Exhibition Name: "Blooming Flowers of the Era - Special Exhibition of Guan Shanyue Flower and Bird Paintings in the Art  Museum Collection"

Exhibition period: December 20, 2019- July 2020 (annual exhibition)

Exhibition location: Guan Shanyue Exhibition Hall, 2nd Floor

This exhibition is themed around the collection of Guan Shanyue Flower and Bird Painting works, divided into four parts: "Lingnan aftertaste", "The plum blossoms of Guan welcome spring", "The New Appearance of the 'three cold-weather friends'", and "The literati's heart of the painter". A total of 35 works are exhibited, examining the art of Guan Shanyue Flower and Bird Painting in the context of 20th century transformation, revealing how new expressions of new era concepts and traditional meanings of flower and bird painting can achieve modern transformation, thereby highlighting the contemporary significance and connotation of Guan Shanyue Flower and Bird Painting art.

 （1） Lingnan aftertaste

In the 1940s, Xu Beihong referred to Guan Shanyue as a "Red Cotton Giant Banyan Villager", and in his later years, he often used "Red Cotton Giant Banyan Villager" articles to show that he did not forget his past hometown feelings. Red cotton and giant banyan are also popular Lingnan local themes portrayed by the Guan family, in addition to banana, danli, water lilies, and so on. Since the late 19th century, local Lingnan painters Ju Chao and Ju Lian brothers have taken sketching and realism as their main interests, dedicating themselves to depicting local Lingnan flowers and trees, greatly expanding the subject matter of flower and bird painting. The method of collision between water and powder created by Ju Shi, as a unique technical language, has contributed to the distinctive art style in the Lingnan region. The three outstanding figures of Lingnan, Gao Jianfu, Gao Qifeng, and Chen Shuren, all came from the family of Ju and inherited the traditional techniques of depicting Lingnan flowers and trees, as well as the techniques of hitting water and powder. These became important references for Guan Shanyue to depict Lingnan flower and wood themes. The Lingnan flowers and trees depicted by Guan Shanyue are unique due to their perspective as landscape painters. They have both interesting brushstrokes and vivid forms of objects, which to some extent demonstrates the painter's inheritance and breakthrough in this theme.

（2） The plum blossoms of Guan welcome spring

Mr. Guan rebelled against the legacy of the ancients in painting plum blossoms, and his wisdom was not only inspired by Mao Zedong's revolutionary philosophy, but more importantly, as a landscape painter, he fully utilized his artistic language skills that were good at creating an overall atmosphere. The peculiar composition, vigorous brushwork, and all of these tend to pursue an aggressive momentum and fast-paced movement as a whole, forming the stylistic features of Mr. Guan's plum blossom painting. After the 1980s, Mr. Guan's plum blossoms entered a state of harmony, becoming more unrestrained and incorporating his personal brushwork and perspective as a landscape painter into his creations. Guan Shi used his lightning fast and fierce brushstrokes to depict the exuberant spirit in the chest of a weathered Chinese artist.

（3） The New Appearance of the "three cold-weather friends"

Pine, bamboo, and plum are collectively known as the "three cold-weather friends", which is a favorite theme of Guan Shanyue besides portraying the image of plum blossoms alone. However, in the expression of this theme, Guan Shanyue often transforms the traditional imagery of pine, bamboo, and plum frost resistance into a vibrant vitality after the frost. Not only that, he also incorporated his personal thoughts into it. In this unit, we not only see him using the theme of "three cold-weather friends" to express the joy of reform and opening up, but also see him using "three cold-weather friends" to fight against frost and express his commemoration of the victory of the Anti Japanese War. In Guan Shanyue's works on the theme of "three cold-weather friends" in his later years, we see his transformation and continuation of traditional literati sentiments, as he said in his later years, "carrying on the past and opening up the future". Especially through the ink experiments of flower and bird paintings, we explore the tradition of literati painting, express the spirit of the times and new personal emotions, which may be the significance of his "Three Friends New Style".

（4） The literati's heart of the painter

Like many Chinese painters of the 20th century, Guan Shanyue inevitably faced the dilemma of modern transformation of traditional brushwork, as well as the choice of elegance and vulgarity. The Lingnan School of Painting is a Chinese painting school with innovative aspirations in the tide of modern and contemporary Chinese art transformation. It consciously starts from reality, transforms Chinese painting through sketching, and seeks its own national tradition from Tang and Song painting and the Eastern cultural circle to respond to the impact from the West. How to combine traditional Chinese painting language with Western visual experience to express feelings from real life is Guan Shanyue's persistent artistic exploration direction. In Guan Shanyue's bird paintings, we can see his transformation and continuation of traditional literati emotions, as he said in his later years, "carrying on the past and opening up the future." Especially through the ink and brush experiments of flower and bird paintings, we can explore the tradition of literati painting, express the spirit of the times and new personal emotions.