Helen Deng

    SHENZHEN Art Museum, the oldest art institution in the city, is exhibiting its best collections to celebrate its 35th anniversary.

    The exhibition shows more than 80 artworks by some of the top contemporary Chinese artists, such as Li Kuchan and Lu Yanshao, offering Shenzheners a rare chance to appreciate artworks of masters who have held exhibitions here or even lived here.

    The Exhibition of Elite Artworks, collected by Shenzhen Art Museum for its 35th anniversary — the celebration is one year late — began Feb. 22 and continues until March 28.

    The exhibits include traditional Chinese paintings, oil paintings, prints and watercolors.

    Established in 1976, Shenzhen Art Museum does not have a long history. Yet its location in the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone has given it special advantages in the collection and research of Chinese arts.

    In the early 1980s, Shenzhen Art Museum was the only art museum in the special economic zone, and an exhibition here was something like a must-do for top artists in China.

    Li Kuchan, Lu Yanshao, Song Wenzhi, Cheng Shifa, Huang Zhou, Tang Yun and Wu Guanzhong all held exhibitions at Shenzhen Art Museum, which also hosted many forums for artists from the mainland, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

    The exhibition also includes contemporary oil paintings by Chinese artists who rose to prominence after the year 2000. The museum has collected artworks from almost all the front-line contemporary artists in China.

    Meanwhile, Shenzhen Art Museum is also holding Exhibition of Local Artworks Collected by Shenzhen Art Museum. The exhibition shows 30 traditional Chinese paintings, watercolors, prints and oil paintings by Shenzhen artists. Their paintings show the richness of life in Shenzhen. That exhibition runs until April 15.

    Shenzhen Art Museum was built in 1976 and its previous name was Shenzhen Exhibition Hall. It was renamed Shenzhen Art Museum in 1987.