Xinjiang's beauty captured by China's top artists

Four renowned Chinese realistic painters, including Ai Xuan and Wang Yidong, presented Xinjiang inspired oil paintings to the People's Government of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region at the Great Hall of the People on Sept 10.

The gesture is in support of the development of the art scene in the autonomous region.

In return, the four artists were crowned "honorary advisers of the Xinjiang Artists' Association" by the local government.

The works are the result of a painting trip in August last year that was initiated by China Poly Group. The group invited 150 renowned realistic painters to travel to the autonomous region to find inspiration for their work.

In February this year, the paintings inspired by the trip, embarked on an exhibition tour to China's major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. Some of the paintings were then sold at Poly Auction's spring sales in early June, including Wang Yidong's Uygur Girl in Splendid Attire, which was sold for 14.9 million yuan ($2.35 million).

"The whole event will encourage artists in Xinjiang to devote themselves to creating better art works," said Hu Wei, chief publicity official of Xinjiang .

Hu said to boost the development of Xinjiang's cultural enterprises, the autonomous region is planning to build a new art center that will include a top-level gallery, a cultural heritage protection center and a display hall of ethnic instruments. He said the construction is scheduled to be finished in three years.

"The four paintings will be collected as the first group of art works in the new art gallery," he said.