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March 18, 2016

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Home » Feature » Art and Culture

Art museum ready to reopen after three years

By Wang Jie | March 18, 2016, Friday | Print Edition

AFTER three years of construction work, the Liu Haisu Art Museum is set to reopen for trial operations tomorrow at its new, expanded location along Yan’an Road W., not far from Zhongshan Park.

Named after Liu Haisu (1896-1994), a founder of the China New Art Movement, the museum first opened in 1995.

Liu, a prominent painter and noted art educator, played a vital role in the Chinese fine-art world for nearly seven decades. From a young age, he showed a fondness for painting, and at 14 he moved to Shanghai to receive art training. When he was just 17, he and his friends established their own fine-art school, the Shanghai Institute of Fine Art, one of the first organizations of its kind in modern China.

Liu was also one of the most widely-traveled Chinese artists of his day. During trips to Europe he became personally acquainted with several of the early 20th-century’s leading artists, including Picasso, whom he met in Paris in 1929.

Liu’s own works were remarkable for their blending of traditional Chinese painting techniques with European fine-art movements, including Impressionism and its associated schools. He promoted this mixed style as a model for revolutionizing art education in China.

Originally built as a museum/memorial hall, the Liu Haisu Art Museum contains works by Liu as well as painting and calligraphy pieces from other Chinese art masters.

Some of these latter pieces are considered national treasures, such as the scroll work “Peacocks Perching on Rocks” by Badashanren (1626-1705) and Li Zao’s “A Military Review,” which dates to the Jin Dynasty (265-420 AD).

Today, the museum’s new venue includes 12,000 square-meters of floor space spread over six exhibition halls. Shanghai Daily recently spoke with the museum’s director, Zhu Gang, about the new venue and its upcoming show.

Q: What will be the first exhibition when the new Liu Haisu Art Museum opens?

A: It will be an exhibition of seven young artists done in cooperation with Tencent. In fact, we have a strategic cooperation with Tencent. As one of China’s biggest online service operators, there are about 960,000 artists and designers who have registered on Tencent. The company offers some online exposure for them, but the museum will provide an off-line platform for their work.

Q: How did you choose these seven artists?

A: Tencent has click-rates and other data on these young people. Believe it or not, some of them have 10 million fans. Tencent gave us their recommendations, and the academic committee at our museum made the final selection. Their works thoroughly break the boundaries between canvas, sculpture and photography.

Q: There is a 300-meter “graffiti wall” outside the museum. Who created this graffiti?

A: Yes, I’ve received many inquiries about this wall from the media, which has already become an attraction in its own right, even before the opening of the museum. To tell you the truth, it’s the city’s longest so-called “graffiti wall.” The graffiti is created by students from the Fine Arts College at Shanghai University — they copied ideas they saw on the Internet after obtaining the original artists’ permission. The original artists’ names will be written next to the art. The wall will change annually as part of the museum’s exhibition of artwork from the Internet.

Q: Liu Haisu Art Museum is known for its collection of art created, and owned, by its namesake. How many works are in the museum’s collection?

A: Liu Haisu and his family donated about 903 artworks, and 400 of these are from his personal collection of ancient paintings and calligraphy pieces. This month, the family will also donate two additional items to our museum. One is a calligraphy work by Kang Youwei (1858-1927), a famous Chinese scholar; and the other is an imitation of a painting by Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) that Liu did during a trip to France. Both are valuable works.

There will be a formal exhibition on the art of Liu Haisu in May.

Q: As the museum’s director, what is currently your biggest challenge?

A: You know, this museum has been closed for three years, and expectations from the public have gotten higher and higher during that time. I already feel the pressure on my shoulders.

Our first exhibition focuses on young Internet-based artists, which, of course, could be controversial because none of them have ever been recognized by any museum or institution before.

But today our lives are dominated by the Internet. One can do everything through the Internet, so why not use it to celebrate art?

Liu Haisu, when he was still alive, preferred to be called “an art educator” rather than a painter. So the Liu Haisu Art Museum should be a platform to promote young artists.

Q: Has this year’s exhibition schedule been booked?

A: Yes. The exhibitions at our museum are divided into three categories: those curated by us, those done in cooperation with others, and visiting exhibitions by artists who want to use our space for solo or group shows.

I would recommend one up-coming exhibition: The Austrian Fashion Show. The designers will use the ink-splash technique created by Liu Haisu as an element in their fashions.

Q: Liu Haisu Art Museum is a national museum that receives financial support from the state. Will the museum also seek funding through sponsorships with companies or other organizations?

A: For museums, there’s never enough money. Big projects and large-scale exhibitions cost a lot of money. The money that comes from the government is only enough to “make ends meet,” so we will establish some foundations to attract more funding.

Sponsorship is also on our working list. We’re thinking of different modes to receive sponsorship. It could be a win-win situation both for the museum and enterprises, though balancing art and commerce isn’t always an easy task.

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