Modern touch
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A Full Bloom is among the pieces by Wang Xuetao, a leading artist of the flower-and-bird genre of classical Chinese paintings, on show at the ongoing exhibition,
Vitality and Joy, at Beijing's National Museum of China.[Photo provided to China Daily]
Exhibition showcases an artist's lifelong endeavor to inject modernity into classical paintings in 20th-century China, Lin Qi reports.
The late master of classical Chinese paintings Qi Baishi once said he often felt that one of his hands had been "stolen" by his student Wang Xuetao (1903-82).
Qi was known for his accurate depictions of insects such as butterflies, crickets and dragonflies, and the vivid details of the insects' wings and heads stand out in his paintings. While Wang was studying at the Beijing Fine Arts School in the early 1920s, he picked up Qi's excellent brushwork. The school is now known as the Central Academy of Fine Arts.