Landscape exhibition glitters with vibrancy of colors and details

Lingnan school, a distinguished style of Chinese painting, emerged in the beginning of the 20th century in Guangzhou and its neighboring areas known collectively as Lingnan in Guangdong province.

It soon

rose to become an important player in reforming the rigid disciplines of classic ink art, as its leading figures adopting the rule of perspectives, compositions, contrast of light and shadow, and a pursuit of texture of Western art.

The revolutionary style allowed the paintings to show the high intensity of sunlight, humid climate and the vivid colors presented by the variety of animals and plants of southern China.

Decades later in Ronggui, a riverside town in Shunde district, Foshan, a group of factory workers enriched the scene of Lingnan school by creating a new style of landscapes of excellence, named Lingnan River-town school.

An exhibition throughout Nov 13 at the Art Museum of Beijing Fine Art Academy marks this group of artists and their followers, showing their paintings and their efforts to continue this artistic lineage in Guangdong.

Curated by Hong Mei from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, the exhibition introduces audiences to the work of artists, including Ye Qijia, He Wanwei and He Cunyi.