On the afternoon of September 21, the Donation Ceremony for Mr. Shen Xinggong's Artwork took place at the Jiangsu Art Museum. Mr. Shen Xinggong's artistic journey has always moved in step with the development of the Jiangsu Art Museum and the contemporary progress of Jiangsu's fine arts. His generous donation of the painting "Spring Breeze and Willows" represents a deeply heartfelt act of entrusting his artistic life's work to the times and to the people, adding a significant and treasured chapter to the museum's 90th anniversary celebrations.
At the ceremony, Wang Fa, Director of the Jiangsu Art Museum, presented the collection certificate to Shen Xinggong, former Vice President of Nanjing University of the Arts and Honorary Chairman of the Jiangsu Oil Painting Society. Shen Xinggong and his wife, Zhu Lei, attended the ceremony. Other distinguished guests included Liu Weidong, former President of Nanjing University of the Arts; Zhou Jingxin, former Vice Chairman of the Ninth China Artists Association and former President of Jiangsu Chinese Painting Institute; Lu Qinglong, Vice Chairman of the China Artists Association, Chairman of the Jiangsu Artists Association, and Professor at Nanjing University's School of Arts; Wu Lieyan, former Dean of the School of Design at Nanjing University of the Arts and Director of the Experimental Art Center; Jin Jie, Vice Chairman of the Jiangsu Oil Painting Society and Executive Deputy Dean of the Art Creation Research Institute at Nanjing University of the Arts; Wang Fa, Director of the Jiangsu Art Museum and Vice Chairman of the Jiangsu Artists Association; Zhang Wenhao, Vice Chairman of the Jiangsu Artists Association and Dean of the School of Fine Arts and Calligraphy at Nanjing University of the Arts; Li Rongguo, Director of the Art Creation Office at Nanjing University of the Arts and Secretary-General of the Jiangsu Oil Painting Society; professors Huang Ming and Wei Lu'an from the School of Fine Arts and Calligraphy at Nanjing University of the Arts; Liu Fang, Deputy Dean of the School of Fine Arts and Media at Jiangsu Second Normal University; Sun Shirong, Deputy Party Secretary of the School of Fine Arts at Jiangsu Second Normal University; Lan Jian, Head of the Oil Painting Department at the School of Fine Arts and Calligraphy at Nanjing University of the Arts; and Wang Jingjing, Vice Chairman of the Yancheng Artists Association. Wan Xinhua, Deputy Director of the Jiangsu Art Museum, presided over the ceremony. Representatives from the Jiangsu Oil Painting and Sculpture Institute, including Sun Jun, Xie Zhongxia, Qin Zhen, Wu Yang, and Yu Fan, along with key oil painting artists such as Zhang Jian, Ning Ning, Yin Qun, Zou Yihong, and Yang Bingcan, as well as faculty and students from Nanjing University of the Arts, also attended the event.
This donation activity marks a profoundly meaningful and heartfelt chapter within the museum's 90th-anniversary series. It serves both as a reflection on classic art and as a vivid testament to the enduring legacy of Jiangsu's fine arts tradition. Over the past nine decades, the Jiangsu Art Museum has witnessed and accompanied the challenging yet glorious transformation of Chinese art from tradition to modernity. Rooted in classic heritage and deeply engaged with the contemporary spirit, the museum has upheld innovation while maintaining integrity, advancing across areas such as collection excellence, academic research, public service, and art education. It has also played a vital role in witnessing and participating in the flourishing development of Jiangsu's art scene, accumulating substantial collection resources and scholarly depth while shouldering the important mission of preserving and promoting Jiangsu's literary and artistic heritage.
Mr. Shen Xinggong stands as an immensely influential and representative figure in the field of contemporary Chinese oil painting. Through decades of dedicated practice, he has provided a profoundly culturally conscious answer to the localization of Chinese oil painting. He has distilled this exploration into a clear aesthetic concept: "poetic oil painting." The Jiangnan landscapes depicted in his works are not objective reproductions of natural scenery, but rather imagery refined through spiritual sedimentation and formal purification. By imbuing the Western medium of oil painting with a composed, reserved, and distinctly Eastern visual language and the expressive qualities of traditional art, his work represents not only the emergence of a personal style, but also a paradigmatic breakthrough in the linguistic localization of Chinese oil painting. His highly recognizable individual artistic style has enriched the contemporary character of Chinese oil painting and made significant academic contributions to the innovation and elevation of Jiangsu's oil painting tradition.
The path of art demands persistence above all, yet it also requires responsibility. Mr. Shen Xinggong has led a life of humility and focused creation, always maintaining a deep connection to local cultural heritage while engaging with artistic depth in the ongoing construction of contemporary culture. Through his visionary artistic perspective, he has nurtured generations of emerging oil painters, influencing the backbone of oil painting creation across Jiangsu and the nation. The donated piece, "Spring Breeze and Willows," embodies decades of Mr. Shen's creative effort and artistic contemplation, carrying mature artistic concepts and a distinctive aesthetic pursuit. It is imbued with his poetic expression of Jiangnan and his profound sentiment toward contemporary life. The acquisition of this work into the Jiangsu Art Museum's collection not only enriches the museum's holdings and completes the sequence of renowned Jiangsu artists in its collection, but also continues a cultural and spiritual legacy.
Moving forward, the Jiangsu Art Museum will approach the preservation, academic research, and interpretive study of this work with rigorous professionalism. Through regular exhibitions, academic seminars, public art education programs, and touring promotions, the museum aims to bring classic works out of storage and into the public eye, allowing them to serve society. This will enable Mr. Shen Xinggong's artistic ideas and spirit to be widely disseminated and passed down, helping more audiences understand the Jiangnan in his paintings and appreciate the poetic world he spent a lifetime constructing as an artist.
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