China News Agency, Beijing, September 27th, title: Wu Weishan: "I feel very honored to contribute to the spread of Chinese culture"

  China News Agency reporter Xing Liyu

  2020 marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Italy.

Two bronze-cast statues of Chinese and Western cultural giants, Leonardo Da Vinci and Qi Baishi, were presented to the public in the presence of important guests from China and Italy, and stood permanently in the Da Vinci Museum Square in Italy.

  This group of sculptures, titled "A Dialogue Beyond Time and Space - Italian Art Master Leonardo Da Vinci and Chinese Painter Qi Baishi", was created by Wu Weishan, director of the National Art Museum of China, academician of the Italian Academy of Art, and internationally renowned sculptor.

Previously, the work has been permanently collected by the National Museum of the Palazzo Venezia and the Italian Academy of Art respectively.

  "The key to this group of iconic works is dialogue. This dialogue is a dialogue that transcends time and space, country, race, and ethnicity, and is a spiritual dialogue." Wu Weishan said.

  As early as the 1990s, Wu Weishan personally experienced the reform and opening up. In the tide of the times when the economy was booming and the value orientation was becoming more and more diverse, he keenly discovered that young people have a great deal of respect for the great thinkers, philosophers, politicians, scientists, artists, Writers and others gradually lack understanding, and tend to lose mainstream value recognition and pursuit.

"I think this is a crisis. For a nation to progress, it must not only develop economically, but also have a spirit and a soul."

  From then on, Wu Weishan began to create a series of sculptures of "Chinese Historical and Cultural Celebrities", allowing people to "feel the footprints of this nation".

Fei Xiaotong, Qian Weichang, and Ji Xianlin, seniors of the Democratic League, encouraged him and affirmed his artistic contribution to the era of statues, the shaping of intellectuals, and the display of Chinese historical and humanistic spirit.

In the past 30 years, Wu Weishan has created more than 500 sculptures in the series of "Chinese Historical and Cultural Celebrities".

  In September 2012, Wu Weishan was invited by the National Committee on US-China Relations and the then UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to hold a solo exhibition at the UN headquarters.

At the opening ceremony of the exhibition, Ban Ki-moon delivered a speech to diplomats from more than 100 countries in front of the Confucius statue created by Wu Weishan, saying, "These works not only express the soul of a country, but also the soul of all mankind."

  The world tour exhibition of Wu Weishan's works also started.

In December 2012, his bronze sculpture "Heaven and Human Unity - Lao Tzu" appeared at the Louvre International Art Exhibition, and won the gold medal in the sculpture category of the "2012 Louvre Art Exhibition", becoming the first time since the award was established 126 years ago. A Chinese artist who has won this honor.

In the central square of Curitiba, Brazil, the 4.5-meter-high Confucius statue sculpted by Wu Weishan stands tall. For this reason, the square is named "China Square".

In September 2021, the large-scale group sculpture "The Encounter of the Gods - The Dialogue between Confucius and Socrates" will be permanently erected at the ancient market site in Athens, Greece, telling the dialogue between Chinese and foreign civilizations; in Marx's hometown of Trier, Germany, Wu Weishan's sculpture of Marx Become a cultural landmark...

  So far, 53 sculptures created by Wu Weishan have been erected in 26 countries and regions around the world, and are loved by local people.

"This has strengthened my confidence in the influence of traditional Chinese culture in the world." Wu Weishan said.

  In 2013, Wu Weishan was elected as the vice chairman of the China Artists Association, and in 2014 he became the director of the National Art Museum of China.

In his opinion, the National Art Museum of China is the hall of national art, a platform for educating the public, and a window for international exchanges.

  On this platform, Wu Weishan led his colleagues to create a series of exhibition brands called "Collection Revitalization", sorting out more than 130,000 pieces of the National Art Museum of China's collection, and rotating them at home and abroad.

For example, dozens of large-scale exhibitions such as "Beauty in the New Era", "Beauty and the United States" and "Going to the West" have been held successively in China, "to bring those classic works of art that could only be seen in picture albums back to the people and have zero distance from the people. Contact. When these works of art are returned to the people, it will generate huge spiritual power." Wu Weishan said.

  In the past 10 years, the National Art Museum of China has been going global, displaying Chinese art works, and has also invited the works of masters and famous artists from many countries and regions in the world to exhibit in the National Art Museum of China.

In public education activities such as "Masters Talk about Great Beauty", Yang Zhenning and other masters from all walks of life have been invited to the museum to discuss aesthetic education with audiences from different perspectives, winning the public's love and praise.

  Wu Weishan was also elected as the Secretary-General of the BRICS Art Museum Alliance and the Silk Road International Art Museum Alliance, and told the Chinese story through art on a broad international platform.

  Wu Weishan's artistic creation and academic research go hand in hand, and he has published more than 30 monographs, many of which have been translated into multiple languages ​​and published in relevant countries.

  Wu Weishan believes that as a democratic party, an intellectual, and an artist, he must always work hard with a grateful heart and make greater contributions to the new era.

  Since joining the NLD in 1994, Wu Weishan has served as a member of the 9th and 10th NLD Central Committee, the 11th and 12th NLD Central Standing Committee, a member of the 11th and 12th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Standing Committee.

"As a member of a democratic party under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, I think it is a great honor for us to make a little contribution to telling Chinese stories and spreading Chinese culture well," said Wu Weishan.

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