Before China’s National Day, the Liaoning Provincial Museum, in collaboration with the Silicon Valley Asian Art Center in the US, has launched the exhibition “Mighty Currents Join the Sea: Chang Shu-Chi’s Painting Exhibition”. Gathering over 100 Chang Shu-Chi’s rare paintings, the exhibition is divided into four sections: “Fusing Ancient and Modern, Unique in Style”, “Silken Scrolls Aglow, Arcane Artistry with White Pigment”, “War-Tempered Brush, Message to the World”, and “Ink Wings Across Seas, Devotion Far and Wide”.

Chang Shu-Chi, a Chinese painter who lived in the US, dedicated his life to the creation and study of bird-and-flower paintings. Together with Xu Beihong and Liu Zigu, he was celebrated as one of the “Three Masters of Jinling”. Emphasizing sketching from life and drawing inspiration directly from nature, Chang embraced the innovative principle that “brush and ink must keep pace with the times”. He masterfully integrated Western techniques of realism and colour theory with the distinctive charm of traditional Chinese bird-and-flower paintings, striving for a harmonious fusion of colour and ink wash. He pioneered a visual revolution by breaking through the millennia-old convention that prized ink wash over all else. This exhibition also features Chang’s manuscripts and photos of Chang while he was painting.

“Mighty Currents Join the Sea: Chang Shu-Chi’s Painting Exhibition” is part of the Liaoning Provincial Museum’s “Contemporary Overseas Chinese Masters’ Calligraphy and Painting Series”. According to Wang Xiaowen, curator of the museum, this exhibition series has been planned and presented by the museum since 2016. Focusing on overseas Chinese artists, the exhibition series effectively promotes cultural interaction and regional cooperation between Liaoning and overseas regions, fosters dialogue and friendship with overseas Chinese artists, and expands multi-dimensional channels for the international communication of Chinese culture.