The beauty of charcoal

A group of Chinese masters is in India to open a new Silk Route through art

In 625 AD, a Chinese pilgrim called Xuanzang came to India and went back 16 years later with 657 Buddhist scriptures packed in 520 cases that became the basis for the most important school of Buddhism in China. In 2016, the Chinese government decided to return the favour by sending to India some of its national painters.

As Shi Wen Sheng, a visiting professor at Oxford and the Columbia International Universities and a council member of the Peoples Artists Association of China, says, "After the Open Door Policy came up in China, many countries want to know about the arts." So, in 2001, premier Zhu Rongji formed a consortium of China's top traditional artists skilled in charcoal and watercolour calligraphy and paintings. Their aim was to travel to 28 countries, using art to further an understanding of the Chinese culture and open a new Silk Route - but this time from the east to the west.

A group of 16 masters has now come to India in the 14th year of the World Tour Exhibition. Among them are Guo Youhe, vice-president of The Beijing National Academy of Painting and Calligraphy, and Lin Zhong Yang, who teaches calligraphy at the Chinese Military School and whose calligraphic artworks have been gifted by the Chinese government to 15 heads of state.

The paintings don't have much to do with the Silk Route as we know it. Instead, they range from abstract art to sculpture, focusing mainly on traditional Chinese paintings with landscapes or animals against light backgrounds with soft edges that are so familiar to most Indian households. The exhibition leaves out the modern images of Chinese nonconformist art that has filled most art spaces across the world for the fineness of these traditional works.

A live demonstration by Shi Wen Sheng and Wang Cheng He, who have created constant streams of calligraphy and paintings, makes one realise how painstakingly each work was created. Each stroke on the rice paper with wet charcoal or watercolours has to be made with the right amount of firmness. There is no concept of redrawing like in Western art. Yet, there are completely different styles on the walls.

Guo Youhe's "Old Age and Old Man 'Wu Daozi'" are simultaneously delicately detailed as well as bold and brightly coloured. Similarly, Liu Hongquan's "Rural Beauty" series, Wang Cheng's "Beautiful Mountain Water & Spring Fishing" and Sun Zong De's old-fashioned paintings are delicate and traditional. They're in complete contrast to Wang Zong He's "Horizon (Between the Earth and the Sky)" with its bright colours or Xie Huang Hong's coral, fishes and divebombing bees. Mao Xiu Feng's miniaturist paintings are almost marbled with thick colours.

The artists working with calligraphy are equally interesting. Lin Zhong Yang's two yellow artworks are called "Buddha Destiny" and "Bodhi Heart". The latter represents non-violence and Gandhi, while the former represents the story of the pilgrim Xuanzang who introduced Buddhism to China. These artists feel that they have the opposite destiny - of introducing Chinese culture and paintings to India.

The exhibition can be viewed at Art Spice Gallery, The Metropolitan Hotel & Spa, New Delhi, till July 13