‘BOTERO IN CHINA’ Exhibition at the National Museum of China, Beijing
20 Nov 2015 – 03 Jan 2016
Botero in China was pleased to produce Master Fernando Botero’s exhibition at the National Museum of China in Beijing, the first official exhibition by the world-renowned artist in mainland China. Hosted by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and the Colombian Embassy in China, and supported by the China Arts and Entertainment Group (CAEG) and the Union Bank of Switzerland (UBS), the show opened on November the 20th 2015 and was active until January 3rd 2016.
The show consisted of 85 large format oil paintings and 14 large format drawings on canvas, ranging from the 1970s until the time of the exhibition, comprised entirely of works from the artist’s personal collection. Additionally, a fully illustrated catalogue of the works presented in the exhibition was created to commemorate the event, the beginning of a long and prosperous relationship between the world’s most important artist and an ancient and profound culture that is rising to become the world’s most important country.
While Botero’s work was exhibited in the Museum, approximately 800,000 visited its rooms, making it one of the most successful temporary exhibitions in the history of the Museum and, undoubtedly, the exhibition with the highest number of attendees in the artist’s seventy-year long career. Children came regularly to observe Botero’s famous volumetric style and were often seen sitting in front of the paintings, copying them in beautiful colorful drawings.
Master Botero himself travelled to China for the first time in his life to open the exhibition, accompanied by his wife Sophia and several members of his family. In the course of his visit, the Colombian artist attended several interviews with the Chinese press, including a live studio conversation with Ji Xiajun of CCTV, an academic discussion in the CAFA (China’s Central Academy of Fine Arts) with the Latin America specialist Xian Xiao Sheng and a TedTalk dialogue with curator Janet Fong in Parkview Green. His trip also included an encounter with Chinese artists such as the members of the Xiayuancun artist villa (home to the largest oil painting in the world) and a visit to Liu Bolin’s studio, who made an art piece featuring Botero himself and a collage of photos taken of his artworks. And, naturally, Botero and his family visited the Forbidden City and China’s millenary Great Wall.
After his week-long stay in Beijing, Master Botero returned to Europe with a feeling of great satisfaction at having fulfilled one of his professional dreams. Amazed at the multitudinous reception his artworks and his presence enjoyed in China, he made the decision to return in February, just four months after his first visit, to Shanghai, in order to attend the opening of his second official exhibition in the most populated nation on Earth.