Magazine for keeps

Exhibition illustrates Duzhe's world of literature and art over the decades, Lin Qi reports.

Since it was first published in 1981, the magazine Duzhe (Readers) has been many people's daily reading. Its condensed articles cover a wide range of areas of knowledge and topics, widening readers' vision of the world while becoming one of the most popular magazines in the country.

The bi-monthly magazine introduces people to literary beauty and the depth of thought. The magazine also serves as a platform where artists are able to showcase their gift by creating related illustrations. More than 300 artists have illustrated over 20,000 works to add artistic glamor to the magazine's 780 issues over four decades, according to its publisher, Duzhe Publishing and Media Co, which is based in Lanzhou, Gansu province.

Now, an exhibition is putting the spotlight on how illustrations have given added meaning to the magazine by showing some 250 such works that have been featured in it. Duzhe Illustration Art Works Touring Exhibition is running at the Beijing Fine Art Academy through April 9, as the first stop of a national tour. It shows the magazine's art and editorial elements, and the advancement of illustrations in the course of the country's reform and opening-up.

Works on show come with small boards on which original pages provide the text — short stories, essays, poems and critiques — and the illustrations, enabling the audience to sense the chemistry between words and images. It shows how far and wide the editors at Duzhe have reached, along with artists across the country.