His sculptures draw on ancient pottery techniques to represent contemporary life. He employs traditional techniques in ancient China but blazes a trail and creates images and a sculpture language imbued with simple and sincere feelings. At the exhibition, many viewers feel the emotions. In particular, the 78-centimetre-long pottery sculpture, Boat on the Yellow River (aka. Boatmen on the Yellow River), is a large ferry boat about to depart. On board are jugs large and small, goats large and small, and four topless men with a white cloth wrapped around their heads. The men are either standing or squatting, happily chatting away. What a scene of life on the Yellow River! While this ordinary scene of life is “discovered” by the artist, it is given an extraordinary meaning.
I. An emerging talent
In 1950, Liu Shiming graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts and stayed at the Academy to teach. In the same year, Measuring the Land, a sculpture he created to represent the land reform came into the spotlight. In 1958, Splitting the Mountains to Let the Water Flow, which eulogised the spirit of the times with romantic enthusiasm in a nationalised form, exerted a huge social impact. The two sculptures that have withstood the test of history put the young sculptor’s name firmly into the history of art. Nonetheless, apparently to answer the call of his passion for national and folk art, Liu left the Academy in 1961 and arrived in Henan, where he worked in universities and museums for a decade. Afterwards, he spent three years in Baoding, Hebei. He immersed himself in local customs, fine art, and operas. He frequented the Yellow River and the cave dwellings. The rich culture in the Central Plains and Yanzhao region he experienced became an inexhaustible source of inspiration for his future creation. In 1974, Liu returned to Beijing and started restoring cultural relics at the National Museum of Chinese History (now the National Museum of China). The six years of restoration were a rare opportunity that exposed copious ancient treasures of art to his eyes, hands and heart.
II. Sincere feelings
In 1980, Liu Shiming returned to the Central Academy of Fine Arts after 19 years. There, he was engaged in lecturing and pottery making. The electric kiln in the Academy enabled a leap in Liu’s art. It gave full play to Liu’s passion for art creation. Despite the heat or cold, he stayed in the electric kiln to reproduce the decades of rich life he had experienced. While the conditions were considered harsh by others, he enjoyed himself. Within ten plus years, more than 500 works were created. An ancient Greek sage once said, a work created from inspiration and with sincere feelings must be a good one. With sincere feelings, that is how Liu’s sculptures were created.
Look at the Boat on the Yellow River again, how realistic the details are! It shows that the sculptor was moved at the sight of the scene, and only with careful observation on the spot could the memory reappear when he set to create. In art, the authenticity of details is an indispensable element to impact viewers, but it is worth noting that Liu is not trapped in the “authenticity”. He adopts freehand brushwork to capture the essence in any tableau.
The sculptures in both Han and Jin dynasties emphasised simplicity. The difference is that Han sculpture was forcefully grand and vigorously vast and Jin sculpture was more graceful and charming. Liu’s style is a perfect combination of the two. In Boat on the Yellow River, the people and objects are well spaced. The styling is charming. Diverse shapes are sorted among the three slots of the boat, all contained and unified within the frame of the boat. The whole and the details are integrated. The expression and representation are integrated. The intriguing image and the profound sense are integrated. Such is the essence of Liu’s art, so fascinating like a mature wine that is mellow and refreshing.
Through ups and downs, Liu’s “creation in solitude and with sincerity” from the bottom of the society has spearheaded a unique style against the mainstream “academism”. On 14 October, when Liu in his 80s appeared in the National Art Museum of China in Beijing with his sculptures, the sincere feelings as conveyed in the title of the exhibition “Liberal Wormwood” touched countless viewers. Zeng Zhushao, Hou Yimin, Sheng Yang, Cao Chunsheng, Qian Shaowu, Zou Peizhu, Fan Di’an and others all came to the exhibition to extend their congratulations.
II. Recording the times
Measuring the Land, Liu’s work in college, was the first sculpture exhibited abroad after the founding of New China. It was later collected by the Czechoslovak National Museum (now The Czech National Museum). In 1952, Liu was personally involved in the creation of the Monument to the People’s Heroes as an assistant. In 1959, Splitting the Mountains to Let the Water Flow represented China in the “Art Exhibition of Socialist Countries”. In 1997, Boatmen on the Yellow River was selected to be on display in the National Pottery Art Touring Exhibition and European Touring Exhibition, and was later collected by China’s Ministry of Culture. The list goes on.
Liu may not be well known in the current world, but he has created many pioneering works. The exhibition today gathers more than 200 sculptures that are among the best of Liu Shiming over his six decades of devotion to art. From the early ones to those as late as in 2006, there are rural memories in the northern countryside, but also portraits of contemporary workers including migrant builders and female workers that lay out cables. As he remarked at his solo exhibition, “I am alive, and I am happily kneading clay and recording the times I live in.”
Standing apart from the “mainstream” in the sculpture art nowadays, Liu’s sculpture proactively employs the national traditional techniques in ancient Chinese pottery to reproduce contemporary life. Dr. Yin Shuangxi at the Central Academy of Fine Arts pointed out that Liu’s artistic achievements showed us the various pathways in the development of Chinese sculpture, and the one departing from Chinese local culture is an explorative and invaluable one.
I. An emerging talent
In 1950, Liu Shiming graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts and stayed at the Academy to teach. In the same year, Measuring the Land, a sculpture he created to represent the land reform came into the spotlight. In 1958, Splitting the Mountains to Let the Water Flow, which eulogised the spirit of the times with romantic enthusiasm in a nationalised form, exerted a huge social impact. The two sculptures that have withstood the test of history put the young sculptor’s name firmly into the history of art. Nonetheless, apparently to answer the call of his passion for national and folk art, Liu left the Academy in 1961 and arrived in Henan, where he worked in universities and museums for a decade. Afterwards, he spent three years in Baoding, Hebei. He immersed himself in local customs, fine art, and operas. He frequented the Yellow River and the cave dwellings. The rich culture in the Central Plains and Yanzhao region he experienced became an inexhaustible source of inspiration for his future creation. In 1974, Liu returned to Beijing and started restoring cultural relics at the National Museum of Chinese History (now the National Museum of China). The six years of restoration were a rare opportunity that exposed copious ancient treasures of art to his eyes, hands and heart.
II. Sincere feelings
In 1980, Liu Shiming returned to the Central Academy of Fine Arts after 19 years. There, he was engaged in lecturing and pottery making. The electric kiln in the Academy enabled a leap in Liu’s art. It gave full play to Liu’s passion for art creation. Despite the heat or cold, he stayed in the electric kiln to reproduce the decades of rich life he had experienced. While the conditions were considered harsh by others, he enjoyed himself. Within ten plus years, more than 500 works were created. An ancient Greek sage once said, a work created from inspiration and with sincere feelings must be a good one. With sincere feelings, that is how Liu’s sculptures were created.
Look at the Boat on the Yellow River again, how realistic the details are! It shows that the sculptor was moved at the sight of the scene, and only with careful observation on the spot could the memory reappear when he set to create. In art, the authenticity of details is an indispensable element to impact viewers, but it is worth noting that Liu is not trapped in the “authenticity”. He adopts freehand brushwork to capture the essence in any tableau.
The sculptures in both Han and Jin dynasties emphasised simplicity. The difference is that Han sculpture was forcefully grand and vigorously vast and Jin sculpture was more graceful and charming. Liu’s style is a perfect combination of the two. In Boat on the Yellow River, the people and objects are well spaced. The styling is charming. Diverse shapes are sorted among the three slots of the boat, all contained and unified within the frame of the boat. The whole and the details are integrated. The expression and representation are integrated. The intriguing image and the profound sense are integrated. Such is the essence of Liu’s art, so fascinating like a mature wine that is mellow and refreshing.
Through ups and downs, Liu’s “creation in solitude and with sincerity” from the bottom of the society has spearheaded a unique style against the mainstream “academism”. On 14 October, when Liu in his 80s appeared in the National Art Museum of China in Beijing with his sculptures, the sincere feelings as conveyed in the title of the exhibition “Liberal Wormwood” touched countless viewers. Zeng Zhushao, Hou Yimin, Sheng Yang, Cao Chunsheng, Qian Shaowu, Zou Peizhu, Fan Di’an and others all came to the exhibition to extend their congratulations.
II. Recording the times
Measuring the Land, Liu’s work in college, was the first sculpture exhibited abroad after the founding of New China. It was later collected by the Czechoslovak National Museum (now The Czech National Museum). In 1952, Liu was personally involved in the creation of the Monument to the People’s Heroes as an assistant. In 1959, Splitting the Mountains to Let the Water Flow represented China in the “Art Exhibition of Socialist Countries”. In 1997, Boatmen on the Yellow River was selected to be on display in the National Pottery Art Touring Exhibition and European Touring Exhibition, and was later collected by China’s Ministry of Culture. The list goes on.
Liu may not be well known in the current world, but he has created many pioneering works. The exhibition today gathers more than 200 sculptures that are among the best of Liu Shiming over his six decades of devotion to art. From the early ones to those as late as in 2006, there are rural memories in the northern countryside, but also portraits of contemporary workers including migrant builders and female workers that lay out cables. As he remarked at his solo exhibition, “I am alive, and I am happily kneading clay and recording the times I live in.”
Standing apart from the “mainstream” in the sculpture art nowadays, Liu’s sculpture proactively employs the national traditional techniques in ancient Chinese pottery to reproduce contemporary life. Dr. Yin Shuangxi at the Central Academy of Fine Arts pointed out that Liu’s artistic achievements showed us the various pathways in the development of Chinese sculpture, and the one departing from Chinese local culture is an explorative and invaluable one.