Shaping the French connection

Wu Weishan, director of the National Art Museum of China and a sculptor, says the ongoing exhibition is the second collaboration where works by members of the Academie des Beaux-Arts have been shown in Beijing.

In 2016, an exhibition showing dozens of paintings and prints by nine Academie des Beaux-Arts members was held at the museum to mark the 200th anniversary of the academy's founding, Wu says. The current exhibition is dedicated entirely to works of sculpture, and will offer local art lovers an insight into the rich minds of the contemporary French artists on show.

Wu was elected in 2017 as a correspondent member of the Academie des Beaux-Arts. In the early 1990s, master painter Wu Guanzhong (1919-2010) was awarded the same title.

Wu Guanzhong's contemporaries at the Hangzhou Fine Art School (now the China Academy of Art), prominent painters Zao Wouki (1920-2013) and Chu Teh-chun (1920-2014) were both members of the Academie des Beaux-Arts.

Claude Abeille, one of the sculptors on show, says, "Sculpture needs no translation, because it is a universal language. If people want to learn this language, all they need to do is to visit this exhibition."