The exhibition is an important program of China and Japan cultural exchange and it is the first time for NAMOC’s collection to be on show in Tokyo National Museum. It not only promotes cultural exchange between the two countries and has Japan public get to know the development level of Chinese landscape painting in the 20th century, but also start a good cooperation between the two museums. Holding at the time of 140 anniversary of Tokyo National Museum and 50 anniversary of NAMOC, the exhibition becomes even more significant.

With a long history, Chinese landscape painting began to transform from the tradition to the modern in the context of China’s social changes and cultural collision with the foreign ones in the 20th century. The deep tradition and foreign art impact became two driving forces of development of Chinese landscape painting and “innovate based on tradition” or “integrate the Chinese with the Western” became a choice of Chinese landscape painters. Traditional painters will continue with literati paintings tradition centered on “brush and ink” and associate natural world with individual temperament and form landscape painting genre conforming to modern aesthetics. Integrative painters absorb ideas and techniques of western painting in their creation and forms Chinese western-combined landscape painting genre.

After foundation of new China in 1949, Chinese landscape painters turned to a creation course of embodying social life. Under the special historical background, Chinese landscape painters, in process of portraying new look of their motherland, enriched landscape painting language, enhanced level of landscape painting and created new landscape with distinctive time features. The three genres of landscape painting represent typical trend of Chinese landscape painting in the 20th century and consists three chapters of this exhibition- “inheritance and development of tradition”, “absorption and integration of foreign elements” and “new landscape embodying social life”