Golden age
It is not until the early 1980s that emerged the golden age of watercolour in
China.
Particularly, "over the past two decades or so, watercolour has made dramatic
headway," pointed out Ma Shulin, vice-director of National Art Museum of China,
a key organizer of the exhibition.
Since 1984, the art genre of watercolour has been put under an independent
category in the biennial Nationwide Fine Art Exhibition and Competition.
It is estimated that at least 3,000 well-trained Chinese artists from across
the nation have engaged themselves in watercolour painting.
And some Chinese artists have even won fans from overseas art markets.
Nowadays, watercolour is taught in most primary schools and in at least 20
universities and art academies in China. And numerous watercolour societies have
been set up in almost all the Chinese provinces and autonomous regions, except
Tibet and Qinghai, according to Ma Shulin. "The number could be much bigger if
taking into account the amateurs," said Ma, admitting that oil painting, most
probably because of its stronger visual impact, remains the most popular art
genre in China.
"Generations of Chinese watercolourists have pushed forward the boundaries of
the art genre and injected the Chinese factor into it," said veteran artist Chen
Juju, 70, whose work "Oil Seed Rape Flowers " is selected for the exhibition.
Over the past few yeas, she has noticed that younger artists have tried their
hands on different directions of watercolour art, drawing from other art genre
in terms of techniques and ideas while seeking inspirations from traditional
Chinese art and culture.
However, to attain a better position in Chinese art scene, Chinese
watercolourists should try even harder, critics say.
"Chinese watercolour works are by no means inferior to other art genres in
terms of technical sophistication and the scope of subject matters," said Wu
Jian, a young watercolourist who has come from Sichuan Province to watch the art
show. However, "most Chinese watercolour works do not seem appealing to
contemporary viewers due to the artists' insensibility to social changes and
their slow reaction to new ideas and trends in contemporary art arena," said Wu.
The exhibition runs until October 27.
