Berlin-based Chinese painter Xiao Han, 57, will stage his first solo show in his homeland in 13 years.

Featuring about 40 ink paintings by the native of Wuhu in Anhui Province, the exhibition will last from today to Sunday at the Round Hall of the China National Art Museum in Beijing.

The works, all painted after the artist's migration to Germany in 1989, offer a thorough record of Xiao's efforts to develop modern form for the traditional art of Chinese landscape painting.

A graduate of the Painting Department of Anhui Normal University in 1968, Xiao had already demonstrated an unusual grasp of traditional Chinese landscape painting before he moved to Germany. A member of the Chinese Artists' Association, he displayed his art in a number of national exhibitions in the 1980s.

Influenced by traditional styles of Chinese landscape painting, his earlier works often emphasized the linear effect of black ink on white xuan paper, with clear images of the mountains and trees.

"Since the 1990s, my personal style has gradually matured as I began to experiment with bright colors and my paintings turned more abstract," said Xiao.

His recent paintings are often reminiscent of European Impressionist oil paintings and free-hand Chinese literati ink paintings, with the flowing colors and vague images creating a poetic yet modern image.

Xiao's deep concern about expressing the inner world of the artist and portraying landscapes as understood by the artist - rather than exact images of the landscapes - can be detected in his works "The Black Forest in Summer" (1992) and "Cloudy Mount Huangshan" (1997).

Noticeable images of classical European buildings also emerge in some of his later paintings, which adds a typical Western atmosphere to his Chinese ink paintings and reveals the artist's living environment.

"The spirit of his paintings goes beyond the boundaries of time and space to catch the attention of art lovers from anywhere in the world," remarked Yu Qiuyu, a noted Chinese essayist.

"But all the fantastic images and colors are based on the tradition of Chinese ink painting and demonstrate a pure oriental splendor," Yu continued.

Since the 1990s, Xiao has enjoyed international recognition by exhibiting his paintings extensively around the world.

He has also been invited to participate in major art exhibitions such as the Shenzhen Biennale of Ink Painting (2000) on the Chinese mainland.

(China Daily February 27, 2002)