Love of art(3)

Tibetan Woman, oil on woodblock, by Dong Xiwen, 1955. [Photo provided to China Daily]

"The changes to the painting tell a bitter story, reflecting the political influences on art. But it didn't affect Dong Xiwen's love of art, " Fan Di'an, curator of the retrospective, told reporters at the show's opening.

While the Founding Ceremony of China as an artwork has always been famous, the public has known little about the artist. The retrospective of his 128 paintings gives people a chance to understand Dong Xiwen better.

He was born in a family that owned a large number of Chinese paintings, ceramics and works of calligraphy. Dong Xiwen's interest in art developed in his childhood, leading him to visit many top art colleges in different countries to learn from master painters.

In the 1940s, the artist and his wife went to Dunhuang in Northwest China's Gansu province, which is famous for its Buddhist grottoes. The couple lived in a house that had been a cowshed.

Despite their modest means, his passion for art remained intact, says his son Dong Shalei. While in Dunhuang, Dong Xiwen made paintings of the Buddhist murals, which helped him develop a new Chinese style on canvas.

Dong Xiwen was 38 when he was assigned to draw the most significant historical image of China's founding in 1952.

After that, he worked on many other paintings of historical events, such as the Long March of the Red Army (October 1934-October 1935), the War of Liberation (1946-49) and the Korean War (1950-53).