Jiangnan river town art travels to Berlin

Road in Heart, oil on canvas, by Wang Qijun. Provided to China Daily

German visitors who love Oriental riverside towns will have the chance to see them on their home soil, thanks to an exhibition of oil paintings by eminent Chinese artist Wang Qijun. The ongoing exhibition continues through March 24 in Berlin, at the invitation of the Chinese Culture Center there.

"All 16 oil paintings on display will feature riverside towns in Jiangnan (a name that describes the areas south of the Yangtze River famous for beautiful scenery)," says the 59-year-old professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing.

Wang will also give a lecture on traditional Chinese residential culture and contemporary Chinese painting.

One of eight culture centers of the Chinese Ministry of Culture in foreign countries, the Chinese Culture Center in Berlin decided last year to host Wang's painting show in line with a survey of the artistic achievements and influence of Chinese artists, according to Xu Zhong'ou, dean of the School of City Design at the CAFA.

Chen Ping, cultural counselor at the Chinese embassy in Germany, and Naren Barfeild, vice-president of Royal Collage of Art in the UK, attended the opening ceremony of Wang's painting exhibition.

A native of Jiangsu province, part of Jiangnan region, Wang has painted riverside towns there for many years.

He once had a thesis, Picturesque Scenes in Dwellings in Jiangnan, published in Art Research, a CAFA publication, to explain why so many painters have shown a strong interest in the riverside towns of Jiangnan. He wrote that they combine the beauty of traditional dwellings and that of river channels.