For the love of art

Power couple Liu Yiqian and Wang Wei continue their prolific streak with the opening of a new Long Museum in Chongqing

While artists, officials and guests gathered in the banquet hall to celebrate the opening of the Long Museum in Chongqing, Liu Yiqian was fast asleep in the hallway with his feet propped on the coffee table.

Given his hectic schedule ahead of opening night, no one could blame him.

The 53-year-old billionaire is one of China's best-known art collectors. He co-founded the first Long Museum in Shanghai in 2012 before opening a second in the same city in 2014.

The Long Museum Chongqing's debut exhibition is 100 Years of Chinese Art, which features 137 iconic Chinese artworks. Photos by Gao Erqiang / China Daily

The museums have gone on to hold exhibitions that have raised the eyebrows of art experts from home and abroad.

Long Museum Chongqing, which opened on May 27, takes up the first three floors of the Guohua Financial Center, which is owned by Liu's investment company. A fourth Long Museum is set to open in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, in two years.

Liu made his fortune in the early 1990s playing the stock market and is today president of several listed companies. He began investing in art in the 1990s, with his interest mainly in ancient Chinese art.

His wife, Wang Wei, has also amassed an impressive collection of modern art and "revolutionary" art created in China between the 1950s and 1970s.

Yet most people would argue that it is Wang who has the true passion for art - including Liu.

"Be it to sell or rent, I built the towers (Guohua Financial Center) to make money from them," he said during his speech at the Chongqing banquet. "My wife decided she wanted the first three floors for a museum."

He also went on to praise his wife for her efforts as the director of all three Long Museums and joked how he was getting used to being referred to as "the husband of Wang Wei, head of the Long Museum".

Wang's personal art collection includes pieces from the early 20th century as well as Chinese and Asian contemporary works. She says she hopes she can introduce more cutting-edge artists to the wider public in China.

As curator of the Chongqing museum's debut exhibition, 100 Years of Chinese Art, she has gathered 137 iconic Chinese artworks spanning 1911 to 2011 to present in five "chapters".

The display, which is presented across three large halls, begins with works from the early 20th century, when modern and Western art were introduced to China, and shows audiences the process of how Chinese modern art gradually developed its distinctive style.

The exhibition also explains how the founding of New China in 1949 brought about drastic changes to the nation's art scene and how it was used as a major political tool to highlight the accomplishments of leaders and people's efforts in nation-building.

Featured are some important artworks from the 1980s, when China began to open up to the world, that reflect how artists were inspired and even overwhelmed by the influx of Western fashion and ideas.

Among the exhibits are paintings from official school textbooks, iconic images in Chinese art history and paintings that have sold for record-breaking sums in recent years.

Wang specially chose a large number of pieces by artists from Sichuan province for the show, saying that their achievements have not been truly reflected by other museums.

"Chongqing has great significance in the modern Chinese art scene. In addition, I want to be where we're most needed, rather than join a hyperactive art community, such as in Beijing," Wang says when asked why she chose the southwestern city for the new Long Museum.

Pang Maokun, head of the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, agrees that locals hardly know anything about the achievements of artists from Chongqing and Sichuan.

He feels the new Long Museum will play a positive role in the development of Chongqing's art ecology.

"Long Museum has collected thousands of top-notch artworks from home and abroad that span more than 1,000 years. The quantity and quality of the collection is second to none in China," he says. "More importantly, the professionalism and dedication of Long Museum will be a source of inspiration for other museum workers in the region."

In addition to introducing famous art from around the world, Long Museum Chongqing also aims to serve as an educational center for art schools and institutions.

Wang says graduate students are welcome to do research at the museum, and that internship opportunities will be created.

She adds that the museum's schedule has been fixed up to 2021 and includes an exhibition of American artist James Turrell's works as well as one highlighting the work of female artists.

Directors of acclaimed institutions such as London's Tate Gallery and the Whitney Museum of American Art have expressed an interest in Long Museum exhibitions and are eager to participate in its activities.

"People sometimes ask whether I have a team of consultants. Actually, it's one person - just me," Wang says. "But I never feel tired. There's only positive energy running through my veins.

"I'm truly happy with what I do because it has brought me a great sense of satisfaction and fulfillment."

zhangkun@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 10/14/2016 page21)