A Gymnast by Ye Qianyu on show. [Photo provided to China Daily]

The works are from the collection of the China National Academy of Painting, where he was a deputy director in the 1980s.

Ye started his career as an illustrator at advertisement agencies in Shanghai and strove to become a leading painter in the 1940s. He headed the Chinese painting department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing in the early '50s and stayed until 1983. He was also vice-chairman of the China Artists Association for years.

Ye began to paint dancers and Chinese opera performers in the 1930s, when he frequented theaters.

He once said: "I like people. Most of the time, I study people's movements, moods, environments and relationships. I work hard to depict their bodies in motion."

He gradually exerted more energy on painting figures.