On December 27, the themed exhibition “French Charm of Lishui, Jinshan Painting Colors – When the French School of Painting Meets Jinshan Peasant Paintings and Lishui’Barbizon’” was launched at the Shanghai Jinshan Museum. At the site, Sino-French “Barbizon” oil paintings and Jinshan peasant paintings complemented each other, presenting the diversity and inclusiveness of Chinese art, and also showing the beauty of Sino-French cultural exchanges.
Barbizon oil painting was born in France and is a realist treasure of “facing nature and sketching from life”. In the late 1980s, a group of Lishui local painters carried forward the spirit of the Barbizon School of Painting and used simple techniques to express their love for the local customs and natural scenery of their hometown, thus forming the Lishui “Barbizon” School of Painting. As an important part of traditional Chinese folk art, Jinshan peasant paintings carry rich historical and cultural connotations and distinct regional characteristics.
At the exhibition, Lishui “Barbizon” oil paintings, with their pursuit of natural beauty, showcased the natural landscape and humanistic feelings of the mountainous area of Lishui; Jinshan peasant paintings, with their strong rural flavor, showcased the charm of Jiangnan folk art. The collision and fusion of the two schools of painting not only reflects the diversity and inclusiveness of art, but also injects new vitality into Sino-French cultural exchanges.
As the birthplace of the Lishui “Barbizon” school of painting, Liandu District of Lishui City has used painting as a medium to carry out cultural exchange activities with the French city of Barbizon in recent years and has established a friendly city. On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France, this exhibition has become a connection point for the exchange and mutual learning of Sino-French culture and Eastern and Western painting art, further promoting the “going out” of Chinese culture. (Zheng Dan)