Next to the Impressionists exhibition, a contemporary group of 14 Beijing artists are holding an exhibition in an attempt to revive Realism in China.

The exhibition, titled "Beijing Realism", runs until October 16 at the National Art Museum of China at Wusi Dajie, Beijing.

"We are like monks as we stick to our old beliefs in a world where traditions have been abandoned and trampled upon," said Li Guijun, a participating artist.

The 14, all renowned portrait painters, include both the old who rose to fame with the "revolutionary realism art" in the 1960s, and the young who were discovered by overseas galleries in the 1990s.

Among them Jin Shangyi, 70, was president of the Chinese Artists' Association. He made his name in the 1960s and established himself in art circles with portraits, especially those of Tajik girls from Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

Ai Xuan, 57, won applause from art critics and galleries in New York in the 1980s with his portraits of life on Tibetan Plateau in Southwest China.

Yang Feiyun, 50, became world-known in the 1980s with pictures showing the delicate beauty of Chinese girls.

Li Guijun, in his 30s, was a pioneer of modern art in China in 1985, but returned to realism and was discovered by the Schoeni Gallery in Hong Kong in 1995.

Most of the 14 artists are or were teachers with the oil painting department of the prestigious Central Academy of Fine Arts and its affiliated high school.

"To create a piece of modern art, an artist first develops a thought, or an idea, and then designs an artwork to express the idea," explained Li.

"But I gradually found the mysteries of the nature to be more interesting than the thoughts of mankind. I love to explore such mysteries when I depict something beautiful to the extremes of delicacy," he added.

Like in other parts of the world, realism art in China rapidly lost its dominant status before the tide of modern art, and became almost neglected.

"To pursue realism art one needs decades of practice and training, and nowadays one cannot earn so much attention as avant garde artists -- even if he finally stands out from the crowd."

He said he didn't expect the exhibition to bring a "tide" of revival of realism art.

"One has to endure so much hardship to follow the style. Few young artists are willing to do so now," he said.

Besides Impressionism masterpieces by Claude Monet and Paul Cezanne, Li said the Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) is his favorite.

"Realism art demands so much delicacy and time that it may lag behind modern art in capturing the changes in feelings in the modern world. But it can better present the eternal beauty of the nature," he remarked.

(China Daily October 14, 2004)