Preface
On the occasion of the third anniversary of Mr. Zhou Lingzhao's passing, the CAFA Art Museum, with profound respect, presents the exhibition "Painted in the Depths of Time – Exhibition of Works Donated by Mr. Zhou Lingzhao". This special exhibition commemorates Mr. Zhou's artistic life and showcases his outstanding contributions as an artist, designer, and art educator.
This exhibition centers on over 200 works that Mr. Zhou Lingzhao authorized for donation and were carefully organized by his daughter, Professor Zhou Rong. These works not only reflect the features of the times but also embody the principles of creation. Now housed in the CAFA Art Museum, they have entered the public sphere and serve research and education, allowing their value to be more fully unfolded in both academic and public dimensions. For this reason, we hope that through this exhibition, the artistic footprints and spiritual brilliance of a "great master" from the Academy of Fine Arts will be recreated in the space of the art museum, enabling them to transcend the accumulation of time, be rediscovered and felt in the present, and continue to illuminate the path of those who come after.
Mr. Zhou Lingzhao's artistic career has always resonated in harmony with the historical process of modern and contemporary China: he documented social scenes with his paintbrush, participated in national construction through design, and nurtured the younger generation with the heart of a teacher. What his works carry is not only his personal artistic style, but also the spiritual tradition of generations of teachers at the Academy of Fine Arts who "aspire through art and take responsibility through art". In 2019, our museum held the "Shaping New China: Mr. Zhou Lingzhao's Centenary Art Exhibition", which initially established an academic framework for Mr. Zhou's artistic contributions. Building on this, this exhibition conducts more in-depth research focusing on the donated works, with an emphasis on exploring Mr. Zhou Lingzhao's artistic spirit and his visual language. From battlefield sketches to the shaping of national image, from painting exploration to public design, Mr. Zhou responded to the times with extensive themes and diverse media, and constructed a set of image systems that can be publicly read and remembered by history with distinct visual orientation and accessible aesthetic atmosphere. This is not only the condensation of his personal life experience, but also a vivid testimony to the formation and evolution of China's modern visual culture.
The donated works this time are rich in content and diverse in types. On the one hand, they have expanded the collection spectrum of the art museum, making the "Collection Sequence of 20th-Century Chinese Artists" more structurally complete. On the other hand, they provide precious materials for studying the image language, narrative methods, and public communication of modern Chinese art and design, and effectively promote the academic transformation and public presentation of the collections. At the same time, they are in line with the art museum's four-in-one development path of "collection, research, exhibition, and education". These four aspects support each other and form an operational system oriented towards the public, academia, and the future.
This exhibition is dedicated to Mr. Zhou Lingzhao. May we, in "the depths of time," rediscover that enduring clarity, firmness, and warmth; and may this spirit continue to inspire today's artists in their classrooms, creations, and lives, prompting them to constantly reflect on how to find their own brushstrokes and brilliance in the scroll of the times.
Jin Jun
Director of CAFA Art Museum
January 2026
2026-02-01
2026-02-20
2026-02-27
2026-03-02
2026-02-05
