In the development of Chinese art in the twentieth century, many predecessors had made remarkable artistic achievements while also left their touching life stories. The couple Wang Linyi and Wang Henei became acquainted with each other in France for the same interest in sculpture, and out of love for China they resolutely returned to China during the war years. Their entire life walk hand in hand from youth to oldness, their love story was considered as both a symbol of the fusion of Chinese and French art and a beautiful legend full of affection and creation.
The most valuable quality of this couple artists is that they were indifferent to fame and wealth, maintained pure minds throughout their lives, and industriously devoted all their talents and wisdom to Chinese modern sculptural creation and art education. From the period of the National Beiping Art School to the Central Academy of Fine Arts, they had followed Mr. Xu Beihong to inherit the tradition to develop the teaching method of sculpture and made significant efforts to the development of the school. This has become a much-told story at the CAFA that Mr. Wang Linyi had assisted Mr. Xu Beihong in conducting campus construction and transforming skylight art studio. In the sculptural creation, Mr. Wang was respected for his pioneering spirit of blending the Western art techniques with traditional Chinese art. He perfectly grasped the characteristics of Chinese conventional sculptures and applied them to his creation with rigorous and exquisite expertise. He set an excellent example of combining the historical themes with specific artistic forms, which is fully reflected in his monumental sculptures, such as the large-scale relief sculpture “May 30th Movement” on the monument of the People’s Heroes and the relief created for the entrance hall of the Cultural Palace of Nationalities. While for Mrs. Wang Henei, except for being the life and working partner of Mr. Wang Linyi, she was also an outstanding sculptor. She created numerous animal sculptures, pure, vigorous and lovely, showing a perfect mixture of the unique female feeling and the elegance of French sculpture, which were warmly received by people. Having always expressed grave concerns for real life and natural life in the sculpture works, Mr. Wang Linyi and Mrs. Wang Henei made great contributions to the development of the sculpture art of new China. In the teaching, they cultivated a large number of excellent art talents through the attempt of combining the norms of teaching sculpture in European countries with the traditional way of studying Chinese culture. Although they didn’t have an heir, they have students spread everywhere, for whom they showed utmost care and set a good example themselves.
The works of Mr. Wang Linyi and Mrs. Wang Henei are considered as a wealthy fortune of academic significance, which is preserved in the CAFA. With the great support of the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), the CAFA was able to co-organize this memorial exhibition of the works and literature of the two masters and reproduced their representative works to be permanently collected by both NAMOC and CAFA. With the help of three students of the artists, Mr. Sheng Yang, Ms. Chang Saone and Mr. Cao Chunsheng, the curators Mr. Cao Qinghui, Mr. Wang Wei and colleagues of the CAFA Art Museum conducted an academic research on the creation course of the two artists through sorting out all kinds of related documents and literature materials. So that the exhibition could present the art life and creative world of the two artists by using plenty of works, manuscripts, and film videos. During the displaying time in the NAMOC, the exhibition received positive responses from the art circles and public audience as they were deeply moved by the two masters’ noble characters, rational minds and artistic accomplishments. On the occasion of the spring semester, it was believed that the exhibition might take all teachers and students of the CAFA to receive a lecture through the works and literatures of the two predecessors and share the couple’s affection for sculpture.
Fan Di’an
Director of The Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA)
November 2015
In the development of Chinese art in the twentieth century, many predecessors had made remarkable artistic achievements while also left their touching life stories. The couple Wang Linyi and Wang Henei became acquainted with each other in France for the same interest in sculpture, and out of love for China they resolutely returned to China during the war years. Their entire life walk hand in hand from youth to oldness, their love story was considered as both a symbol of the fusion of Chinese and French art and a beautiful legend full of affection and creation.
The most valuable quality of this couple artists is that they were indifferent to fame and wealth, maintained pure minds throughout their lives, and industriously devoted all their talents and wisdom to Chinese modern sculptural creation and art education. From the period of the National Beiping Art School to the Central Academy of Fine Arts, they had followed Mr. Xu Beihong to inherit the tradition to develop the teaching method of sculpture and made significant efforts to the development of the school. This has become a much-told story at the CAFA that Mr. Wang Linyi had assisted Mr. Xu Beihong in conducting campus construction and transforming skylight art studio. In the sculptural creation, Mr. Wang was respected for his pioneering spirit of blending the Western art techniques with traditional Chinese art. He perfectly grasped the characteristics of Chinese conventional sculptures and applied them to his creation with rigorous and exquisite expertise. He set an excellent example of combining the historical themes with specific artistic forms, which is fully reflected in his monumental sculptures, such as the large-scale relief sculpture “May 30th Movement” on the monument of the People’s Heroes and the relief created for the entrance hall of the Cultural Palace of Nationalities. While for Mrs. Wang Henei, except for being the life and working partner of Mr. Wang Linyi, she was also an outstanding sculptor. She created numerous animal sculptures, pure, vigorous and lovely, showing a perfect mixture of the unique female feeling and the elegance of French sculpture, which were warmly received by people. Having always expressed grave concerns for real life and natural life in the sculpture works, Mr. Wang Linyi and Mrs. Wang Henei made great contributions to the development of the sculpture art of new China. In the teaching, they cultivated a large number of excellent art talents through the attempt of combining the norms of teaching sculpture in European countries with the traditional way of studying Chinese culture. Although they didn’t have an heir, they have students spread everywhere, for whom they showed utmost care and set a good example themselves.
The works of Mr. Wang Linyi and Mrs. Wang Henei are considered as a wealthy fortune of academic significance, which is preserved in the CAFA. With the great support of the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), the CAFA was able to co-organize this memorial exhibition of the works and literature of the two masters and reproduced their representative works to be permanently collected by both NAMOC and CAFA. With the help of three students of the artists, Mr. Sheng Yang, Ms. Chang Saone and Mr. Cao Chunsheng, the curators Mr. Cao Qinghui, Mr. Wang Wei and colleagues of the CAFA Art Museum conducted an academic research on the creation course of the two artists through sorting out all kinds of related documents and literature materials. So that the exhibition could present the art life and creative world of the two artists by using plenty of works, manuscripts, and film videos. During the displaying time in the NAMOC, the exhibition received positive responses from the art circles and public audience as they were deeply moved by the two masters’ noble characters, rational minds and artistic accomplishments. On the occasion of the spring semester, it was believed that the exhibition might take all teachers and students of the CAFA to receive a lecture through the works and literatures of the two predecessors and share the couple’s affection for sculpture.
Fan Di’an
Director of The Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA)
November 2015
