Exhibition time

August 5th, 2025- October 8th, 2025

venue

Exhibition Hall 6, Third Floor, Jiangxi Provincial Art Museum

In 1943, the master of traditional Chinese painting, Guan Shanyue, set foot on a journey to the northwest using steps as a ruler and created this batch of works that were born in the midst of war and yellow sand. Nowadays, these masterpieces carrying the historical temperature have come to Jiangxi, writing wonderful stories of artistic exchange. On August 6th, the "Camel Bells Outside the Great Wall - Guan Shanyue's Northwest Sketching and Dunhuang Copying Exhibition in the 1940s" hosted by Jiangxi Provincial Art Museum and Shenzhen Guanshanyue Art Museum opened at Jiangxi Provincial Art Museum. This exhibition showcases nearly 66 life sketches and Dunhuang replicas created by Guan Shanyue during her deep exploration of the northwest in the 1940s, leading the audience to experience the cultural warmth of the beacon era. Han Zhiyu, member of the Party Group and Deputy Director of the Department of Culture and Tourism of Jiangxi Province, announced the opening of the exhibition.

Appreciating the charm of traditional culture and appreciating the beauty of communication and mutual learning. Listening to the "camel bells outside the Great Wall" from over 70 years ago at the Jiangxi Provincial Art Museum, a must visit place in Nanchang, is unique. As Chen Junyu, the director of Guanshanyue Art Museum in Shenzhen, said in his opening speech, this exhibition marks the beginning of cooperation between the Jiangxi Provincial Museum and Guanguan Museum, which also means that there are broader prospects for cultural and artistic exchanges between Jiangxi region and the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area.

Shenzhen culture 'going global' praised

As a national key art museum, Guan Shanyue Art Museum has been dedicated to the planning of exhibitions on Guan Shanyue and 20th century Chinese art research since its establishment in 1997, and has won numerous national awards. As a cultural brand in Shenzhen, multiple exhibition brands of Guanshanyue Art Museum enjoy a high reputation nationwide. The Guanshan Yue Art Museum continuously organizes joint planning to achieve the integration of collections, creative interconnection, and even invites exhibitions. The Guan Shanyue Special Exhibition has currently toured in more than ten provinces and cities, reflecting the influence and radiation of Shenzhen cultural brands nationwide.

In 2020, Guan Shanyue Art Museum launched the "Camel Bells Outside the Great Wall - Guan Shanyue's 1940s Northwest Sketching and Dunhuang Copying Special Exhibition", which was unanimously recognized by the industry and awarded as an excellent project in the "2020 National Art Museum Collection Exhibition Season" by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. In recent years, as a typical representative of Shenzhen culture, this exhibition has frequently "traveled" to showcase the innovative achievements of Shenzhen culture to the outside world. The exhibition was exhibited at Dunhuang Academy and Xinjiang Art Museum in 2020 and 2024 respectively. This exhibition in Jiangxi once again writes a satisfactory answer sheet for Shenzhen's cultural "going global".

The sound of camel bells echoes, and the Gan River stretches endlessly. Dong Huanxia, the director of Jiangxi Provincial Art Museum, said that we use the exhibition of "Camel Bells Outside the Great Wall" as a link to make the millennium colorful Dunhuang murals and the ink and brush spirit of the Gan Po land shine together. This exhibition is also the opening work of the "Master Series of 20th Century Art History" by Jiangxi Provincial Art Museum. We will reconstruct the development spectrum of modern Chinese art from a regional perspective, and give new vitality to classic works in the contemporary context.

Jiangxi, this land full of red memories, witnesses the artistic creation imprint of Guan Shanyue. Chen Junyu told reporters that Mr. Guan Shanyue has a passion for the mountains and waters of Jiangxi. From the 1950s to the 1970s, he visited Jiangxi several times to collect scenery and sketch. The unique geography and culture of Jiangxi deeply nurtured Guan Shanyue's art, especially his passionate depiction of the revolutionary holy land of Jinggangshan, which is an important part of her art. The exhibition 'High Road into the Clouds: Spiritual Shaping and Looking Back on the Jinggang Mountains and Rivers' launched by Guan Shanyue Art Museum in 2022 vividly tells the story of Guan Shanyue and Jinggang Mountain. This exhibition has toured at the Jinggang Mountain Revolution Museum and the Eight Great Mountain People Memorial Hall, receiving rave reviews

Art and emotional resonance with the audience

The camel caravan outside the Great Wall, the laboring ethnic minority women, the majestic Qilian Mountains, the bustling markets, and the replicas of Dunhuang murals... These works full of historical warmth and artistic vitality attract the attention of the audience. During the summer vacation, many visitors came to watch the exhibition. They either quietly observe or take photos with their phones in front of the works, and in the midst of their gaze, let the artistic power, deep emotions, and pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty contained in Guan Shanyue's works flow in their hearts.

Although Guan Yi, the daughter of Mr. Guan Shanyue and honorary chairman of the Guan Shanyue Art Foundation, was not present at the scene, she delivered a speech through a reading. These works are not only crucial chapters in my father's artistic career, but also carry his sense of cultural responsibility and mission as an artist in times of national crisis

Cai Chao, Honorary Chairman of Jiangxi Artists Association and President of Jiangxi Chinese Painting Society, highly praised this exhibition. He believes that this exhibition is a deep reflection on Mr. Guan Shanyue's artistic path, and a noble tribute to the perseverance, exploration and innovation spirit of Chinese artists during that period of war.

Anti Japanese War themed works convey patriotic sentiments

In the exhibition hall, the reporter saw that many young people like to watch the Dunhuang works copied by Guan Shanyue. The curatorial team juxtaposed the copied works with photos of the murals at that time, allowing the audience to see the characteristics of Dunhuang murals from different periods, as well as appreciate the diverse themes and techniques of Guan Shan Yue Lin's paintings and their personal copying characteristics.

In front of the work 'Camel Bells Outside the Frontier', the audience carefully watched. This work is a continuous camel caravan painted by Guan Shanyue in Yumen in 1943, and Guo Moruo wrote a poem for it as a postscript. It is worth mentioning that this work is related to the War of Resistance Against Japan. According to the curator of Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Guan Shanyue depicted a camel caravan that transported Soviet anti Japanese supplies from Xinjiang to Lanzhou via Yumen, during the period of the Anti Japanese War.

"The theme exhibition of 'Camel Bells Beyond the Great Wall' is to choose the northwest region, which was a typical cultural migration during the Anti Japanese War, as the starting point for research." Chen Junyu said in interpreting the exhibition that, at the moment of commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti Fascist War, we take this as the starting point to clearly outline the spiritual map of the artist's creative career in the first half of the century, from national salvation to national rejuvenation, and to show the true meaning that art is always connected with the people's blood.

In addition to the exhibition, Chen Junyu also brought a lecture on "The Beautiful Mountains and Rivers - An Interpretation of Mr. Guan Shanyue's Life and Artistic Journey" to the audience in Jiangxi, providing a deep and systematic explanation of Mr. Guan Shanyue's life experience and artistic creation. Among them, he focuses on the creative experience of Guan Shanyue's "The Country is So Beautiful" and how this work has become a classic masterpiece in landscape painting since the founding of the People's Republic of China, enhancing the audience's understanding and comprehension of traditional Chinese culture and the development of Chinese painting.