The Art of Xu Beihong 1895-1953: Catalogue of an exhibition held April 30-June 14, 1987

Fran Ashdown was the Head of the Children's Department, Capilano Branch, North Vancouver District Public Library.

This catalogue was produced by the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria to accompany the first one-person exhibition of Xu Beihong’s work to tour Canada. The contents include an introduction to the artist’s work and life and a brief bibliography as well as the illustrated catalogue of the show’s paintings and sketches.

Xu Beihong, according to this catalogue at least, was one of China’s most esteemed painters and art educators in the first half of the twentieth century. The biographical sketch states that he was born in 1895 in Jiangsu province, the son of a poor but well-known painter and calligrapher. When Xu was 13, he and his father became itinerant artists in order to support their family; it was during these years that he acquired his skills as a painter in the traditional style. In 1917 he was sponsored by a businessman to study art in Japan, where he encountered non-Chinese art for the first time. Financial problems forced him to return to China where he became an instructor at the National Beijing University. A scholarship took him to Paris in 1919 and he later travelled to Berlin, Brussels, Switzerland, and Italy before returning to China in 1927. Because of the several important positions he held in his chosen profession, his views were influential and his death at the age of 53 was seen as a great loss by the Chinese people.

Xu’s paintings express his interest in realism and his attempts to integrate Western realistic techniques with traditional Chinese art. His meticulous sketches reveal his skilled observations of nature and his understanding of anatomy and perspective. He became a proficient oil painter but favoured the use of the traditional Chinese ink brush. Animals, particularly the horse and birds, formed the subjects of the majority of his paintings but he also produced murals in which he tried to express the distinctive traits and history of the Chinese culture. The bold, bright poster-style propaganda art of the Chinese government developed from social realism as advocated by Xu Beihong.

Because Xu Beihong’s work exemplifies the mixing of Eastern and Western techniques, philosophies, and styles, his selection as the subject of a Canadian tour seems an appropriate choice. Art patrons with an interest in this particular field will find the information provided in this catalogue very useful.