My Favorite Paintings at Xu Beihong Museum in Beijing

Xu Beihong (1895-1953) was a renown Chinese artist, who was uniquely accomplished in both western oil paintings and traditional Chinese paintings. The museum bears his name, Xu Beihong Museum in Beijing had many of fine representations of his works.

One of his most famous oil painting was a portrait titled "Sound of Flute", which, though somewhat veered towards sentimentality, was redeemed by the heroine's shagginess, which transported her to the purer and more primitive and private world. Rather than a candied soiree, we were witnessing the sitter's private communion.

 

One of Xu's large scaled historical pieces in the style of French Academy, "Tian Heng and Five Hundred Followers", depicted a leave taking ceremony of those figures about to face their tragic and heroic collective deaths. The emotion and intensity were enhanced by the stoicism those figures exerted.  However, some choices, such as the Titianesque blue sky and the yellow robe on the figure in the center,  somewhat lent the painting a suspicious air of socialist realism. That said, one could not deny the painting's restrained grandeur.




My Favorite Museum Collection Series
>> My Favorite Museum Collection Series 129: My Favorite Sculptures in Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China
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List of My Favorite Artworks in the Museums I've Visited

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