Exhibition Celebrates Impressionist Figure Painting

October 26， 2010 witnessed the grand opening of the Invitation Exhibition of Zhejiang-School Impressionist Figure Paintings at Zhejiang Art Gallery in Hangzhou， the capital city of eastern China’s coastal Zhejiang Province. The curtain concurrently rose on a symposium on Zhejiang-School Impressionist Figure Painting on the same day. On display were nearly 180 paintings by 26 artists outstanding in this field. The paintings included those by Li Zhenjian， Fang Zengxian and Zhou Changgu， generally regarded as three pioneers who blazed the trail and helped the style come into being and mature. Also on display were the paintings by established artists such as Liang Pingbo， Feng Yuan， Liu Wenxi， Wu Shanming， Wu Yongliang， Wu Qingming， Li Shan， Zhang Pingchao， Feng Yunyu， Wang Zan and Wei Xiaorong， representing different periods and developments of Zhejiang-school impressionist figure painting over the past decades up to now.

The exhibition traced the unique development and maturity of the school and the significant part it has played in the history of Chinese painting. The exhibition showcased the great achievement of the style since the 1950s.

Present at the grand opening were provincial leaders such as Liu Feng， Ling Pingbo， Xu Zhichun， Xiao Feng， Song Zhongyuan， Liu Wenxi， Wang Zan， Sun Yong. Also present at the opening were hundreds of artists， scholars and the press.

In the early 1950s a group of Zhejiang artists began to explore the art of figure painting in the traditional Chinese painting. They emphasized the techniques of line painting and sketch， integrated the brush and ink techniques from traditional genres such as landscape， flowers and birds， and revolutionized composition. By means of line and splashed ink， they created a style of figure painting never seen before. Over the past decades， the three impressionist figure painting pioneers and two elaborate-styled figure painting artists Gu Shengyue and Song Zhongyuan have not only ventured into no-man’s land but also cultivated many artists who have taken further steps in exploring the possibilities and wonders in figure painting and scored great accomplishment.

For those who came to the exhibition and symposium， it was both a happy reunion with old friends and an exciting meeting with new friends. People mixed and chatted about the same phenomenon that pulled them together: the genre and its future. Naturally， they had a consensus: they will endeavor to create a bright future for the Zhejiang-school figure painting by keeping themselves true to the era， life， people and nature.□