UK fine art shines in Beijing

Photo by Jiang Dong / China Daily

Photo by Jiang Dong / China Daily

Helmet Head No 5, a piece by the famous sculptor Henry Moore, will soon meet a Chinese audience as one of the main attractions of a grand exhibition of United Kingdom art over the past three centuries.

The bronze sculpture was created circa 1966 and has a 42-centimeter height. Moore said the helmet was "a recording of things inside other things", and that his helmet series was about people's vulnerability.

The sculpture belongs to the Bolton Museum in Greater Manchester. It's among a total of 80 pieces, also including oil paintings, prints and watercolors, which come from several public art museums in the same region.

The exhibition, titled Towards Modernity, will be held at the Beijing World Art Museum from Nov 15 through December.

"This is the first time that a domestic audience has the chance to look back on the development of British art since the First Industrial Revolution," said the museum's deputy director Feng Guangsheng. "The works of art show different genres from the most familiar portraits and landscapes to avant-garde creations. The motifs range from history and religion to ordinary people's daily life scenes."