, Academics of Académie des Beaux-Arts Philippe Garel and Vladimir Velickovic attended the press conference, and Deputy Director of the National Art Museum of China Ma Shulin presided over the conference.

Académie des Beaux-Arts was founded in 1816, and it is the highest art institute in France, the academics include renowned masters such as Ingres, Moreau, Delaroche, Delacroix, etc. Director of National Art Museum of China Wu Weishan said at the press conference that, the Académie des Beaux-Arts was an important representative of French culture, and each academic had his own distinct creative style, holding a different perception and thinking on life, society and livelihood, the 9 academics were invited to put on a show in China in order to comprehensively present the contemporary French cultural features while also integrating their work.

French curator of the exhibition Didier Bernheim said at the press conference that, the exhibition showcased the diversity of creative style of the academics and also confirmed the close cultural exchange between China and France, the Académie des Beaux-Arts has been maintaining a close contact with Chinese art, Zao Wou-ki and Chu Teh-chun were the academics from the Académie des Beaux-Arts, he also expected the exhibition could lead to more communications and interactions. For the exhibition in China, academics from the Académie des Beaux-Arts said it was a rare opportunity for cultural exchange, in recent years, Chinese art has increasingly played an important role in the international arena, and they also found both the development of contemporary art and the well-preserved and inherited national artistic elements.

It is the first time for the academics from the Académie des Beaux-Arts to collectively feature their representative works of art, 66 excellent works of the 9 academics are respectively displayed in nine separate exhibition spaces at the same time, so that the audience has a different visiting experience in each different space, to fully experience the unique charm of the French art. In order to echo the works of the academics from the Académie des Beaux-Arts, the National Art Museum of China specially introduces the oil painting triple “Green Vitality” by Chu Teh-Chun in the collection of the art museum to the exhibition. Chu Teh-Chun is a Chinese lifelong academic from Académie des Beaux-Arts, the art museum juxtaposes and displays his work and the works by the other 9 academics from Académie des Beaux-Arts, hoping the audience can feel the resonance of the cultural dialogue.

The exhibition is presented in Hall 3/5/7 on the ground floor of the National Art Museum of China, and it will remain on view till May 22.

Text by Zhang Wenzhi/CAFA ART INFO, Photo by Zhang Wenzhi & National Art Museum of China

Translated by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO

About the exhibition

Organizers: National Art Museum of China and the Académie des Beaux-Arts,

Duration: April 30 – May 22, 2016

Venue: Hall 3/5/7, ground floor, National Art Museum of China

Artists: Pierre Carron, Jean Cortot, Philippe Garel, Arnaud d'Hauterives, Guy de Rougemont, Pierre-Yves Tremois, Vladimir Velickovic, René Quillivic, Erik Desmazieres

Courtesy of the artists and the National Art Museum of China, for further information please visit www.namoc.org.