Exhibition period: January 1st, 2011- June 30th, 2011

Exhibition location: Exhibition Hall on the Second Floor of Guan Shanyue Art Museum

Organizer: Guan Shanyue Art Museum

     Since modern times, with the change of Chinese people's worldview and the allowance of objective transportation conditions, it has become possible for painters to travel abroad and engage in on-site sketching. At the same time, how the brush and ink language of Chinese painting truly portrays overseas themes has become another new issue faced by modern Chinese painters. Guan Shanyue (1912-2000), as one of the few Chinese painters in modern art history with multiple overseas sketching experiences, constantly explored the expression of foreign themes and left behind a large number of works in each period. This undoubtedly has certain academic significance for exploring the expression of 20th century Chinese brush and ink language and exotic themes.

     It is worth noting that in the special historical background of the early stage of New China's diplomacy and the Cold War pattern formed by the two major camps led by the United States and the Soviet Union, Guan Shanyue and his contemporaries had the special opportunity to visit foreign countries due to special government assignments. This group of Chinese paintings, which emerged in a special period and country, is a manifestation of the painter's exotic aspirations, and also a reflection of the painter's glorious mission towards exotic customs and cultural concepts. Therefore, it has historical significance in cultural exchange and cultural diplomacy. Therefore, our museum attempts to start with the "Guan Shanyue Foreign Sketching Exhibition", to sort out and showcase the academic nature of foreign sketches by Chinese painters in the 20th century, especially in the 1950s and 1960s, in order to attract further attention from the academic community.

    In this exhibition, we will focus on the European sketching of Guan Shanyue in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, while also making reasonable extensions, showcasing his foreign sketching before and after the founding of the People's Republic of China and the reform and opening up. The exhibition is divided into three parts: Firstly, in the 1940s, it mainly showcases the sketches of Guan Shi in Thailand and the Southeast Asian region during the 1940s; 2、 In the 1950s and 1960s, it comprehensively showcased Guan's early sketches in European countries such as Poland, France, and Switzerland; 3、 After the 1980s, it mainly showcased Guan's creations based on landscape sketching in Japan, the United States, and other places. In addition, we will also present relevant literature and historical materials from different periods to everyone, hoping to provide a relatively complete visual material for audiences and scholars who are concerned about the fate of 20th century Chinese painting art, as well as a historical associative space.