Top national art show presents winning works

The 12th National Exhibition of Fine Arts, the highest-level art competition held every five years in China, unveiled its artworks on Dec 15 in Beijing, kicking off a show of award-winning and nominated works selected across the country in the past year.

The highlights of the 576 pieces on display, covering various genres of art, are the seven gold-award artworks, chosen to represent China's mainstream.

Thirty Years of Age, a woodcut depicting a young man's face, attracts the most attention among the gold winners because 35 years ago, Father, a farmer's face painted by Luo Zhongli, became a milestone oil painting in China's art world and won the painter great fame. Both artists are from Southwest China's Chongqing.