This show starts the CAFA’s centennial celebration series of exhibitions; it is the first time to present the creations by all teachers and students from the Department of Mural Painting over the last 30 years. It is a new form of art exhibition, and a special feast of mural painting for the Chinese art world by the artists of mural painting of CAFA in 2017.
This exhibition is entitled “Pictured Walls”!
In 1979, under the auspices of a number of CAFA’s professors who were interested in the development of Chinese mural painting, CAFA was the first school to set up a studio of mural painting in the country and started the teaching of mural painting. Approved by the Ministry of Culture, the first department of oil painting was established in 1985, over the following 3 decades, led by all the directors of the department including Li Huaji, Liang Yunqing, Sun Jingbo, Cao Li, Tang Hui, the Department of Mural Painting advanced with the times, constantly developing, and created a large number of selected contemporary works of mural painting in China, cultivated a large number of talent in mural painting and contemporary art, which formed a strongest creative team in the current art circles of mural painting, and currently the only department for the professional teaching of mural painting.
Accompanied by the country’s requirement of mural painting after the reform and opening up, the construction and development of the Department of Mural Painting, CAFA has always fluctuated. At the period of the low ebb of mural painting at the turn of the century, the specialty of mural painting at other colleges and universities of art in China experienced a process of withdrawing or reorganizing. The development of the Department of Mural Painting, CAFA also wandered. The teachers of the Department of Mural Painting started to continuously move in different directions, some teachers pragmatically studied the traditional culture of the East and West, and made exploratory efforts in the study of the reconstruction of traditional Chinese mural painting and the traditional Western mural painting; some teachers still adhere to the continuous efforts of the public practice of mural painting and have created many excellent works of mural painting which are exploratory and use new materials of the new era; some teachers actively participate in the creation of major historical themes, the social needs of large-scale thematic creations is included into the creation ofmural paintings; and many teachers and students of the Department of Mural Painting respond to the spirit of the speech by General Secretary Xi Jinping, getting out of the ivory tower, walking down from the elegant hall, promoting mural painting to the people, entering the social life to create a series of popular wall paintings represented by the “Beautiful Village”; in addition, there are certainly some artists who calm down to combine the language of mural painting with contemporary art, and constantly explore new forms of expression and display space.
For more than 30 years, the Department of Mural Painting has always been one of the most active academic departments of teaching, and the activity is manifested in the artistic creation of the teachers and students, showing a rich artistic appearance and diverse artistic direction. The exhibition of mural painting for the first time collectively display the teachers’ achievements in creation since the establishment of the Department of Mural Painting, CAFA, both presenting the practice of mural painting with the old and new teachers, and the special attempt of combining individual creation with this form of mural painting; it both embodies the public properties of large mural paintings and the experimental interpretation of contemporary mural painting. The exhibition is not only a summary of history, but also creates the future; to present the audience with the determination of the teachers and students of the Department of Mural Painting who actively participate in the national public construction, the containment of directly facing the challenges of contemporary art which is a symbol of the confidence and courage of the Department of Mural Painting continuing to work hard, to open up and innovate on the occasion of the 100th birthday of CAFA.
About the exhibition
Host: China Central Academy of Fine Arts (abbr. CAFA)
Organizers: Department of Mural Painting at the China Central Academy of Fine Arts, CAFA Art Museum
Duration: on March 10 - March 27, 2017
Venue: on the 3rd floor, CAFA Art Museum
Opening Time: at 10:00 on March 10, 2017
Opening Venue: Lobby on the ground floor, CAFA Art Museum
Courtesy of the CAFA Art Museum, translated by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO.
