A Painting

When you look afar, the mountains are green and clear,

But no sound of stream is heard when listening near.

The flowers remain in full bloom when Spring’s away,

A human being’s approach the bird doesn’t fray.

Wang Wei, Tang Dynasty

This is a five-character quatrain describing a Chinese painting by Wang Wei, a famous poet and painter of the Tang Dynasty, who’s also known as “Poet Buddha”. Reading the poem, one can feel the unique charm of Chinese paintings. Over thousands of years, the Chinese nation has created the brilliant Chinese civilization, and Chinese painting is a jewel of Chinese traditional culture and art. The charm and artistic conception of Chinese painting, also known as “National Painting”, captures the appreciation of the Chinese traditional aesthetic and the great wisdom and philosophy of the Chinese people. House of Knowledge is very honored to invite Mr. Wang Haihua (courtesy name: Shi Yi, art name: Owner of Chun Zai Tang), renowned painter and artist, curator of Beijing Baishi Painting Gallery, and special lecturer of the Palace Museum Calligraphy and Painting Training Center, to show us the Palace Museum’s collections to uncover the mysterious veil, admire the unique charm, explicate the appreciation principles of Chinese paintings, and to appreciate the artistic treasures of the Chinese civilization.

As the largest ancient museum in China, the Palace Museum has a collection of close to 50,000 paintings of past dynasties, nearly 1,000 of which are first-class national cultural relics. The collection also includes famous works of well-known Chinese painters in all historical periods, of which more than 420 pieces (sets) are exquisite works dating back to before the Yuan Dynasty, ranking top amongst all museums across the country in terms of the number of collections. The art workshop received big support from the management of the Palace Museum, who will show us some of the 420 pieces (sets) of paintings in the Palace Museum’s collections including: <A thousand miles of rivers and mountains> by Wang Ximeng of the Northern Song Dynasty,<Spring excursion> by Zhan Zipian of the Sui Dynasty, <Listening to a performance on a lute> by Zhao Ji of the Northern Song Dynasty, <Night revels of Han Xizai> by Gu Hongzhong of the Southern Tang Dynasty, <Step revealed map> by Yan Liben of the Tang Dynasty, <Dwelling in the Fuchun mountains> by Huang Gongwang of the Yuan Dynasty (which is separated into two parts, one part is collected at National Palace Museum, Taipei and the other is at Zhejiang Provincial Museum) and so on. Among these, <A thousand miles of rivers and mountains> dated back to a thousand years ago and has been exhibited only five times over the past one hundred years; the latest being during <A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains> – special exhibition of landscape paintings of past dynasties by the Palace Museum.

During the workshop, Mr. Wang Haihua will explicate the collections of the Palace Museum and help you appreciate the essence of traditional Chinese art at close range. Mr. Wang Haihua has been engaged in the creation, research and promotion of Chinese paintings for a very long time. He is highly knowledgeable of Chinese traditional culture, especially regarding paintings of landscapes, flowers and birds. His landscape paintings resemble those artists of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, characterized by clarity and simplicity, elegance in brush and ink work, and variety in styles. He has held numerous personal exhibitions at home and abroad, and published a number of albums including <Objects and Shapes>, <Verticals and Horizontals>, <Calmness and Boldness>, <Embracing the Moon – Prince Kung’s Mansion Series Exhibition> and so on. He has his own unique and profound views on Chinese paintings and traditional culture. During the workshop, Mr. Wang Haihua will not only guide you to appreciate Chinese paintings but also encourage you to understand their connotations and feel the aesthetic form of Chinese paintings, helping parents and children learn about aesthetic appreciation of arts.

Art Workshop at House of Knowledge

Date: Jan. 18th, 2019

Time: 14:30-15:30

Venue: Dining Room, HoK Shunyi Campus

Address: 18 Maquanying Road, Beijing

This event is FREE. There are limited seats available.

RSVP: 64302161*803     |     marketing@hokschools.com  (Name, contact number, kids age)