Shanghai: Storied collection to stand the test of time

The third installment of an exhibit resulting from a nationwide search for art depicting historical moments over the past century in China is now on display at the Shanghai Art Museum.

The Historical Moments exhibition comprises over 100 paintings and sculptures illustrating scenes of Chinese fighting against foreigners in the late 1800s and early 1900s, including the Japanese in the 1930s. The pieces were selected after five years spent scrutinizing entries submitted to the National Museum of China in Beijing.

Chinese artists were invited to submit pieces that complimented a list of over 100 suggested topics. The most recent attempt to gather such works from artists around the country following similar efforts by the museum in 1959 and 1961, it is the largest in scale and one that the museum hopes will serve a broader purpose.

"It is instructive for the public. Today is a much different time than that of the 1950s and 60s," said Han Jinsong, spokesperson for the National Museum of China. "Some of the artwork will surely take a position in China's art history."

The creative process for certain pieces proved a challenging task as certain scenes had to be drawn without photographic records. Chen Jian, who drew an oil painting of China's first generation of military marshals, started off by using miniature clay models in order to design the composition.

Other artists went one step further. Quan Shanshi hired a group of actors to role play New China's first generation of marshalls at an inaugural ceremony during the 1950s. He used the resulting photographs to help draft his paintings.

The commissioned artists were given up to 150,000 yuan for their contributions to the exhibit, which saw a successful run in Beijing last month. It continues in Shanghai over the next two weeks before moving on to Zhejiang, Fujian and Shaanxi provinces later this month.

Until Nov 13

Shanghai Art Museum

325 Nanjing Road W.

南京西路325号, 上海美术馆

Tel: 6327-2829

Zhang Kun