Spotlight: Chinese hand-painted fans go on show in Argentina

An exhibition of traditional Chinese hand-painted fans was opened to the public here on Wednesday, representing the most important Chinese art show held in the Argentine capital in a decade.

Titled "Chinese Style: Selected works from the China National Academy of Painting", the show featuring 60 painted fans was held at the National Museum of Decorative Arts (MNAD).mweimeisgrnh

The opening ceremony held late Tuesday was attended by Chinese Ambassador to Argentina Yang Wanming, officials from Argentina's Ministry of Culture, and representatives from China National Academy of Painting and the host museum.

"We hope to promote exchanges, to have more people become familiar with our culture, to promote mutual knowledge," Zhang Jiangzhou, vice president of the academy, told Xinhua, adding: "Art has a universal function."

"The works have deep meaning, they reveal the talent and temperament of Chinese artists," said Zhang.

The fan paintings range from landscapes to scenes of daily life, which are part of an artistic heritage dating back thousands of years, MNAD Director Alberto Bellucci wrote on the museum's website.

"More than 4,500 years ago, the fan became a firm fixture in China's history, over the centuries turning into an icon of its culture, an essential element in its theatrical presentations, and an everpresent symbol in its ceremonial tradition," said Bellucci.

A fan came to serve as a type of "portable painting bearing images of landscapes, flora and fauna, or personalities," he added.

A series of calligraphy works accompany the exhibit, because as Bellucci told Xinhua, "China ... has a special heritage in the quality of stroke, in the line, and in this line resides the delicateness and the depth" of the artist.

"We hope this exhibition ... has the success it deserves, because it offers well-being for the soul and for the eye that contemplates it," said Bellucci.

As the Year of China-Latin America Cultural Exchange, 2016 saw a significant number of Chinese art exhibitions, as well as stage performances and literature-related events, throughout the region.

In October, Chinese author Cao Wenxuan, this year's winner of the Hans Christian Andersen Award for writing, visited Buenos Aires as part of a delegation.

Writers from both countries got together to discuss translating classics from each other's countries, among other collaboration.

"Chinese Style" will be on show through mid-March. Endi