Guangzhou, Rong Baozhai today re-opened： See how this ＂time-honored treasure＂ can help build a strong cultural province in Guangdong.
On August 7th, 2022, Rong Baozhai Guangzhou Branch held a reunion celebration in Guangzhou.
This year marks the 350th anniversary of Rong Baozhai. The re-opening of Rong Baozhai and Guangzhou is an important measure for this century-old brand to actively integrate into the construction of Guangdong’s high-level cultural province and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area’s cultural construction.
The heavy exhibition held in the same period specially selected the representative works of important artists in Lingnan area from the collection of Beijing Head Office, showing the long-standing origin and deep friendship between Rong Baozhai and Lingnan artists.
Xu Qinsong, consultant of China Artists Association, Li Jinkun, chairman of Guangdong Federation of Literary and Art Circles and president of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Lin Lan, chairman of Guangdong Artists Association, Wang Shaoqiang, director of Guangdong Art Museum, and famous artists such as Chen Yongqiang and Fang Chuxiong attended the ceremony.
Group photo of guests present
Re-open the first exhibition of famous works
Rong Baozhai is known as the "Folk Forbidden City" and "National Gallery". "The grand reopening of Rong Baozhai Guangzhou Branch will definitely strengthen exchanges and cooperation between North and South art institutions and jointly promote the prosperity and development of Guangdong art." Lin Lan said in his speech that Rong Baozhai is a valuable brand of traditional fine arts in China, and it is also the home of painters and calligraphers. She expects that the pragmatic, enterprising, open and innovative regional spirit in Lingnan, a hot land, will help inject new development momentum into Rong Baozhai, a century-old shop.
Lingnan School of Painting is an important branch of modern China painting, with many famous artists. Rong Baozhai has a deep friendship with the predecessors of Lingnan School of Painting, and the works of Lingnan School of Painting are also an important part of Rong Baozhai’s collection system.
On the occasion of the re-exhibition, Rong Baozhai and Artists was launched in Guangzhou, Rong Baozhai, showing the representative works of many important artists in Lingnan area collected by Beijing Head Office, and the recent works of 28 outstanding contemporary artists in China.
Li Jinkun to watch the exhibition live.
On the one hand, the exhibition exhibited many fine works of Lingnan painters, including Ju Lian, Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, Ye Gongchuo, He Xiangning, Lin Fengmian, Guan Liang, Li Xiongcai, Guan Shanyue, Zhao Shaoang, Gao Jianfu, Chen Shuren and Yang Zhiguang.
On the other hand, through the recent works of artists such as Liang Quan, Fang Chuxiong, Xu Qinsong, Bing Xu, Li Jinkun, Fang Tu, Shi Jinsong, Lin Lan, Wei Qingji, Peng Wei and Yu Yu, the exhibition actively presents Rong Baozhai’s valuable experience of maintaining close relations with "contemporary artists" in different eras.
Exhibition site
Also on display at the same time was "I have feelings for things — — The exhibition of Jun porcelain, gold inlaid jade and fabric presents the practical creations of three female artists, Ren Yingge, Yang Xiaoya and Wang Xi, in their respective fields, and adds annotations to "artistic life".
The most solid protection and inheritance is the continuous revival of traditional skills and the use of ancient skills, so that the Millennium culture can really play a role in today’s life. On the afternoon of the event, three artists started a conversation at the exhibition site.
Deep interaction between different periods and Lingnan art
On the national large-scale creative task, Rong Baozhai cooperates with Lingnan artists hand in hand.
In 1959, Fu Baoshi and Guan Shanyue collaborated to create the Great Hall of the People masterpiece "There are so many beauties in the mountains", and Rong Baozhai gave all-round "logistics" support from special pen and ink to mounting.
In the 1990s, it was decided to hand over the original painting to the museum for permanent preservation. The original exhibition space needed a highly restored copy, and the task of resetting the copy fell to Rong Baozhai’s team. After careful description, the copy reproduces the spirit and momentum of the original, which was affirmed by Guan Shanyue, one of the original painters.
As a bridge of cultural exchange between North and South, Rong Baozhai once helped Lingnan painters to go to the whole country.
The artistic starting point of the famous painter Chen Yongqiang is closely related to Rong Baozhai. Chen Yongqiang’s early masterpiece "Fish Leaping Map" won the National Art Exhibition Excellent Works Award in 1973, which attracted national attention.
The following year, Rong Baozhai distributed it in the whole country in the form of watermark woodcut, which made Chen Yongqiang’s carp become a classic schema of Lingnan flower-and-bird painting and won it the nickname "Carp Clam".
Fang Chuxiong Experience Printing Skills on the Spot
This exhibition shows the works of Xu Qinsong, Li Jinkun and Lin Lan, the presidents of Guangdong Artists Association in recent years, and witnessed the current exchanges between Guangdong fine arts and Rong Baozhai.
In 2013, Rong Baozhai held a large-scale personal landscape exhibition for Xu Qinsong, then chairman of Guangdong Artists Association, which was the first time that Rong Baozhai held a solo exhibition for contemporary Lingnan painters.
In 2011, Li Jinkun planned a large-scale exhibition "Hundred Years of Talented Men", which was an important anchor point for him to move from a creator to a researcher. As the research result of this exhibition, the six volumes of Centennial Talented Talents: The Complete Works of Li Xiongcai, published by Rong Baozhai Publishing House, is one of the most authoritative publications on the study of Li Xiongcai art so far.
Actively integrate into the construction of a strong cultural province in Guangdong
Zhao Dong, secretary of the Party Committee and executive director of Rong Baozhai Co., Ltd. said that the re-exhibition is not only a historical review of the symbiotic relationship between Rong Baozhai and Lingnan artists, but also a summary and reflection on the foundation of Rong Baozhai.
He pointed out that in the new era background and contemporary art context, Rong Baozhai will further develop its own advantages, deeply interact with contemporary first-class painting and calligraphy artists, and actively integrate into the ardent prospect of building a strong cultural province with high level in Guangdong and cultural construction in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Zhao Dong delivered a speech
This year marks the 350th anniversary of Rong Baozhai. Rong Baozhai was founded in 1672. In recent years, it has gradually developed into a comprehensive collectivized cultural central enterprise integrating gallery, auction, study, intangible cultural heritage, publishing, exhibition, aesthetic education, e-commerce and cultural creation, and data asset incubation and operation.
The reunification of Rong Baozhai and Guangzhou is an important component of Greater Bay Area’s strategy in the new era of this century-old brand. Rong Baozhai Guangzhou Branch was established in 2013 and reorganized into a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rong Baozhai in early 2021. It is reported that the Greater Bay Area plate will include Guangzhou branch, Shenzhen auction and Hong Kong branch.
"Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is one of the most developed regions in the country, and it is also the region with the highest matching degree of various market-oriented factors." Zhao Dong said that Rong Baozhai’s business development in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and other places will deeply interact with Lingnan culture, give play to the responsibility of central enterprises, help Guangdong to promote the construction of a strong cultural province, and set a benchmark for cultural management in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Lin Lan experiences printing skills in Rong Baozhai.