An exhibition to remember late Chinese painter Huang Junbi opened in Beijing at the National Art Museum of China on August 8. The exhibition, the first panoramic view of Huang's art in 60 years, marks an important occasion in the cross-straits cultural exchanges.

Huang Junbi died in 1991 at the age of 95, and is still considered a pivotal force in the development of Chinese ink color paintings in Taiwan.

The posthumous exhibition featured eighty works from Huang Junbi. They displayed his magnificent strokes and exquisite execution, his style reached far beyond the status quo of Chinese painting in Taiwan.

The late painter, who acquired his fame and developed his personal style primarily in Taiwan, is considered on equal footing with Mainland painting master Xu Beihong.

Huang Junbi's work

Landscape is a recurring theme in Huang's paintings. His extensive travel at home and abroad have facilitated the blend of east and west in Huang's works. Though the subject matter is largely traditional, Huang's style was considered well in advance of his peers in the 1950s.

Among all the natural subjects, Huang fancies clouds and waterfalls the most. He's best at bringing out the different shades and hues from the falling water and the sky.

Jiang Mingxian, a student of Huang Junbi and himself an established painter in Taiwan, says Huang's arrival in Taiwan in 1949 have changed an island's art scene flooded with Japanese paintings.

Jiang said, "After Huang came to Taiwan, he was recruited as the director of Department of Fine Arts in the Taiwan Normal University. He has called the help of many fellow painters to help secure Chinese painting here. In learning from ancestors, Huang was also an advocate of innovation, mostly in his execution of clouds and waterfalls. He encourages students to be creative and to not just learn by repetition."

Most of Huang's works have been kept in the hands of Huang Junbi Culture and Arts Association, with Huang's daughter Huang Xiangling currently in charge.

After the exhibition, three of Huang Junbi's paintings will be donated to the National Art Museum of China for permanent collection.

Editor: Dong Jirong