Xu Beihong: Pioneer of Modern Chinese Painting

The Denver Art Museum presents an exhibition featuring the art of Chinese artist and educator Xu Beihong.

Xu Beihong was a major Chinese artist and art educator. Born in 1895 in Yixing, Jiangsu Province, he learned traditional Chinese painting from his father, a self-taught artist. Between 1919 and 1927, he studied sketching and oil painting in France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, and Switzerland. He was the first Chinese painter to integrate the spatial and lighting concepts of Western painting with traditional Chinese painting styles. His ink brush paintings and oil paintings provided a new direction for Chinese art. In China, Xu was the first artist to introduce sketching techniques into the study of Chinese painting, and he established sketching as the foundation for all art students in major art institutions. His horse paintings are good examples of integrating Western sketching techniques with traditional Chinese painting style. The Chinese ink paintings, oils, sketches, and pastels in this exhibition are selected from Xu Beihong Memorial Museum, established in Beijing after his death in 1953.