Recently, the exhibition themed as “Strokes of Wonder” opens at the National Art Museum of China, which shows dozens of Ren's figure paintings from NAMOC's collection.
Ren Bonian is regarded as one of the most important artists of the 19th century, and the founder of the highly acclaimed "Shanghai painting school". Ren is a practitioner of classical Chinese ink art, confronted a decline of cultural tradition amid the introduction of Western art and culture. He embraced the changes by modernizing the style of Chinese paintings, which influenced several generations of ink painters.
Ren perfected his skills while also studying the Western art. He adopted elements from folk art, and depicted characters from popular literary works. He preserved the scholarly touch of classical art and also transferred new life into it, making it more accessible to a burgeoning group of citizens.