“Forget Not the Beginning of the Career: The Chinese Painting Class in the Early Period of Peiping National School of Fine Arts” is the 10th exhibition of CAFA Art Museum Collection Series. After thorough research of its collection, and the clarification of the collected items’ relationship with modern art history, the exhibition series aims to display the important nodes in the history of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and foster discussions on art education.

The Gate of the Peiping National School of Fine Arts, 1928The Auditorium of the Peiping National School of Fine Arts, 1928The Entrance Examination for the Peiping National School of Fine Arts, 1923Exhibition View 

The Central Academy of Fine Arts is China’s first national higher education institution that has specialized in art. In 1922, it established China’s first Chinese Painting Department. The “Forget Not the Beginning of the Career” exhibition looks at the predecessor of the Academy: the early period of the Peiping National School of Fine Arts, with a focus on the Chinese Painting classes between 1918 and 1932. Previously, there were few accessible materials about this period, and the exhibition hopes to provide new visual materials for the academic world. Through exhibiting the demonstration sketches by teachers of the Chinese Painting classes, the works by the faculty and students as well as precious archives which were recently recovered, the exhibition hopes to portray an early picture of Chinese Painting teaching at the Peiping National School of Fine Arts, and the relationship between this period and modern art education.

Campus View of the Peiping National School of Fine Arts, 1928

The exhibition for the first time shows over 70 precious demonstration sketches by 9 renowned teachers of the Peiping National School of Fine Arts: Xiao Junxian, He Liangpu, Xiao Qianzhong, Wang Mengbai, Shao Yixuan, Zhu Baoci, Wang Gongyan, Zheng Manqing, Wang Xuetao. These sketches were made for students in the 1920s, and remained in use for years in the Chinese Painting Department. Among all the demonstration sketches, those by Xiao Junxian can be dated back to 1918, when the School was founded. These were kept in the Central Academy of Fine Arts and regarded as one of the oldest evidences of the Academy’s history.

Xiao Junxian, Landscape Painting Demonstration Sketch 7, circa. 1918, 28x33cm, ink on paper, collected by CAFAMXiao Junxian, Landscape Painting Demonstration Sketch 9, circa. 1918, 28x33cm, ink on paper, collected by CAFAMXiao Qianzhong, Landscape Painting Demonstration Sketch 4, circa. 1918-1922, 28x31cm, ink on paper, collected by CAFAMXiao Qianzhong, Landscape Painting Demonstration Sketch 5, circa 1918-1922, 28x31cm, ink on paper, collected by CAFAMHe Liangpu, Landscape Painting Demonstration Sketch 5, circa. 1922, 34x45.5cm, ink and color on paper, collected by CAFAMHe Liangpu, Landscape Painting Demonstration Sketch 6, circa. 1922, 34x45.5cm, ink and color on paper, collected by CAFAMWang Mengbai, Flora Painting Demonstration Sketch 45, 1922, 31x33cm, collected by CAFAMWang Mengbai, Flora Painting Demonstration Sketch 53, 1923, 44x32cm, collected by CAFAMWang Gongyan, Flora Painting Demonstration Sketch 1, 1924, 32x43cm, ink and color on paper, collected by CAFAMWang Gongyan, Flora Painting Demonstration Sketch 3, 1924, 32x43.5cm, ink and color on paper, collected by CAFAM

The exhibition creates an atmosphere of a “Chinese Painting class.” It hopes to bring the audience back to the Chinese painting classes a hundred years ago, and evoke their reflections on the history of art education.

Exhibition View

“Forget Not the Beginning of the Career,” a century ago, countless heroes with lofty ideals devoted themselves to the great revival of the Chinese nation. The traces they left on the path have since supported many younger generations. The exhibition is a commemoration of the predecessors who carried out and struggled with the idea that “art education could save the country.” The exhibition will remain on view until October 30, 2022. 

Courtesy of CAFA Art Museum, edited by CAFA ART INFO.