Paintings by Chinese artists on Indian themes opens in Shanghai

A special exhibition of 100 paintings on Indian themes like images of the banks of the river Ganges, Taj Mahal and Red Fort drawn by leading Chinese artists after their tour of India has been opened for public in Shanghai.

The paintings on Indian themes drawn by leading Chinese artists from Shanghai Artists Union were put on display at the Xuhui Art Gallery on March 24.

The exhibit features nearly 100 paintings drawn by a group of leading artists who visited India earlier.

The painters included Zhang Weiren from Chinese Artists Association, M Luo Weimin, famous painter, Wu Gang, Associate Professor and He Wei, Associate Professor at Tongji University from the Eastern China Region.

They visited India in March 2017 at the invitation of Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and interacted with leading Indian artists at workshops held in New Delhi, Varanasi, Jaipur and Agra.

Most of the paintings on display featured composite culture of India, Indian iconic sites, including images of the banks of the river Ganges, Taj Mahal and Red Fort, the Indian Consulate in Shanghai said in a statement.

The exhibition was inaugurated by Consul General Anil K Rai and was attended by several prominent artists and officials from cultural department.

Inaugurating the exhibition, Rai said it was part of a joint effort by the two great civilisations to understand and appreciate each other at people to people level.

"By organising such events, our aim has been to promote a deeper understanding and appreciation of India culture in China," he said.

The origin of such art exhibitions in China on Indian themes started in Year 2009, when Wang Zhijie, a famous painter led a delegation of 24 Chinese painters to visit India through which he opened a historical chapter of Chinese artist's trip to India.

On the 67th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of India, Wang Zhijie created the "Indian Watercolour Impression" with a Chinese perspective and held an exhibition in the Consulate General of India, Shanghai.

The paintings exhibition will continue to be on display in at Xuhui Art Gallary for two weeks. It is expected that as a follow up, some of the select pieces would also be sent to India for exhibition in the second half of 2018, the statement said.