Dawn in the East at the National Arts Gallery

Text and pix by Harsha Udayakantha Peiris

‘Dawn in the East — China’s Nanjing Fine Arts Exhibition’ organised by the Ministry of Culture and Arts together with the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Sri Lanka and the Nanjing Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Press and Publication in collaboration with the Association for Sri Lanka-China Social and Cultural Cooperation was inaugurated on Friday, 1 April 2011 at the National Arts Gallery in Colombo 7.

The exhibition mainly consists of the works of the professional artists from Nanjing Institute of Calligraphy and Painting in China. All 80 pieces of work exhibited here highlight the latest artistic creations of the institute. 60 pieces of work among them are the traditional Chinese Ink Paintings created by a dozen of old, middle and young-aged artists and are depicted in various subjects including the works of figure, landscape as well as that of birds and flowers and by using different skills such as free hand brush work, thyme-depicting, passion-expressing and that of realism as well. All of the works here with diverse concepts of contemporary ink painting creations fully display the artistic level of all the artists from Nanjing Institute of Calligraphy and Painting  which was established in 1979, with a history of 32 years, and they are also an epitome of the creations of the present Chinese ink painting.

Chinese ink painting is an inevitable result rooted on the basis of the traditional Chinese culture as far as painting art is concerned. In a larger sense, it is also the reflection of the fine artistic thinking of the oriental cultural system as well as that of the painting theory influenced by Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. In this sense, the relationship between Sri Lankan culture, as well as its painting art can be regarded as different tunes rendered with equal skill and should be in harmony with differences. “That’s why we bring these Chinese paintings, with over thousand of years’ history but still breathing new life today, to Sri Lanka, an ancient civilised South Asian Country of 2500 years’ history, to do cultural exchange with its arts,” says the delegation of China’s Nanjing Fine Arts in a joint message.   

Speaking at the inauguration of the exhibition, Wimal Rubasinghe, Secretary of the Ministry of Culture and Arts said that the efforts of this nature immensely contribute to enhance bilateral relations between Sri Lanka and China. He also said that these programmes also promote political, economic, artistic and cultural themes between the two countries. He further thanked the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Sri Lanka for its extended facilitation to host creative programmes of this nature which contribute towards the booming industry of tourism as well as the socio-cultural mutuality between Sri Lanka and China.   

The exhibition also includes painting works created by several Nanjing printing artists. Print being one of the internationally acknowledged painting arts, the 20 pieces of prints here reflect the outlook of the printing arts with diversity in the circle of printing arts of Nanjing, China.

The inauguration of the Chinese fine arts exhibition also received the honoured participation of Yang Xiuping, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China in Sri Lanka. The exhibition is open to the public free of charge until 4 April 2011 at the National Arts Gallery at Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha in Colombo 7. Two paintings kept for the exhibition will also be presented to the National Art Gallery.