"The Soul of Flower and Bird —Zou Chuan'an Art and Literature Exhibition" Launched in the Hunan Museum

On May 7, the original exhibition, "the Soul of Flower and Bird —Zou Chuan'an Art and Literature Exhibition", hosted by the Hunan Museum was opened in the art hall of the Hunan Museum. From now until June 8, the exhibition will be open to the public for free in the special exhibition hall on the first floor of the Hunan Museum.

                                                                   Zou Chuan’an delivered a speech

    Xiao Lingzhi, the Deputy Director of the Publicity Department of the Provincial Party Committee and Director
                                              of the Provincial Civilization Office, delivered a speech

Related leaders and experts from the Publicity Department of the Provincial Party Committee, the Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism, the Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the Provincial Art Association and the city of Loudi attended the opening ceremony. At the opening ceremony, Zou Chuan'an donated 399 representative works to the Hunan Museum. Chen Yuanping, deputy secretary of the Party Group, deputy director of the Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and director of the Cultural Heritage of Hunan, accepted the donation and presented him with the honorary certificate of the People's Government of Hunan Province and the collection certificate of the Hunan Museum.

                                                     Group photo of Zou Chuan’an and Chen Yuanping

Zou Chuan’an, born in 1940 in Xinhua County, Hunan Province, is now the member of the China Artists Association, the curator of Hunan Literature and History Research Museum, the guest professor of the Department of Arts of Hunan Normal University, the consultant of the Hunan Calligraphy Academy and the national first-class artist; He once served as the vice chairman of Hunan Loudi Literary Federation, the chairman of Art Association and the President of Painting Academy. As one of the leading figures in contemporary Hunan meticulous flower-and-bird painting, Zou has created his own unique style of "Zou's flowers and birds". His painting style has guided a number of domestic meticulous painters and laid a foundation for the contemporary transformation of Chinese meticulous painting. With his generous life feelings and artistic courage, Zou integrates exquisite skills, unique aesthetics and life perception into flowers and birds and turns them into "the soul of flower and bird". 

In 2013 and 2021, Zou Chuan'an donated more than 1,000 pieces of his representative works, paintings and manuscripts of various periods to the Hunan Museum. These works formed a systematic collection of Zou Chuan'an, and enriched and extended the "Hunan famous calligraphy and painting collection" series in the Hunan Museum. After systematic sorting and research, the Hunan Museum selected more than 300 pieces (sets) of calligraphy and painting works and texts from the donated cultural relics, and launched "the Soul of Flower and Bird - Zou Chuan'an Art and Literature Exhibition" to show the public the legendary life of Zou Chuan'an from an ingenious porcelain worker to an art master. At the same time, the Hunan Museum also hopes that it can promote the research on the local artists and the artists in Hunan through this exhibition, continue the art history of Hunan, and provide a useful reference for the inheritance and development of meticulous flower-and-bird painting since the 20th century.

The whole exhibition presents the artistic experience, characteristics and achievements of Zou Chuan'an for more than 60 years through four parts: "Insects Carved and Birds Cast by Experienced Craftsmen"、"DanQing My Treasure"、"The Livelihood of People in the Song Dynasty" and "Xu Huang is still in my Memory".

The title of first part derives from Zou’s book (Self-Mockery I). It introduces   Zou Chuan-an's work experience in Xinhua Porcelain Factory from 1957 to 1985. During the 28 years of working in the porcelain factory, he not only tried to develop new products, designed many exquisite decorative patterns of daily export porcelain, but also devoted himself to sketching and studying meticulous painting. His experience as a porcelain worker did not keep Zou away from artistic creation, but pushed him to take the path of traditional painting. On the one hand, the design work cultivated his aesthetic concept and trained his ability to control the brush. On the other hand, daily sketching exercised his ability to observe objects carefully. Both of them helped him to cultivate basic skills, which laid a solid foundation for the subsequent rigorous and exquisite artistic creation. "CH101 tea set" and "butterfly sketches" are the major works of this period.

The title of second part comes from Zou’s book (Self-Mockery II). This part mainly tells the creative situation of Zou under the background that fine art in Hunan represented by Hunan meticulous painting has entered a new development process since the 1980s. At this time, Zou has entered the prime of his life, and his creation of meticulous painting has also reached the peak. His painting style inherits the fine and realistic style of the Song Academy, showing a deep and clever aesthetic conception. With his superb skills, he stood out in Hunan's various exhibitions and national exhibitions. At this stage, he was also invited to give lessons in many art colleges and creation workshops, and wrote the systematic and widely recognized “Meticulous Flower-and-bird Painting Techniques”, gradually becoming one of the main forces of Hunan meticulous flower-and-bird painting. "Turtledove in the Pear Tree" and "Shining Feather and Falling Leaves" are his representative works of this period.

The title of the third part originates from Zou Chuan'an's art article I draw meticulous flower and bird paintings. From the mid-1980s, Zou Chuan 'an, motivated by innovation, studied and analyzed the tradition deeply. He believed that there was still room for the traditional meticulous painting in terms of the creation of the environment and the performance of the physical states and other aspects, like "the Livelihood of People in the Song Dynasty" "breaks the existing pattern of fine brushwork". Based on this artistic concept, he tried to exploit a new way of meticulous flower-and-bird painting with the characteristics of the era, starting from the nature, he paid attention to the relationship between the image of subject and the living environment, replaced the splash color background with the blank background of traditional meticulous flower and bird painting, and introduced different perspectives of light to enrich the color and level of the picture. The flowers and birds are placed in the broader landscape to enhance the sense of scene in the picture. After pursuing for more than 20 years, he established his own style of flower-and-bird painting, such as the exhibits "Dream on surging waves", and "Born Rich". 

The title of the fourth part is from Zou Chuan'an's collection of Modern Meticulous Paintings. "Xu Huang" mentioned in Zou's poem refers to Xu Xi and Huang Quan. They are two model painters of flower-and-bird painting in the Five Dynasties. Their painting styles and aesthetic tastes have had a far-reaching impact on later painters.

Zou Chuanan said that "Xu Huang is still in my Memory", which reflects his adherence to the traditional meticulous flower-and-bird paintings. For decades, he has been committed to the creation and research of flower-and-bird paintings, exploring deep into the tradition, stepping out of the tradition, then returning to the tradition, roaming freely between the contemporary and the tradition, integrating his personal aesthetic taste with contemporary painting techniques, so as to make the traditional art glow with new opportunities of the era. The works of this period, such as "My Hometown is Located in the Lotus Bloom", and "Years", didn't adopt the method of integrating the iconic splash color background with the main object image, but applied more lights and simple colors, and emphasized the freehand brushwork of lines. More profound thoughts, emotions and humanistic care are revealed by the brush and ink, which reflects his thoughts on life and shows his ideal "holy land of flowers and birds".

It is worth mentioning that in the exhibition, the Hunan Museum specially planned and produced the documentary "Years" with the same name inspired by   Zou Chuan'an's masterpiece "Years" in his later years. The film is divided into four chapters of "Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter", which represents the four seasons of the accumulation period, maturity period, innovation period and peak period of   Zou 's art. While paying tribute to Zou, it also shows Zou's perception of life and spiritual world. In the exhibition hall, the paintings are placed in the same space with the special documentary, art memorabilia and 32 diaries of the same names, forming a small theme exhibition about "Years". While visiting the exhibition, audiences can also sit in the corner, appreciate Zou’s frankness and sincerity, transparency and openness, and feel the days that Zou has experienced through all the way.