At 10:30, August 26, 2016, the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) held a ceremony accepting donations of Xiong Bingming sculptures from Chen Ning Yang and Weng Fan, and Yu Youren calligraphy works from Zhu Yilong. The activity was arranged in the academic hall on the seventh floor of NAMOC building.

The donations comprised two parts. First, famous scientist and Nobel Prize winner in physics professor Chen Ning Yang and his wife Weng Fan donated three pieces of sculptures by Xiong Bingming to NAMOC. The Brush Rack was created specifically for Yang. The back of the work keeps name abbreviations of the two men, a witness of their friendship. The Camel and Horse sculptures were representative works of Xiong in the 1950s and 1960s, integrating Chinese freehand spirit and western abstract composition to embody rich philosophical significance. They manifested the artistic spirit of Xiong as a scholar artist. Second, Zhu Yilong, a member of the national committee of CPPCC and vice-chairman of Overseas Chinese Federation, donated three exquisite calligraphy works of Yu Youren to NAMOC. They were Seven Character Poems in Cursive Script, Grass Script Scroll, and Letters in Cursive Script. Yu Youren was a famous statesman, educator and calligrapher in modern China. His works boast high artistic values, historical significance and distinct personal artistic characteristics. The donation of the three pieces of works will further improve the collection of NAMOC in 20th century Chinese calligraphy and seal cutting, adding to the art treasures of the national art treasure house.

Grass Script Scroll by Yu Youren

As a palace hall of the national fine arts, NAMOC will assume the duties of preserving, studying, exhibiting and spreading art classic and artistic creation. In the process of turning “family collection” into “national treasures”, we will well preserve these precious artistic works, and let them play even greater roles in the promising cause of research, exhibition and promotion of Chinese fine arts in the future.