Who is Liu Shiming?
He was a top student within the first group of students enrolled to the Sculpture Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. He was recruited by the Chinese art master Prof. Xu Beihong himself, and guided by the famous sculptors who had studied in France, such as Prof. Wang Linyi and Prof. Hua Tianyou. His graduation project, “Measuring the Land” was the first sculpture to be exhibited abroad after the founding of the People’s Republic of China, and was later collected by the National Museum of Czechoslovakia (now the Czech National Museum).
He was the creator of the famous sculpture which is known everywhere in the 1950s, “Splitting the Mountains to Let the Water Flow” (also known as “Moving Mountains and Making Sea”). This work evoked a great response at that time, and he participated on behalf of China in the “Plastic Arts Exhibition by Socialist Countries”, which was held in the Soviet Union.
He’s a romantic, passionate and unconventional dream-seeker. Just because of a gentle call of Henan Opera aria, at the peak of his artistic career, he resolutely gave up superior creative conditions and a good income and applied to go to Henan, just to pursue the local customs and folk art of the Central Plains which attracted him. Then, he began wandering. He lived and worked in Henan and Hebei for more than ten years. Though he left the mainstream art world, lived a difficult life, went through hardship, and became unknown to the public in those years, he never regretted his choice.
He was a conscientious, diligent and persistent artist. Despite his disability, most of the time he can only walk with crutches, or in a wheelchair, despite the difficult creative environment, his artistic exploration has never stopped and he has created hundreds of sculptures over the past 60 years of his artistic career. His work “Mother” was selected to be exhibited at the 9th National Exhibition of Fine Arts, and his “Ansai Waist Drummer”, “Splitting the Mountains to Let the Water Flow”, and “Thick-back Woman” were collected by the National Museum of Chinese History.
Uncommon Qualities
“The Inner Peace and Innocence”
What kind of a person was Liu Shiming? Being indifferent to fame and fortune and sticking to the truth are his most prominent characteristics. “Liu Shiming is an honest artist. He became a sculptor not for fame or fortune, and he never pandered to the prevailing thoughts or fashions. He is loyal to his eyes and heart in expressing his feelings and emotions and he has been working quietly in the garden called sculpture for decades.” (commented by Shao Dazhen, a famous art critic) “He doesn’t cater to the rapidly changing politic situation, or pursue a high income, but just expresses his unaffected emotions at will. He is a real artist.” (commented by Jin Zhilin, a famous painter)
The opening ceremony of the exhibition
“The Strong Passionate and Emotions”
Unique Art
“The Chinese Artistic Gene in Art Language”
Liu Shiming once worked in the Henan Museum and worked on restoration and reproduction of cultural relics for seven years in the National Museum of Chinese History (now the National Museum of China). These experiences made it possible for him to see and appraise traditional Chinese sculptures closely and get more deeply involved in the study of national history, culture and traditional folk art. He integrated his experience into the study into his own creative work and managed to develop a completely different style of art. “Mr. Liu Shiming advocates traditional Chinese culture, traditional sculpture and the essence of folk art, absorbs nutrients from them, and got lifelong benefits. He pursues the form, spirit, and artistic conception in his works and pays special attention to the expression of spirit and artistic conception.” (commented by Cao Chunsheng) “He (Liu Shiming) absorbs the sincere spirit of innocence and straightforwardness in Chinese traditional and folk art in his creative works. His sculpture art inherits and further develops the great tradition of Chinese national folk art and it has an irreplaceable and unique status in the development of Chinese sculpture in the 20thcentury.” (commented by Yin Shuangxi, a famous art critic) Shao Dazhen, a famous critic, spoke highly of this, “Liu Shiming can consciously use the national traditional methods of ancient pottery sculpture in our country to break new ground in art, which is different from the ‘mainstream’ form of our current sculpture art, and this is undoubtedly a creative act of great insight and pioneering work.”
The opening ceremony of the exhibition
“A Civilian Perspective in Artistic Content”
The objects represented by Liu Shiming’s sculptures are not vigorous historical events or heroic figures whose stories are moving, but the most ordinary common people around us, from whom he saw the most essential and eternal emotions of human beings. “He (Liu Shiming) is always a part of the common people, and he loves, feels and sympathizes with all this from the perspective of common people.” (commented by Qian Shaowu, a famous sculptor) “He is a real people’s artist. Being in Liu Shiming’s sculpture workshop, it is like being in an art museum of civil society and folk life.” (commented by Jin Zhilin)
The opening ceremony of the exhibition
Discovering Liu Shiming
Our discovery of Liu Shiming has gone through a long and gradual process and it is constantly deepened.
In 1998, “Liu Shiming Exhibition” was held at the Corridor Gallery of CAFA. The exhibition was not large, but it was the first solo exhibition of Liu Shiming, who was in his 70s. It made people discover Liu Shiming and they were astonished by his unique works. The famous sculptor Qian Shaowu wrote in the Catalogue of Liu Shiming’s Works, “In this era of different opinions, his art is a cooling agent, and it proves to people what is true art and how it can be created. Let’s admire sincerely when we stand in front of such an art and lower our heads.” The sculptor Sun Jiabo also commented, “The clay figurines he created sincerely are a magic cure, too, which is effective for the persistent disease in the art world, that is, all kinds of formalism.”
After the first solo exhibition, this obscure sculptor and his works drew attention from the domestic art world. The Sculpture Art Institute at CAFA decided to take Liu Shiming as the first artist in its series of case studies, and organized experts and scholars of the domestic sculpture history research to organize and study his artistic experience and creative achievements systematically. In October 2005, the Sculpture Art Institute at CAFA held the “Indigenous Sculptures: Liu Shiming Solo Exhibition”, which was an intensive exhibition of his important artistic works. In this exhibition, the characteristic of Liu Shiming’s works, that is, portraying the contemporary life in China by using the techniques of Chinese ancient sculpture, became prominent and attracted the attention of the sculptors and researchers.
In 2006, the Central Academy of Fine Arts held the “ Liberal Wormwood—Liu Shiming’s Solo Exhibition of Sculptures” and this was the most comprehensive and abundant exhibition of Liu Shiming’s artworks, which brought together more than 200 excellent sculptures that he had created. It was the affirmation of CAFA for the 60-year persistent artistic life of this old alumnus and teacher, and also the approval of Liu Shiming’s artistic achievements by the Chinese sculpture industry. It received a huge response, and made more people discover and get to know Liu Shiming. What’s more, the Ministry of Culture and cultural ambassadors from many countries also paid close attention to the exhibition.
The Opening Ceremony of the Exhibition
This exhibition held in Henan Art Museum was Liu Shiming’s first retrospective held outside Beijing. After leaving Henan for nearly 50 years, these more than 120 works came back home which had provided him with the source of creation and spiritual values with Liu Shiming’s deep sentimental attachment. The ancient culture of the Central Plains in the Yellow River Basin, the abundant folk art and the simple and kind-hearted people who lived on the Central Plains have strongly stimulated the vitality of his artistic creation. Through this exhibition, people in Henan Province would feel the heartfelt emotions of a long-lost friend together, his artistic life and the connection between his works and the traditional culture and people’s character of the Central Plains.The exhibition was warmly welcomed and strongly supported by Henan Art Museum, which specially prepared an exhibition space of nearly 1,000 square meters, invited well-known designers with rich exhibition experience to design meticulously, and invited famous sculptors and important critics in the Chinese sculpture community to hold a seminar on Liu Shiming’s art. All these showed that Henan Art Museum attached much importance to and had great respect for the older generation of Chinese artists, as well as its broad and long-term view and firm attitude to promote the development of local sculpture, carry forward the national artistic spirit, and encourage Chinese contemporary art to prosper.
The Opening Ceremony of the Exhibition
Mr. Hua Jianguo, Director of Henan Art Museum, delivered a speech.
Liu Shiming donated his works “Performer Backstage” and “Boatmen on the Yellow River ” to Henan Art Museum for free.
Mr. Cui Weigong, Deputy Director of the Culture Department of Henan Province, issued a certificate to Liu Shiming’s donated works, and Liu Shiming’s family received it on his behalf.
Mr. Dong Wenjian, Deputy Director of the Culture Department of Henan Province, issued a certificate for Liu Shiming’s donated works, and Liu Shiming’s family received it on his behalf.
Exhibition Preface
Whenever we talk about the word “home”, there will always be numerous emotions in our hearts. It may be the place where we were born, or it may be the place that has an important influence on our growth, anyway, it is full of the most touching memories for us and everything there has innumerable links to our present selves. Whether you miss it or just recall it from time to time, “home” is always the most solid and warm return of our hearts.
For Liu Shiming, Henan Province is such a place.
Liu Shiming was born into a family of intellectuals in Tianjin, and he received the traditional education of Chinese literati. He was admitted to the National Art School in Beiping in 1946. In 1951, he graduated from the postgraduate classof the Sculpture Department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA). He was one of the first generation of sculptors with a postgraduate background trained by the People’s Republic of China. Aside from the guidance of renowned masters such as Wang Linyi, Hua Tianyou and Zeng Zhushao, he also studied the Western art from sculptors of the first generation in the Sculpture Department of CAFA who had once studied in France. However, he did not become a mainstream academic sculptor, but met the traditional Chinese art and folk art when he lived as one of the underprivileged people in Chinese society and began walking on the independent and boundless road of exploration.
Henan Province is the starting point of this exploration path. In 1961, Liu Shiming left CAFA and came to Henan. He taught at Zhengzhou Art Institute and Kaifeng Normal College (now Henan University) for 10 years, and later was seconded to Henan Museum. Since then, Liu Shiming’s life and art have undergone great changes. Liu Shiming was fascinated by Henan’s rich traditional culture and folk cultural heritage. He was impressed by the realism of Qin Dynasty sculptures, the vividness of Han Dynasty pottery figurines, fascinated by the melodiousness of Henan Opera and the exquisite workmanship of folk handiwork. In addition, more importantly, through living with the local people of Henan, he saw people’s optimism about life, and was deeply moved by the optimism, kindness, diligence and honesty of the Henan people. As a result, his love for traditional art since his childhood and his pursuit of pure and sincere human nature were fully inspired in Henan. He combined the Western sculpture education he had received with the traditional Chinese sculpture. He focused on the life of common people around him, explored the spiritual world of the Chinese people more deeply, developed a sculpture style that is approachable, confident and open-minded with a strong Chinese flavor, and made his own contribution to the modern development of Chinese sculpture.
“I have been thinking of going back to my hometown for a long time, and my hair becomes gray easily.” Today, the more than 120 sculptures we see, have brought the artist’s fantasies for decades back to the place that gave birth to them, making the dream of “going back home” finally come true.
Yin Shuangxi
October 22, 2008
