“2020 National Exhibition Season of Brilliant Collection Works from Art Museum in China Organized by Ministry of culture and Tourism”
The Gene of Sculpture:
Various traditions in the construction of sculpture teaching system in CAFA in the 1950s and 1960s
Organizer: CAFA Art Museum
Exhibition Time: 2020/11/20–2021/03
Location: Gallery 4F, CAFA Art Museum
“The Gene of Sculpture” exhibition is a program of the “2020 National Exhibition Season of Brilliant Collection Works from Art Museums in China” organized by Ministry of Culture and Tourism. It is also the eighth exhibition of the CAFA Art Museum Select Collection Series. By combing through CAFAM’s collection, the series exhibition aims to construct the museum’s narrative based on the “'history, spirit and value’ of CAFA and its predecessors, and to contribute to CAFA being an active part of the narrative of modern and contemporary Chinese art history and art education history”. The series exhibits artworks based on themes regarding modern art history, in an organized way.
This exhibition focuses on the “sculpture” of CAFA in the 1950s and 1960s. By combining with the history of teaching and creation at the Department of Sculpture of CAFA, and combing through and exhibiting relevant collection, the exhibition hopes to analyze the function of multiple traditions on the formation of the teaching system related to sculpture.
Due to the limit of collected works and documentation, the exhibition still has space to improve. For now, the exhibition will only showcase the historical fact behind the creation of the works in a certain period of time, and hopefully arouse the viewers’ reflection on the history.
Influenced by COVID-19, the exhibition is held in two stages, respectively online and offline. The exhibition’s first stage was held online from August 2020; the second stage offline is held at CAFAM 4F beginning November 20, 2020.
Exhibition structure:
Part 1: Experience from French sculpture: Teachers who studied in France and their inheritance
The sculpture major in modern China was introduced mainly by students who studied abroad. From 1934, when the National Art School in Beiping established sculpture major, to 1950, when Central Academy of Fine Arts was founded, the responsible teachers in the sculpture department, such as Wang Jingyuan, Wang Linyi, Liu Kaiqu, Zhou Qingding, have all studied sculpture in France. After 1950, teachers like Wang Linyi, Hua Tianyou, Liu Kaiqu, Zeng Zhushao and Zheng Ke who had academic experience in France, along with their students Wang Bingzhao, Situ Jie, Fu Tianchou, continued the tradition of French sculpture in their teaching practice at CAFA.
Part 2: Introduction of Soviet experience: Students who studied in the Soviet Union and the Klindukhov Sculpture Training Course
After New China was founded, how to lead the sculpture education to a normalized path, and how to improve China's sculpture teaching system? Learning from Soviet Union's higher art education system became the most urgent task.
On the one hand, the art from Soviet Union was largely introduced to China, with exhibitions held around the country, on the other hand, the Ministry of Culture "sent" Qian Shaowu, Dong Zuyi, Cao Chunsheng, Situ Zhaoguang and Wang Keqing to study in Soviet Union. They all came back becoming teachers at CAFA. Furthermore, Nikolai Klindukhov from the Surikov Art Institute was invited to China to hold a sculpture training course. By the early 1960s, the teaching experience from Soviet Union blended into, and played an important role in the teaching of the sculpture department at CAFA.
Part 3: Exploration of Chinese national sculpture tradition in teaching
The birth of New China needed support from national culture. The new cultural and artistic environment needed art to learn from the good qualities from abroad, and create unique style with Chinese national characters. It prompted sculpture department, which originated from the west, to look at its own tradition while exploring its national gene. Meanwhile, sculptors themselves also had the wish of carrying forward the Chinese sculpture tradition in their art and teaching practice.
As one of the CAFAM’s trademark programs, the CAFA Art Museum Select Collection Series has been held for multiple times since 2012. By combing through CAFAM’s collection, the series exhibition aims to construct the museum’s narrative based on the “'history, spirit and value’ of CAFA and its predecessors, and to contribute to CAFA being an active part of the narrative of modern and contemporary Chinese art history and art education history”. The series exhibits artworks based on themes regarding modern art history, in an organized way.
For years, the CAFA Art Museum Select Collection Series attached importance to the interrelation between themes of different exhibitions. On the one hand, we try to avoid repeating existing themes in our exhibitions, and emphasize “freshness” of the themes by paying attention to topics which haven’t received thorough research, but are inspirational in understanding the history of art education at CAFA. We hope to push forward relevant research through the exhibitions, and expand discussions around relevant topics. On the other hand, we emphasize “freshness” on selection and organization of the exhibited works from the collection, by exhibiting works that have rarely been exhibited and promoting new works to the public, or by digging into new relations between works through new academic perspectives. We hope to push forward collection studies and construction of an advanced system of collection through the exhibitions.
In recent years, by adding key works from artists including Wang Linyi, Hua Tianyou, Liu Kaiqu and Su Hui to the collection, the sculpture collection of CAFAM has become more systematical. By combing through the museum collection and compiling the list of select works from the collection, CAFA Art Museum sorted out several important sculpture works that haven’t been recognized by the public, which include modern sculptures created before the Reform and Opening Up, folk sculptures and ancient sculptures. By going through past themes of sculpture exhibitions from the series, the previous exhibitions have combed through history of CAFA and its predecessor National Art School in Beiping, and early construction of majors including western painting, Chinese painting and printmaking. The sculpture major, as an important part of teaching during this period, had not been exhibited individually due to the lack of collected works.
Therefore, “The Gene of Sculpture” exhibition will focus on sculpture in CAFA from the period of time before the Reform and Opening Up. We hope to dig into the relations between CAFAM collection and early construction of sculpture major in CAFA by researching into relevant collection and planning exhibitions around the theme.
Modern sculpture in China, as a genre introduced from the west in the 20th century, inherited its artistic ideas and teaching methods both from the west. In the sculpture major established in the early days, teaching practice was conducted following the tradition and standards from the west, especially from France. In the meantime, China enjoys well-established tradition of sculpture-making and engraving in the folk. The tradition had long been regarded as a craftsmanship rather than a traditional art form. However, after modern sculpture was introduced to China, sculpture artists began to compare China’s old sculpture traditions with Ancient Greek and Roman sculpture art, and hoped to promote the ancient and excellent Chinese sculpture tradition. In the development of Chinese sculpture art, there have always existed questions of how to absorb western traditions and inherit local traditions.
1950s-60s was a period when Chinese modern sculpture developed greatly. In CAFA on sculpture teaching practice, teachers learnt from wide resources, explored and constructed sculpture teaching system that was suitable for specific situation of China; on creative practice, there were a great number of commemorative or decorative sculpture being created and erected in important public locations, including the Monument to the People’s Heroes relief. Many of them have become classics of the time, and achieved great social impact. Because of the special character of the sculpture major, the teaching and creative practice has been combining closely with each other and benefiting mutually. The exploration of creation and teaching benefited from French classical realistic experience and ideas brought back by teachers who studied in France, and Soviet socialist realistic teaching model brought back by students who studied in the Soviet Union and Soviet experts. In the face of the reality that the resourceful folk sculpture tradition and skills are in need of inheritance and promotion, there has always been the thinking of how to inherit multiple traditions. It was through the inheritance, selection and merging of multiple traditions that a rather complete sculpture teaching system and basic sculpture artistic ideas formed in CAFA in the 1960s. Different traditional sculptural elements from France, the Soviet Union and China gradually merged into the new sculpture teaching system, and became a part of the academy’s overall teaching system. Through the teaching system, the sculpture major of CAFA also formed its “gene of sculpture” that passes on from generation to generation.
By combining with the history of teaching and creation at the Department of Sculpture of CAFA in the 1950s and 60s, and combing through and exhibiting relevant collection, the exhibition hopes to analyze the function of multiple traditions on the formation of the teaching system related to sculpture, and look back at the history of the major of sculpture. Due to the limit of collected works and documentation, the exhibition still has space to improve. For now, the exhibition will only showcase the historical fact behind the creation of the works in a certain period of time, and hopefully arouse the viewers’ reflection on the history. In addition, while planning for the exhibition, we realized that a large number of Chinese modern sculpture created in the major’s early development have been destroyed or lost. Feeling pity about the sad truth, we are also urged to think about how to preserve sculpture art more effectively.
As one of the CAFAM’s trademark programs, the CAFA Art Museum Select Collection Series has been held for multiple times since 2012. By combing through CAFAM’s collection, the series exhibition aims to construct the museum’s narrative based on the “'history, spirit and value’ of CAFA and its predecessors, and to contribute to CAFA being an active part of the narrative of modern and contemporary Chinese art history and art education history”. The series exhibits artworks based on themes regarding modern art history, in an organized way.
For years, the CAFA Art Museum Select Collection Series attached importance to the interrelation between themes of different exhibitions. On the one hand, we try to avoid repeating existing themes in our exhibitions, and emphasize “freshness” of the themes by paying attention to topics which haven’t received thorough research, but are inspirational in understanding the history of art education at CAFA. We hope to push forward relevant research through the exhibitions, and expand discussions around relevant topics. On the other hand, we emphasize “freshness” on selection and organization of the exhibited works from the collection, by exhibiting works that have rarely been exhibited and promoting new works to the public, or by digging into new relations between works through new academic perspectives. We hope to push forward collection studies and construction of an advanced system of collection through the exhibitions.
In recent years, by adding key works from artists including Wang Linyi, Hua Tianyou, Liu Kaiqu and Su Hui to the collection, the sculpture collection of CAFAM has become more systematical. By combing through the museum collection and compiling the list of select works from the collection, CAFA Art Museum sorted out several important sculpture works that haven’t been recognized by the public, which include modern sculptures created before the Reform and Opening Up, folk sculptures and ancient sculptures. By going through past themes of sculpture exhibitions from the series, the previous exhibitions have combed through history of CAFA and its predecessor National Art School in Beiping, and early construction of majors including western painting, Chinese painting and printmaking. The sculpture major, as an important part of teaching during this period, had not been exhibited individually due to the lack of collected works.
Therefore, “The Gene of Sculpture” exhibition will focus on sculpture in CAFA from the period of time before the Reform and Opening Up. We hope to dig into the relations between CAFAM collection and early construction of sculpture major in CAFA by researching into relevant collection and planning exhibitions around the theme.
Modern sculpture in China, as a genre introduced from the west in the 20th century, inherited its artistic ideas and teaching methods both from the west. In the sculpture major established in the early days, teaching practice was conducted following the tradition and standards from the west, especially from France. In the meantime, China enjoys well-established tradition of sculpture-making and engraving in the folk. The tradition had long been regarded as a craftsmanship rather than a traditional art form. However, after modern sculpture was introduced to China, sculpture artists began to compare China’s old sculpture traditions with Ancient Greek and Roman sculpture art, and hoped to promote the ancient and excellent Chinese sculpture tradition. In the development of Chinese sculpture art, there have always existed questions of how to absorb western traditions and inherit local traditions.
1950s-60s was a period when Chinese modern sculpture developed greatly. In CAFA on sculpture teaching practice, teachers learnt from wide resources, explored and constructed sculpture teaching system that was suitable for specific situation of China; on creative practice, there were a great number of commemorative or decorative sculpture being created and erected in important public locations, including the Monument to the People’s Heroes relief. Many of them have become classics of the time, and achieved great social impact. Because of the special character of the sculpture major, the teaching and creative practice has been combining closely with each other and benefiting mutually. The exploration of creation and teaching benefited from French classical realistic experience and ideas brought back by teachers who studied in France, and Soviet socialist realistic teaching model brought back by students who studied in the Soviet Union and Soviet experts. In the face of the reality that the resourceful folk sculpture tradition and skills are in need of inheritance and promotion, there has always been the thinking of how to inherit multiple traditions. It was through the inheritance, selection and merging of multiple traditions that a rather complete sculpture teaching system and basic sculpture artistic ideas formed in CAFA in the 1960s. Different traditional sculptural elements from France, the Soviet Union and China gradually merged into the new sculpture teaching system, and became a part of the academy’s overall teaching system. Through the teaching system, the sculpture major of CAFA also formed its “gene of sculpture” that passes on from generation to generation.
By combining with the history of teaching and creation at the Department of Sculpture of CAFA in the 1950s and 60s, and combing through and exhibiting relevant collection, the exhibition hopes to analyze the function of multiple traditions on the formation of the teaching system related to sculpture, and look back at the history of the major of sculpture. Due to the limit of collected works and documentation, the exhibition still has space to improve. For now, the exhibition will only showcase the historical fact behind the creation of the works in a certain period of time, and hopefully arouse the viewers’ reflection on the history. In addition, while planning for the exhibition, we realized that a large number of Chinese modern sculpture created in the major’s early development have been destroyed or lost. Feeling pity about the sad truth, we are also urged to think about how to preserve sculpture art more effectively.
