Ren's embroidery piece, Childhood, features changing
hues. |
This month is your last
chance to visit the China National Museum before it shuts up shop for four years
to undergoe a massive renovation project.
The museum is currently hosting several exhibitions, covering everything from
cultural relics and ancient furniture to industrial art and state-level gifts.
The central hall houses a large exhibition of works by 268 Chinese industrial
art masters.
Exhibits on show include ceramics, lacquer ware, silk embroidery, Thangkas,
leather silhouettes, blankets, handcraft screens, as well as stone, jade, clay
and wood sculptures. The exhibition serves as a collective presentation of the
highest level of Chinese industrial art techniques and the artists who
specialize in them.
Among those artists are Yang Shihui, Wang Lin, Lin Rukui, Yang Houxing and
Wang Xiliang. Ren Huixian (1915-2003) is the oldest artist to have her work
displayed at the exhibition. Born in Jiangsu Province, Ren found fame in 1952
when one of her works was chosen as a state gift by Chairman Mao Zedong for his
visit to the former Soviet Union.
Ren's embroidery piece, Childhood, is one of the exhibits' main attractions.
Made at the age of 79, this portrait work is delicately executed with a nimble
needle technique and graceful lines. Using a dozen different colored threads,
Ren made the piece layer by layer. The crossed lines of the thread produce a
kind of three-dimensional effect and the smoothness of silk. From different
angles, visitors to the exhibition can enjoy the changes of color: soft and pale
from the front, shiny and bright from the sides.
Among the exhibits, the image of Bodhisattva, who represents mercy and
supreme wisdom in Buddhism, appears many times. Tang Chunpu's Avalokitesvara
(Bodhisattva with a thousand arms), a wood sculpture covered with gold lacquer,
emphasizes the imposing and solemn manner of the goddess. Cheng Shumei's work,
entitled Bodhisattva Delivers All Beings, combines the techniques of jade
carving, ivory carving and handicrafts inlaying. Zhang Mingjuan's Gold and Jade
Image of Bodhisattva, decorated with gold plates, diamonds, rubies, emeralds,
natural pear, coral and other gems, shows the effect of color harmony and
brilliance.
Several other exhibitions are going on the same time, including the two
cultural relic exhibitions from Hubei and Sichuan provinces, an exhibition of
gifts given to Chinese leaders from the present day to the founding of the
People's Republic, a preserved cultural relics exhibition from the museum's own
collection and a display of Ming and Qing dynasty furniture.
Before the renovation work begins in April, the museum's entire collection of
620,000 works will be moved out in batches. They will be displayed in other
museums, including at an exhibition to be held during the Olympic Games at the
Capital Museum.
The restoration project, which will cost around 2.6 billion yuan, will see
the museum expanded to 192,000 square meters including an affiliated cultural
relic protection center.
Price: 20-30 yuan.
Time:8:30am-4:30pm, until Jan 30
Address: China
National Museum, east side of Tian'anmen Square.
Tel:010-6512-8901
