On January 28, 2016, the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) launched a press conference entitled “Auspicious Spring Festival” for the New Year shows, Director of National Art Museum of China Wu Weishan introduced the three New Year shows and the related activities: “National Art Exhibition of the Great Unity of China”, “Heritage of Calligraphy--Invitation Exhibition of Contemporary Calligraphy in NAMOC”, and “A World of Puppets—Donation Exhibition of Puppet Carvings by Xu Zhuchu”. The leaders of the National Art Museum of China Wu Weishan, An Yuanyuan, Zhang Zikang, Ma Shulin, Xie Xiaofan also blessed the public and media who had paid close attention to the National Art Museum of China.

Carrying Forward the Chinese Spiritual Series: the National Art Exhibition of the Great Unity of China

Independently planned by the National Art Museum of China, this exhibition aims to respond to the call of the central government to carry forward the national feeling and spirit of harmony and common prosperity, promoting the great unity of the Chinese nation and encouraging people to make an unremitting endeavor to bring about a great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The exhibition has an important cultural value and practical significance in motivating the striving passion of the masses and enhancing national cohesion through artistic appreciation. The exhibition is divided into three chapters including “National Unity”, “National Images”, and “National Customs”. The exhibition selects a batch of classical works in the collections of the National Art Museum of China, while it also organized the painters from across the country to create a batch of new works. It showcases a brilliant picture of people of all ethnic groups that are led by the Communist Party of China to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and to create a better life. The exhibition selected more than 800 works, among them nearly 300 pieces stood out after the experts fairly, openly, justly reviewed them in the preliminary and final assessments, open to the people of all nationalities from across the country and it is a rich cultural meal during the Chinese New Year for the whole nation. The exhibition is open to the public in Halls 1-9 from January 26 to March 7, 2016.

Heritage of Calligraphy–Invitation Exhibition of Contemporary Calligraphy in NAMOC

Independently planned by the National Art Museum of China, it presents an exhibition of calligraphy entitled “Heritage of Calligraphy–Invitation Exhibition of Contemporary Calligraphy in NAMOC 2015”, which is the 5th time that it is presented to the public as the art of Chinese calligraphy after the first session was held in 2012. The exhibition is seriously recommended by an academic professional group. 51 representative calligraphers from across the country were nominated and confirmed to copy and create different chirographies, striving to present the best selection of contemporary heritage of calligraphy and expound the connotation of heritage, development and innovation of Chinese calligraphy from the perspective of intangible cultural heritage. The exhibition is divided into five parts—regular scripts, cursive scripts, official scripts, running scripts and seal characters, featuring a total of 102 works. Through the exhibition it enables the audience to authentically feel the development and evolutionary history of Chinese calligraphy in company with the development of characters, stimulating people’s ardent love for the beauty of characters and manifests the charm and grandeur of Chinese traditional culture and the country. The exhibition is on show at halls 13-17 on the 3rd floor in the National Art Museum of China, on January 23 2016, going through to the March 8, 2016.

The National Donation and Collection Series: Donation Exhibition of Puppet Carvings by Xu Zhuchu

The exhibition is entitled “A World of Puppets”, fully displaying the puppet carving art by Xu Zhuchu and the development context of Xu Zhuchu’s puppet family over the past one hundred years, both showcasing the extraordinary creativity of many figure sculptures, and the artistic talent that depicts a completely alike character; it also presents his imagination and expansion of the illusory themes such as fairies and gods, the exhibition is divided into three parts: portraits of social diversity, finery and empathy, elegant and talented aristocratic family, which are respectively on shown at halls 19, 20, 21 on the 5th floor in National Art Museum of China. In the central hall on the 5th floor, it presents a specially selected hand puppet stage from the Qing Dynasty that was handed down by the family of Xu Zhuchu, this stage is a gorgeous and eye-catching golden lacquer woodcarving work with the style of a classical pavilion. At the same time, it also sets a stage for the interactive game in the hall, where the audience can personally operate and experience the fun of a puppet show. The exhibition opened on January 13, 2016, going through to February 28, 2016.

The Director of National Art Museum of China Wu Weishan said that, since last year, the National Art Museum of China aimed at “carrying forward an excellent traditional culture, collecting the high-quality works by the masters, strengthening the international and domestic exchanges, promoting the creation of contemporary art, creating art peaks and plateaux, benefiting the public cultural services”, while it gradually implemented the four series of exhibitions at the same time, including “Activation of the Collection of National Art Museum of China” series of exhibitions, “National Art Museum of China Carries Forward the Chinese Spirit” series of exhibitions, “International Communication in the National Art Museum of China” series of exhibitions, “National Donation and Collection” series of exhibitions, which were highly praised by people from all walks of life. In 2016, it will continue through a series of exhibitions achieve the equalization of the public service; to promote the new socialist literature in China dialoguing with the world; communicating the art by the masters from around the world; carrying forward the huge cultural value of collections.

Photo and text edited by Zhang Wenzhi/CAFA ART INFO

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