MATHEW TRINCA, director of the National Museum of Australia (NMA), said his interest in Chinese art started with calligraphy.

“The first time I saw a Chinese artwork was when I was quite young,” he recalled. “I was struck by Chinese calligraphy. I was fascinated by how it has literary meaning, but also how it‘s art.”

He saw that the painted characters showed emotions and feelings of the calligrapher, and believed it reflected the “philosophic nature of the Chinese people.”

That was the beginning of Trinca's understanding of Chinese culture. Later, the role as NMA director gave him a chance to learn more.

The NMA had its permanent home by Lake Burley Griffin in the center of the Australian capital Canberra in 2001. Trinca joined the NMA as a senior curator in 2003.

He was appointed as director in 2014. After that, he had opportunities to visit China on numerous occasions.

“Each time I visit, I feel another part of the picture becomes a little clearer to me about Chinese art and culture,” he told Xinhua in an interview, adding that he gradually understood the ink painting traditions in China.

Trinca said the NMA had a strong connection with China. Since the national museum opened in 2001, they have brought several major exhibitions to China, including one in 2002 in Guangzhou and another in 2010 at the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC).

The NMA signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Museum of China in 2016, where a 150-piece “Old Masters” art exhibition featuring Australian indigenous artists was held in 2018.

Last year, another major exhibition, the “Red Heart of Australia,” was hosted in NAMOC. In exchange, three modern sculptures by Chinese masters Liu Kaiqu, Xiong Bingming and Wu Weishan were put on display at the NMA. The two parties last year signed a new memorandum of understanding to renew the cultural partnership.

Trinca’s most recent trip to China was before the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019.

During his trips, he could see a deepening of understanding between the people of the two countries.

“When we took Australia’s bark painting artists to Beijing, and the ‘Old Masters’ show to the National Museum of China, I was struck by how Chinese audiences were fascinated by the works, which has a long lineage here in Australia, but was relatively unknown in China. I could see people making comparisons between their own traditions of ink painting, for instance, and these great works of aboriginal artists of Australia,” he said.

Australia is home to more than 1.2 million people of Chinese heritage, and the Chinese Australian community has a history dating back to the 19th century. Trinca felt that Australian people are fascinated by Chinese art and culture.

Trinca personally had good relations with some Chinese artists. One of his friends was Wu Weishan, director of NAMOC.

The exhibition of three modern Chinese sculptures, titled “Sculpting the Soul,” which ran between last October and February, was inspired by his discussion with Wu when they met in July 2018. Wu’s work, the award-winning “Sleeping Child” of cast copper, was among the exhibits.

Trinca said he was also fond of the paints of artist Ma Shulin, who had been deputy director of NAMOC.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Australia. The NMA is going to bring an exhibit in their collection, the “Harvest of Endurance,” to China. The 50-meter-long pictorial scroll detailed two centuries of Chinese exchange with, and migration to, Australia, which was completed to celebrate Australia's bicentenary in 1988.

Looking into the future, Trinca said he hoped to see more cultural exchange between China and Australia.

（Xinhua）