18 Tuesday, March 20, 2018 LIFE CHINA DAILY HONG KONG EDITION BEACON OF CREATIVITY The China Academy of Art, one of the most prestigious cradles for artists in the country, turns 90 this year. Wang Kaihao speaks to Xu Jiang, its director, about his plans.

u Jiang, director of the China Academy of Art, rushed to Zheji­ ang’s provincial capital Hangzhou, from Beijing on Thursday after the end of the We have to embrace other first session of 13th Chinese People’s Political X Consultative Conference National Committee. cultures as well to form This was because the CPPCC National Committee member had an urgent photo new ideas based on our shoot to attend. The next day, he joined more than 500 own perspectives.” teachers and students from the academy at Xu Jiang, director of the China Academy of Art the foot of Gushan Hill by the West Lake, the best­known landscape in Hangzhou. The group gathered there to honor their prede­ showcase the Chinese aesthetics. cessors who founded this school, one of the Despite his moves to promote Chinese aes­ most prestigious cradles of learning for art­ thetic values, Xu says his aim is not to have an ists in China. ethnocentric movement. Just as his prede­ In 1928, around 30 faculty members and cessors did in 1928, Xu, who studied oil paint­ 50­odd students from the school took a simi­ ing in Germany, seeks to include Western art. lar photo at the same spot shortly after its For instance, the CAA’s China Design inauguration. Among them were many top Museum will open in April at the academy’s names from Chinese art circle such as Lin Xiangshan Campus. Fengmian, Pan Tianshou and Li Keran. One of its opening exhibitions will feature The location of the academy’s campus has items influenced by Bauhaus — the tran­ changed four times over the years. In the lat­ sient but globally influential German art est group photo there are many foreign school. faces. But Xu says the school remains true to The Xianghsan event will be the first stop its ideals. of a worldwide tour to mark the centennial “Students today still follow the principles of the birth of the Bauhaus school in 2019. of the founders,” says Xu, 63. Another exhibition will feature Italian “The pursuit to blend cultures is not out of fashion design. And Portuguese architect date even now. In 1928, it was revolutionary Alvaro Siza, a Pritzker Award winner who as Chinese traditions were labeled as old, The Xiangshan Campus of the China Academy of Art, designed by Pritzker Prize winner Wang Shu, is a popular tourist destination in Hangzhou. designed the museum, will also have a solo compared with ‘newer’ Western ones.” PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY exhibition at the museum. Xu, an acclaimed oil painter, who has led “We have to embrace other cultures as the CAA since 2001, says the institution’s well to form new ideas based on our own creation of a complete academic system was perspectives,” Xu says. a major achievement for the school. When it comes to technology, Xu says the Then, it was a breakthrough for a Chinese country needs to usher in a consciousness of fine art school to introduce Western sculp­ cultural traditions into the field. ture and set up a design school. “My grandson is only 2,” says Xu. “He can Xu also says that the CAA, which is also hardly understand this world. However, each his alma mater, is the perfect place to launch time a mobile phone rings, he will immedi­ a revival of Chinese traditional culture. ately respond and tell his mother to answer it. “Thanks to our affinity to the West Lake, “This generation is heavily reliant on digi­ many artistic styles developed here are deep­ tal devices. It’s our duty to develop new for­ ly rooted in Chinese philosophy,” says Xu, mats to help them not only accept who half­jokingly refers himself as “a poet”. traditional culture but to pass it on.” “When you reside by the lake, which has a In a major development, the construction rich history, you gradually develop feelings of a new CAA campus is set to begin in and you cannot help expressing them in poet­ Liangzhu, a town in the west of Hangzhou, ic ways. That’s why the academy has always in April. Xu sees it as a way to connect the been a major source of Chinese fine art.” past with the future. The CAA has also been in the forefront of A classroom featuring students of the China Academy of Art in Xu Jiang, director of the China Academy of Art, speaks at the ceremony Liangzhu is a hub of an ancient culture experimentation thanks to the West Lake 1955. on Friday to mark the 90th anniversary of the academy’s founding. dating back 5,000 years, whose relics are influence. nominated as China’s candidate for UNES­ Giving an example of this, he says that they inspire craftsmanship and creativity. academy remains a pathfinder. promote the country’s cultural confidence. CO World Heritage status in 2019. Liangzhu shortly after taking up the director’s office, Recalling his gamble, Xu says: “I was The academy’s history has been compiled Explaining his idea, he says its differs is close to Hangzhou’s new development he established a school for animation, one of under heavy pressure for supporting him. into an encyclopedic work called China Acad­ from so­called “Orientalism” in which East­ that focuses on scientific research. the earliest in Chinese fine art schools. “People could not understand his architec­ emy of Art: A Journey of 90 Years, compris­ ern cultures were judged from a Western Xu is planning another experiment. He Also, every freshman was given a pair of ture at first. However, as consciousness for tra­ ing 16 volumes. It was published earlier this perspective. “With a clear understanding of aims to start a design school at the campus, writing brushes and a copy book to promote ditions developed, the criticism died down.” month to mark the academy’s 90th birthday. Chinese paintings and other visual art where art students learn natural sciences calligraphy. Wang won the Pritzker Prize in 2012, the Meanwhile, a commemorative exhibition, forms, we can better reflect our identity and for a semester. One of his biggest gambles, Xu says, was first architect of Chinese nationality to win which offers a panoramic view of the devel­ speak for our own cultural consciousness in “This is to combine science and fine art to to invite his friend Wang Shu to start an the world’s top architecture award. And the opment of the CAA is to be inaugurated at the world,” he says. encourage crossovers,” he says. architecture department in 2007. Xiangshan Campus of the CAA, designed by the National Art Museum of China in Bei­ “When we revitalize our traditions, it’s not “Liangzhu represents original Chinese An architecture department had never Wang to recreate the atmosphere of the tra­ jing on March 25. to simply copy old formats,” Xu says. “We culture. And with the help of the sciences we been set up within a Chinese fine art school. ditional Chinese countryside, is now a popu­ With the publication and the exhibition, need to give it space and let its roots grow in can create (original culture) now.” Wang’s methodology is unconventional: lar tourist destination in Hangzhou. Xu aims to create a comprehensive academ­ modern society.” He teaches students carpentry and even Reflecting on his experiences while lead­ ic system of Eastern aesthetic values — a Separately, he says that media channels Contact the writer at wangkaihao@ encourages them to write novels, claiming ing the CAA, Xu says it is crucial that the work he compares to the Renaissance — to like animation and art design in films can chinadaily.com.cn

and the artistic concept of Chinese literati painting and were greatly influenced by his Companions in color: lifelong alliance forges duo’s vivid styles work. All through their careers, Zhao and Yang retained their independence when it came By FANG AIQING to choosing subjects for their paintings, [email protected] even during the “cultural revolution” (1966­ 76), when landscape painting was regarded With their paint brushes in hand for some as bourgeois. 60 years, Zhao Wenliang, 81, and Yang During that period they used small wood­ Yushu, 74, have experienced the dramatic en boxes to carry paint sets hidden in their changes in social history and artistic dis­ clothes as they wandered around Beijing’s course since the 1950s. Yuyuantan Park, Beihai Park and any other And with little formal training, the duo parks with relatively loose supervision. They remain largely self­taught, which helped started to paint as soon as there was no one them develop their independent styles quite else around. different from the mainstream taste for real­ While Zhao and Yang painted together ism favored in that era. and supported each other for more than half While they remained marginalized and a century, they managed to retain their dis­ poor throughout their lives, the duo persist­ tinctive personal characteristics. And ed with painting. And their artworks and although their works are mixed together at life experiences are soon to be shown again the exhibition, it is easy to spot who painted at the Inside­Out Art Museum in Beijing, them. which opens on March 24. Some of their paintings of landscapes and Zhao, who started painting in 1951 by Left: Zhao Wenliang (right) and Yang Yushu (second right) paint at a Beijing park in the winter of 1985. Right: A landscape painting by Zhao dreams from the 1980s, which are directly copying Soviet paintings, began to study oil Wenliang in 1968. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY related to their personal emotions, appear painting at the Xihua Art Preparatory to convey a sense of contemporary art. School in 1957, where he met Yang two years on thick textures and dark tones. realistic sketching, they intentionally ignore painters lacked any systematic training in “I think there are strong tendencies of later. The private cram school provided However, since the two teachers at the physical details and replace them with Impressionistic techniques, or had any under­ purity, aestheticism and lyricism in their them with a free environment to learn the school where the painters studied were rough strokes. standing of the Western concept of modern­ paintings, which tend to blur the tension basic skills of painting. trained in Japan, their concept of color was According to Su Wei, one of the curators ism. Instead, it seems that the two painters between art and time,” says curator Su. Not interested in sketching, Zhao turned influenced by Impressionism, which of the exhibition, the similarity in their tech­ had developed an awareness of Impression­ Although in poor health, Zhao and Yang to still life and devoted his time to develop­ focused on the dynamic expression of color niques is one possible explanation why their ism that actively influenced their work. are still creating and modifying previous ing his own style of color use. After studying and exterior light. paintings are sometimes misunderstood as At the same time, their creations were paintings. As Yang once told the media, sketching for three years, Yang started to Zhao and Yang were impressed by the belonging to the genres of Impressionism or also filled with the freehand brushwork of “Sometimes it takes a lifetime to figure out learn painting under Zhao from 1962. teachers’ “six­character” concept which saw Fauvism. traditional Chinese painting, especially who you are and what art is. Art is the Mainstream art at the time followed the them add gray between the blue and the Yet according to Wang Pengjie, a doctoral their works of the 1980s, after the duo met expression of freedom and everyone is equal Soviet style, which focused on realism and purple as a transition color. This concept candidate of art theory at the Academy of Arts Liu Haisu. They appreciated Liu’s combina­ before art.” the pursuit of the lifelike, with an emphasis can be seen in their paintings and instead of and Design at Tsinghua University, both tion of Western Expressionist techniques The exhibition will run through July 1.