The Artworks of the Wang School Exhibition Kicks off in the Hunan Museum

On June 11, the exhibition of The Artworks of the Wang School:Wang Kaiyun and His Disciples opened in the Art Hall of Hunan Museum. As an original exhibition of calligraphy and painting created by Hunan Museum featuring its collections of the works of Wang Kaiyun and his disciples, the exhibition opens to the public for free at the special hall of calligraphy and painting on the third floor of Hunan Museum until June 11, 2022.

Leaders from the Cultural Heritage of Hunan, the Hunan Museum, the Hunan Library, the Hunan Cultural Center, the Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House, the Changsha Federation of literary and art circles, the Changsha Museum, the Changsha library, the Changsha Fine Arts Museum, the Da Guancang Art Museum and other relevant units, as well as friends from the media attended the ceremony. Chen Xuliang, deputy director of the Hunan Museum, Jiang Wenhui, deputy director of the Cultural Heritage of Hunan delivered speeches successively. 

The Hunan Museum has a rich collection of letters, paintings and calligraphy of celebrities in Hunan Province since the Ming and Qing Dynasties. This time, the museum selected more than 100 pieces (sets) from the works of Wang Kaiyun and his disciples for display, including calligraphy, painting, seals, diaries, manuscripts, letters and so on, most of which are shown at the first time. Those precious exhibitions not only have important literary and historical value, but also embody the aesthetic value of scholars, which can be called as a feast of academic exchange and art appreciation. It is hoped that through this exhibition, we can go through the time tunnel to read the stories of Wang’s school and learn Wang Kaiyun’ s and his disciples’ achievements embodying the philosophy of taking the rise and fall of society as their responsibility and studying real problems, and sort out the unique cultural heritage system of Hunan Province in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China period, so as to further promote the study of Huxiang culture in academic and art circles.

Wang Kaiyun (1833-1916), styled himself Renqiu and Renfu, was born in Xiangtan, Hunan Province. Wang Kaiyun passed the imperial exams at the provincial level during the reign of Xianfeng Emperor and once worked for Su shun and Zeng Guofan. Later, he gave lessons at Zunjing Academy in Chengdu. He successively served as the head of Sixian Academy in Changsha and Chuanshan Academy in Hengzhou. He hosted Nanchang higher school and later gave lessons in Xiangqi building. In the Qing Dynasty, he was appointed as the post of Jiantao in Imperial Academy and later was promoted to the post of Jiangxian. In the early Republic of China period, he was the curator of the Bureau of Qing Dynasty History, and a part-time member of the Senate. With the writings of Xiangqilou peotry book, essays and diaries, he has made great achievements in many fields such as Confucian classics, literature, history, education, calligraphy and so on.

Wang Kaiyun, a famous scholar in Hunan, with friends and disciples all over the world, was known as the leading scholar of the times. He strongly advocated to put  the classics into practice, and cultivated many outstanding students, such as Yang Du, Yang Zhuang, Yang Jun, Xia Shoutian, Qi Baishi, Bazhi Toutuo, Song Yuren, Yang Rui, Liao Ping, Hu Yuanyi, Yi Shunding, Liu Kuiyi, Ma Zonghuo, etc. To express the gratitude and nostalgia to his teacher, Qi Baishi once wrote a poem: “I often recall the past and miss my beloved teachers and old friends, but the past is gone forever. ” In the modern history of China, there are many achievements made by Wang's disciples. Many talents in Hunan Province of modern times and the revival of Bashu culture are inseparable from Wang Kaiyun's elaborate cultivation.