[Explanation] On May 18th, "Ten Thousand Trees Have Spirits - African Sculpture Art Exhibition" was exhibited in Taiyuan City Museum. More than 200 African wood carving works showed the primitive living conditions and mental outlook.
Portrait sculptures of different tribes, wood-carved chairs of chiefs, masks, storage boxes, stools... The whole exhibition is dominated by wood carvings. In the rich and diverse African culture, the art of carving is famous for its long history and unique expression style, including Picasso. Many Western modern art masters, including Matisse, have been inspired by African sculpture art, so that the entire Western art has opened up a new development space.
[Concurrent] Wang Wenjun, a docent of Taiyuan Museum
We know that the master Picasso founded the cubism school himself in the late period, which can be said to be a representative figure at that time. From his works, such as "The Girl of Avignon", "The Weeping Woman", "Guernica" and other paintings It is shown to us through a very simple method, a three-dimensional and abstract style, which is actually derived from the doll statues we see now, as well as some other African statues. , is not biased towards realism, but is presented to everyone in a freehand manner. It does not seem to be very detailed, but it is exaggerated on it to make people look more visually impactful.
[Explanation] The African masks in the exhibition have various forms and shapes. These masks can be used in religious ceremonies, daily life, entertainment and dance. The carving styles of different tribes are also very different, which is a typical representative of African culture.
[Concurrent] Wang Wenjun, a docent of Taiyuan Museum
For example, the showcase here shows us a scoop-shaped mask. You can see that its shape is relatively long, and its color also shows large blocks of color, such as white, black, red, yellow, etc. It is actually similar to our beasts. The inspiration absorbed by the Matisse painters of the school is similar, because Matisse also expressed his late works through large color blocks, and even presented large-scale works through scissors paper-cutting, so it also confirmed his own statement. When you find that this method is very delicate, but the presentation method is very poor, then we should return to the most basic principles.
[Explanation] The exhibition of the day is divided into three parts: "The illusion of the soul - portrait sculpture", "The image of the soul - mask sculpture", "The memory of life - article sculpture", in order to appreciate the unique charm of African woodcarving art, interpret Africa The theme of the social and cultural information contained behind the wood carvings is to take the audience to appreciate the rough, bold, simple, strange and primitive exotic charm of Africa.
[Concurrent] Wang Wenjun, a docent of Taiyuan Museum
This exhibition is actually a display of more than 200 selected wood carvings for everyone. At the same time, it is also a source of inspiration for everyone to feel, including art masters. Not only that, it is actually an emotion, a sustenance and a sustenance of the African people. One wish. Through this exhibition, I hope more people can understand African culture and feel that it is actually a good bridge for communication between China and Africa.
Qu Lixia Guo Yulong reports from Taiyuan, Shanxi
Responsible editor: [Wang Kai]