An exhibition of Professor Yuan Yunfu's works is now showing at the China National Art Museum.

Yuan is a senior professor with the Academy of Arts and Design of Tsinghua University in Beijing.

The retrospective solo show, divided into four parts, displays more than 150 works created by Yuan between 1953 and 2003.

Yuan is adept in a variety of genres including oil painting, ink washes, heavily-coloured ink painting and pastels.

But among the art circles and even among many ordinary Chinese, he is best known for his public art works such as the huge murals at the Beijing International Air Terminal Building, the Jianguomen Subway Station and the central hall of the China Millennium Monument.

Born into an intellectual family in Nantong, in East China's Jiangsu Province, in 1933, Yuan began his art studies at the age of 16 at the Hangzhou National Art School (now the China Academy of Fine Arts) under the guidance of master painters Dong Xiwen, Wu Dayu, Pang Xunqin, Lin Fengmian and Ni Deyi.

In 1953, Yuan continued his studies in the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, under such veteran artists as Zhang Ding and Zhang Guangyu. Since graduation, he has been teaching decorative art and public art at the former Central Academy of Arts and Design, now the Academy of the Arts and Design of Tsinghua University.

Yuan is now widely recognized as one of the founding fathers of modern Chinese public art and a pioneering art educator in decorative and public art, who has experimented with new materials, media, subjects and locations, in an effort to revive the long tradition of Chinese mural art.

"Yuan is an artist of energy and ambition who tries ceaselessly to learn from his fellow artists and students. His well-crafted works of art are a rare feast for both the eye and soul of the viewer,'' commented Wu Guanzhong, who is a master Chinese painter in his own right.

The exhibition runs through January 12.

Close

Today's Top News		Top Lifestyle News
+WHO: Big SARS outbreak unlikely ( 2004-01-10) +Imports chips into trade surplus ( 2004-01-10) +Gone -- with grace or disgrace ( 2004-01-10) +Fair system key to end pay defaults ( 2004-01-10) +Saddam declared enemy prisoner of war ( 2004-01-10)		+Black coffee taking on new, softer colours ( 2004-01-10) +Private show for public artist ( 2004-01-10) +Office romance being shown the door ( 2004-01-10) +'Give me a job so that I can survive' ( 2004-01-09) +'I just want normal life’ ( 2004-01-09)