Chen Hui Timeline

------A chronology of his career and art works

A Brief Introduction:

Chen Hui is a professor in Academy of Arts and Design of Tsinghua University. He is a Ph.D. supervisor, and serves as Dean of the Basic Teaching & Research Group.

Mr. Chen is active in academic activities. He is a committeeman of Academic Committee and Academic Degrees Committee in Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua University, and serves as Deputy Director of the Institute for Contemporary Art Research, Deputy Director of Fine Arts Division. He is a researcher at Wu Guanzhong Art Research Center and Zhang Ding Art Research Center. He is also a supervisor of postgraduate program in Chinese National Academy of Arts.

He is a member of China Artists Association and a committeeman of Chinese Painting Committee of China Artists Association. He is one of the founding directors of Chinese Painting Institute and serves as a committeeman of the Artists and Experts Committee of China Association for Exhibition Centers. As one member of Beijing Higher Education of Arts Association, and a Committeeman of Beijing Artists Association Chinese Painting Art Committee, he was elected as one of the judges in the 11th National Artworks Exhibition.

His works have been exhibited in a myriad of important exhibitions, which include the followings: Asian Art Biennale, International Fine Arts Biennial Exhibition in Beijing, the 2nd “Golden Color” Prize of Chinese Artworks Exhibition, Exhibition of Excellent Works in Celebration of the 55th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China, “Charm of Beijing” Exhibitions, “One World”: Chinese Artist Painting Exhibition in the U.N. Family, the 10th National Artworks Exhibition, the 11th National Artworks Exhibition, Sino-Japan Painting Biennale, Shenzhen International Ink and Wash Painting Biennale, the 5th Chengdu Biennale, the 1st Zhengzhou Ink and Wash Painting Biennale, the Tour Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Art.

Chen Hui is a recipient of many awards. His Chinese Culture has won the award of excellence in Beijing International Art Biennale. Many of his works are kept in National Art Museum of China, National Center for the Performing Arts, Zhejiang Art Museum, Beijing Fine Art Academy and other national institutions. His resume, works and academic viewpoints were compiled into the most important national archive of Art Modern History of Chinese Art.

His paintings as well as academic dissertations have appeared in various influential newspapers and magazines. Among them, there are Literature & Art Studies, Art, Art Observation, Traditional Chinese Painter, Art Panorama, Chinese Art, the Collection, People’s Daily, Guangming Daily, China Culture Daily, Chinese Literature and Art Report, China Art Weekly, Beijing Evening News, Beijing Youth Daily. His individual albums of painting and teaching monographs have been published, and due to his excellent work in ink and wash painting and teaching itself, many TV stations have covered his career, including CCTV, China Education Television, Beijing Television, Hunan Television, Shandong Television, Asian Network Television and Taiwan CTV, etc.

Timeline:

Oct. 1959 Chen was born in Hefei City, Anhui Province.

1966~1972 He attended the primary school attached to Jianghuai Instrument and Meter Factory. Encouraged by his father, he began to develop an interest in painting.

1972~1975 He attended the junior high school attached to Jianghuai Instrument and Meter Factory. In the second year, he became a member of the Communist Youth League and was elected as the league secretary for the whole grade. During that period of time, his work “the Little Guard”, a copying of a traditional Chinese painting, was chosen to be presented in a teenager artworks display in Hefei city. This success gave him more confidence in painting.

1975~1977: He attended Hefei 34th High School. He took charge of publicity work in the school, such as designing of the school blackboard newspaper, and it was at that time he began to learn sketching and to paint after comic books.

1977~1981 He worked as an art designer for Heifei Arts & Crafts Factory, where he learnt the technique of burnt picture on wood board. Two years later, he started to try a new technique: creating burnt picture on Xuan Paper(Chinese paper，or rice paper). Two pieces created with this technique, “Xiaoyaojing” and “sea of clouds in Huangshan Montain” were chosen as presents representing Anhui to give to the governor of Maryland and mayor of Kurume City of Japan. In the four years when he worked at Heifei Arts & Crafts Factory, he spent a lot of time sketching, and painting.

1981~1985 He attended Central Academy of Arts & Design (now Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University), majoring in ceramic design. He served as monitor when he was a sophomore student, and he was awarded “Merit Student” for three consecutive years and graduated with honor. In those undergraduate years, he began to explore surreal oil painting.

1985 After graduation, he joined the faculty and served as an assistant lecturer, students’ counselor and head-teacher of class. His surreal oil painting works Deep in the Blue, Harboring Spring made appearance in Art magazine, the 7th issue of 1985.

1986 His ceramic artwork, a pottery plate, named Farming, won special award at the Imari International Ceramic Art Competition in Japan and earned him a 30,000 yen proceeds. In the same year, he became a member of Beijing Young Artists Association and started to paint on canvas with experimental materials.

1987~1988 As a member of the league of lecturers from various departments in central authorities, he volunteered to teach in Liuzhou City, Guangxi Province for a year. He was named head of the Liuzhou dispatch and awarded “excellent volunteer lecturer”. In his spare time, he created many booklets of sketches and decorative paintings.

1988 As the Central Academy of Arts & Design formed Basic Courses Department, Chen Hui was transferred from the Department of Ceramic Design to serve the newly founded Basic Teaching & Research Department. He taught various courses, such as patterns, color, sketch, and quick sketch, and at the same time, he began to explore boneless ink and wash landscape painting.

1989-1991 He was fascinated with black and white decorative paintings, and created over 200 pieces of that kind. He continued his creation of Chinese color painting and ink and wash landscape painting.

1992 He was promoted to lecturer. His oil painting The Ripening Oranges was exhibited in the Beijing Young Artists’ Works Exhibition at the National Art Gallery.

1993 He served as the deputy director of Basic Courses Department. His color painting Twilight and other three paintings were displayed in the Central Academy of Arts & Design Faculty’s Works Exhibition, and Twilight was collected by Madame Brownne, Chairwoman of CITE DES ARTS DE PARIS, Francais.

1994 Fifteen of his color paintings, among which is Mountain Residents, were displayed at a Four Artists Exhibition, and Twilight was collected by the Beijing Artists Association and kept in the National Art Gallery. In the same year, the second issue of Art magazine published his works. Another color painting, Around the House, was exhibited at the “Exhibition of Famous Artists’ Works in Twenty-eight Provinces” in Hong Kong. In 1994, He attended the opening ceremony of Central Academy of Arts & Design Faculty’s Works Exhibition, which was also held in Hong Kong.

1995 His first solo show was held in Chinese Arts & Crafts Company (HK) gallery. Color painting An Aura of the Bygone Charm was awarded honorable mention in the Canada International “Maple” Exhibition of Color Paintings and the organizing committee of the exhibition also kept this work. In the same year, his color painting Great Wall in Autumn was collected by Museum of Oriental Arts (MOA) in the U.S.

1996 Line Drawings of Famous Contemporary Artists: Works of Chen Hui was published. In the same year, his color painting the Sound of Autumn in Great Wall won the silver award in the “An Oath to Great Wall: International Art Exhibition” and this painting was kept by the organizing committee. The fourth issue of the Art magazine of 1996 showed his work Around the House.

1997~1998 He commuted from Beijing to Gu’an, Hebei Province to teach basic courses for freshmen at the newly-established Gu’an branch school of the Central Academy of Arts & Design. His monograph Demonstrations of the New Techniques in Chinese Paintings was published that year.

1998 He was promoted assistant professor and began to explore abstract still life paintings. The 11th issue of the Art magazine showed his color paintings Fish and The Coxcomb Flower. Contemporary Stylist Painter: Chen Hui was published in the same year.

1999 As Central Academy of Arts & Design became a school of Tsinghua University, Chen Hui served as the deputy director of the newly founded Department of Painting and took charge of the basic courses teachings. He also held the post of a counselor for the Beijing Association of High Education of Art. Chen Hui was one of the eight artists to hold a collective exhibition of their paintings, entitled “On Campus”, in the National Art Gallery. His color painting Sunshine and seven others were exhibited. This exhibition, hosted by professor Hang Jian, served as a platform for Beijing artists to conduct academic exchanges and discussions.

In the same year, many of his paintings won awards both at home and abroad. One of his color paintings the Dusk won the third prize in ASSTH-IGVA the 10th International Art Evaluation Conference, and was collected by the organizing committee. Chen’s another color painting Midday won honorable mention in the art works exhibition in celebration of Macao’s return to the motherland. His color painting The Blooming Season won the prize for excellence in the National Youth Art works Exhibition.

2000 Chen’s color painting Still Life was shown in the “Exhibition of Art Works of Professors from China, Japan and Korea” in National Art Gallery. In the same year, his solo show was held in Taiwan Daziran International Art Center, where more than twenty abstract oil paintings, including Warm Winter, were presented. Chen Hui was invited to the opening ceremony.

2001 Oil painting Eternity won honorable mention in the 1st Art and Technology Exhibition, which was held in National Art Gallery. In the same year, his solo show was held in Singapore Xingyi Art Center, where more than thirty of his paintings, including The Aurora Beauty, were presented. Chen Hui attended the opening ceremony in person.

2002 He served as Dean of Basic Teaching & Research Group. In the same year, he went to CITE DES ARTS DE PARIS for advanced studies. One of his oil paintings The Tide Rises and the Tide Falls was exhibited at Asian Art Biennale. Another of his oil paintings Still Life and other three works were collected by China Exhibition Company, a company under direct control of the Ministry of Culture.

2003 A title of professor was conferred on him by the Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua University. One of his ink and wash paintings Impression of Southern Anhui was shown at the International Fine Arts Biennial Exhibition in Beijing. At that time, he began to employ the use of ink and wash to express the charm of Southern Anhui, particularly the traditional local architecture featuring white wall and black tiles, and the connotation of Confucianism in interior furnishing. His creative use of light, which is inspired by Constructivism, combined with the traditional five shades of Chinese ink, creates an artistic conception in between illusion and reality. Another ink and wash painting Impression of Southern AnhuiⅡ was shown at the 2nd “Golden Color” Prize of Chinese Artworks Exhibition and was kept in Beijing Yanhuang Art Gallery.

2004 He served as one member of the School Committee of the CPC. One of his ink and wash paintings Memories of Southern Beijing was shown in the Exhibition of excellent works in Celebration of 55th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China, which was held in National Art Gallery. Another of Chen’s ink and wash paintings The Hall of Military Courage (Wuyingdian) was exhibited at the “Charm of Beijing” Exhibition and was collected by Beijing Fine Art Association.

His ink and wash painting Impression of Southern Anhui was exhibited at the 10th National Artworks Exhibition and was kept in Zhejiang Art Gallery.

Chen’s another ink and wash painting The Spring and Autumn of the Ancient Residence and other seven works were exhibited at “September Charm” Nominated Works Exhibition. Chen Hui went to Hangzhou for the exhibition and seminars.

Chen’s another ink and wash painting Families in Southern Anhui and other four were shown at the “Inheritance and Integration” Nominated Works Exhibition in Guangzhou. Chen’s ink painting Impression of Southern Anhui won the bronze prize at the Nominated Works of Chinese Paintings Exhibition and was kept by the organizing committee.

The textbook Pattern compiled by Chen won the second prize in the competition of series textbooks for higher education of art in Tsinghua University.

His ink and wash painting Impression of Southern AnhuiⅡ was nominated at “Fu Baoshi” Triennial Exhibition of Chinese Ink and Wash Paintings.

2005 CCTV International Channel made a documentary film on Chen Hui, titled “ the Charm of Ink and Wash: Introducing Painter Chen Hui”, China Central Television produced a special topic film “ Famous artists, Famous works: On Painter Chen Hui” Chen’s ink and wash paintings Remnant Glory of Imperial Ancestral Temple and Lingering Charm of the Imperial Capital were exhibited in the 3rd “Charm of Beijing” Exhibition and were collected by Beijing Fine Art Gallery in National Art Gallery.

Chen’s ink and wash painting Impression of Southern Anhui was exhibited at the 2nd Beijing International Fine Arts Biennale.

Chen’s ink and wash painting Southern China in Ink and Wash was presented at Sino-Japan Painting Biennale in both Beijing Fine Art Gallery and in Japan.

2006 Chen’s ink and wash painting Charm of Southern Anhui’s Winter and other 20 were shown at the “The Land Of Woods And Waters: Tsinghua Exhibition” in Nanking, some of which were collected by Nanjing Changfengtang Museum.

Chen’s ink and wash paintings Ancient City in Winter, Stories of the Ancient City were exhibited in the 4th “Charm of Beijing” Exhibition in National Art Gallery.

Chen’s ink painting Southern Anhui: My Homeland and other four were presented at the “Chinese Art Week: Invitational Exhibition of Famous Contemporary Artists” in Paris, and Chen Hui was invited as a representative of Chinese artists to Paris for relevant activities.

Abstract ink and wash painting series A Glimpse of the Atmosphere were exhibited at the 5th Zhengzhou Ink and Wash Painting Biennale and collected by the organizing committee in Guan Shanyue Art Museum. Installations A Glimpse of the Atmosphere were shown at the 2nd International Art and Technology Exhibition.

His ink and wash painting Glamour of Southern Anhui was exhibited at the Special Exhibition of Contemporary Famous Artists of China in National Art Gallery. In the same year, A Case Study of Influential Artists in the 21st Century: on Chen Hui was published.

2007 He served as a committee member of Academic Committee of the Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua University. Shandong Television produced a special-topic film, titled “Master of Art: Famous Chinese Painter Chen Hui”.

His Ink and wash painting Old House at Sunset was shown at the “Invitational Exhibition: Masterpieces of Famous Artists” in National Art Gallery and was collected by the organizing committee.

Chen Hui was invited to the seminar of “Huangshan Forum” and his three ink and wash paintings, including Southern Anhui in Early Spring were presented at an invitational exhibition in Hefei Anmei Gallery. The organizing committee collected his work Homeland.

His ink and wash painting UN Headquarters Building was presented at “One World”: Chinese Artist Painting Exhibition in the U.N Family. The organizing committee collected this painting.

His ink and wash painting Old House at Sunset and other four were exhibited at Chengdu Biennale, which was held in Chengdu New Century Exhibition Center. Among the five paintings, Culture of Southern Anhui was collected by Chengdu Modern Art Museum. His ink and wash painting Village at Dawn was shown at the 5th “Charm of Beijing” Exhibition.

His ink and wash painting Three-Flavors Study was presented at an invitational exhibition “Humanity and Culture of Zhejiang: Interpreting Zhejiang in the Light of Its Art”, which was held in Zhejiang Art Gallery. Chen Hui was invited to Hangzhou to attend relevant seminars.

As his ink and wash painting Morning in Southern Anhui was exhibited at the Global Chinese Exhibition of Painting and Calligraphy by Worldwide Chinese in Celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the establishment of Hong Kong SAR, Chen Hui went to Hong Kong to attend celebration activities on invitation.

His ink and wash painting A Winter Morning in Southern Anhui won honorable mention in the Global Chinese Exhibition of Painting and Calligraphy by Worldwide Chinese, which was held in Japan.

His ink and wash painting A Sense of Union in the Same Moonlight was shown at the “Art in the New Century”：Collective Exhibition of Paintings across the Strait, which was held in both Beijing and Taipei. Chen Hui was invited to Taiwan for academic exchanges. Chen’s oil painting Deep into the Desert and other 19 pieces of his works were shown at the “Flowing light and Color”：Exhibition on Chen Hui’s works. Chen Hui went to Singapore for the opening ceremony.

“Dialogue between Artists：Joint Exhibition of Chen Hui and Ryusei Mizuno” was held at Nagaoka Modern Art Museum in Niigata-ken, Japan，in which 30 of his works, including A Glimpse of the Atmosphere were exhibited.

His resume, works and academic viewpoints were compiled into the most important national archive of Art Modern History of Chinese Art.

2008 Many televisions covered his art career. Beijing Television produced “Master of Art: Painter Chen Hui”, “the World of Collection: Appreciating Chen Hui’s Works”. Hunan Television produced “Insider in the World of Art: Lingering in the Light, Painter Chen Hui”. Japan’s NHK Television produced a special topic film introducing “Dialogue between Artists: Joint Exhibition of Chen Hui and Ryusei Mizuno”.

His ink and wash painting A Touch of Old Southern Anhui was shown at the “South of the Yangtze River in Ink and Wash: Famous Artists Invitational Exhibition”. Puhua Gallery in Zhejiang Province collected his work Families in Southern Anhui.

“Dialogue between Artists: Joint Exhibition of Chen Hui and Ryusei Mizuno” was held at National Art Gallery in which, 30 of his works, including A Glimpse of the Atmosphere were exhibited.

“Dialogue of Images: Exhibition of Two Artists’ Works” was held in 798 Art Gallery, in which 20 of his works were exhibited, including ink and wash painting Southern Anhui in Early Spring.

His ink and wash painting Impression of Shichahai Lake was presented at the 6th “the Charm of Beijing” exhibition in National Art Gallery, and was collected by Beijing Fine Art Academy.

Five of his ink and wash paintings, including Impression of Southern Anhui were exhibited at “Modern Ink and Wash Painting Invitational Exhibition” in Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

His ink and wash painting Southern Anhui’s Winter was exhibited at the 1st Zhengzhou Ink and Wash Painting Biennale.

His ink and wash painting Old House in Southern Anhui was exhibited at the 2008 Olympic Fine Art Invitational Exhibition, which was held in Beijing International Exhibition Center. The organizing committee collected this painting.

His ink and wash painting series A Glimpse of the Landscape were exhibited at the Sino-Korea Exchange Exhibition in 798 Art Gallery.

His ink and wash painting series A Glimpse of the Landscape were exhibited at the 1st Shenzhen Ink and Wash Painting Biennale, and were collected by the Shenzhen Art Gallery.

His ink and wash painting Floating Light was shown at the Students and Teachers’ works Exhibition in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Establishment of Chinese National Academy of Arts.

His ink and wash painting Memories of Southern Beijing was exhibited at the “China, Japan, Korea Contemporary Art Exchange Exhibition” in the exhibition hall of Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua University.

2009 Chen Hui became Ph.D. supervisor and served as one of the judges of the 11th National Artworks Exhibition and art consultant for the 13rd Guangzhou Asian Games. In the same year, A Glimpse of the Atmosphere: Painter Chen Hui was published. China Education Television produced a special topic film on him, titled “Extending the Realm of Ink and Wash Painting: Painter Chen Hui”.

In 2009, his paper “On the Constructive Elements in the Art of Chinese Paintings” won the third prize in Tsinghua University Higher Education Academy Paper Competition.

As his ink and wash painting Memories of Southern Anhui was exhibited at “Art in the New Century：Collective Exhibition of Paintings across the Strait”, which was held in Taiwan Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall and Buddhist Art Museum, Chen Hui was invited to Taiwan for seminars and academic exchanges. His ink and wash painting Lingering Charm of the Imperial Capital was exhibited at “Brightness Beijing Art Exhibition” in National Art Gallery.

His ink and wash painting Lingering light was exhibited at “Collection World of China: Art Wealth Exhibition” in Zhejiang World Trade Center.

As “Lingering Light and Extraordinary Color: Chen Hui Oil Painting Exhibition” was held in Singapore Xingyi Art Center, he went to Singapore for the opening ceremony and was invited to give a lecture at the Singapore Confucius Institute.

His ink and wash painting The Old Good Days was exhibited at the World Tour Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Art in France, Germany and U.S.A.

His ink and wash painting Time was exhibited at “Chinese Paintings: Traditional Chinese Paintings Exhibition” in Shanghai Art Gallery.

His ink and wash painting Chinese Culture was exhibited as jury’s works at the 11th National Art Works Exhibition in Shanghai Art Gallery.

His ink and wash painting A Glimpse of the Atmosphere and other seven were exhibited at “Unbounded Art: Six Artists Exhibition” in the gallery of Academy of Arts and Design, Tsinghua University.

His ink and wash painting A Glimpse of the Landscape was exhibited at the first “Art and Peace: Painting and Calligraphy Exhibition” in Beijing Qikeshu Gallery.

Eight of Chen Hui’s paintings, including ink and wash painting Impression of Southern Anhui were exhibited at the invitational exhibition commemorating 30th year anniversary of Deng Xiaoping’s Speech at Huangshan Mountain in Huangshan Gallery.

His ink and wash painting Mountain Residents was shown at the 2009 National Chinese Painting Exhibition, and was collected by the organizing committee.

Chen’s ink and wash painting Residential Houses in Southern Anhui was exhibited at the invitational exhibition of the Chinese paintings in celebration of the 90th anniversary of founding of Hushe Art Group.

2010 In celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the PRC, CCTV International produced a series of documentary films, and one of them was an introduction to Chen Hui, titled “Immortality and Classics". He served as a core member of the art and design team for the 26th Universiade. His works earned the appreciation of the Art Magazine: a full page in the 6th issue was dedicated to him and his ink and wash paintings, and the 11th issue presented Chinese Culture, a painting which had won honorable mention in the 4th International Fine Arts Biennial Exhibition in Beijing.

Chen’s ink and wash painting Time was exhibited at the “Lasting Classical Charms Art Exhibition" in Peking University. The second round of “Lingering Time”, Chen’s solo ink and wash painting exhibition was held in Guangzhou. Four of his works, including ink and wash painting Impression of Southern Anhui, were exhibited at the “Collection in the Ages of Prosperity: Contemporary Chinese Painting Invitational Exhibition” in Ningbo Tianyiwenyuan Gallery.

Chen’s ink and wash painting Chinese Culture won Excellence Prize in the 4th Beijing International Fine Arts Biennale, and was collected by National Art Museum of China.

Chen’s ink and wash painting Snowy Old Street was exhibited at the “Beijing Image Exhibition” in People’s Revolutionary Military Affairs Museum of China, and was collected by Beijing Fine Art Academy.

Chen’s ink and wash painting Around the House was exhibited at “Homeland of Brush and Ink: Hundred Masters of Art Invitational Exhibition” in Hebei Yijin Gallery, and was collected by the organizing committee.

Chen’s ink and wash painting Early Morning in Phoenix Island was exhibited at the “Hundred Masters of Art Invitational Exhibition” in Hainan Museum.

Chen’s ink and wash painting Visit Southern Anhui in Misty Rain was exhibited at the “Love is all around China: Hundred Masters of Art Invitational Exhibition” in Heilongjiang Museum.

Chen’s ink and wash painting The White Pagoda was exhibited at the invitational exhibition in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Beijing Federation of Literary and Art Circles in National Art Gallery.

Chen’s ink and wash painting Moonlight in Southern Anhui was exhibited at the “An Oath to China: Famous Contemporary Artists Invitational Exhibition” in Anhui Museum.

2011 He served as a judge for 2011 National Invitational Exhibition of Chinese Paintings and Jinling Exhibition of 100 Chinese Paintings.

Chen’s ink and wash painting Chinese Culture was exhibited at the “New Art Invitational Exhibition” hosted by