The China Art Gallery is a national-level art gallery focused on displaying, collecting and researching the works arts of the artists in China modern times. Chairman Mao Zedong provided the calligraphy for the name of the gallery.



The gallery facilities encompass 17,051 sq. meters including a 6,000 sq. meter exhibition hall. Built between 1958 and 1962, it is one of the Ten Great Constructions in the 10th Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China and also the largest art gallery in China. This is the place to see works by Zhao Zhiqian, Shi Tao, Zhu Da, Ren Bonian, Xu Gu, Wu Changshuo, Qi Baishi, Huang Binhong, and Xu Beihong.


Zhao Zhiqian


Xu Gu (1823-1896) The soldier who became a priest and painter.

Of course, being the most significant art gallery in the world's most populous nation does not prevent it from being a fine spot for Tai Chi (shadow boxing):



The China Art Gallery was reopened on July 23, 2003 after a year-long renovation project. When I visited, it happened to be during the opening of an artist's exhibition. (He seemed very pleased that a western would travel so far just to see his show. The Beijing TV news people even took video of us signing his guestbook.) That visit was before the recent work so I have not seen the facility or the collection since the reopening.