From March 20th to April 20th, Wuhan University’s Wanlin Art Museum staged a public exhibition of Dunhuang mural art treasure. The exhibition was held by Wuhan University in cooperation with China Dunhuang Grottoes Conservation Research Foundation and Dunhuang Research Academy.
Undeniably, the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, also known as the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, are world cultural heritages. Their fame rests on their gorgeous murals and lifelike clay sculptures. As the biggest artistic trove for Buddhism, these grottoes have attracted countless visitors all over the world. Among them, there are artists and scholars, as well as thieves and invaders. Due to the natural and human impact, Mogao Grottoes have been designated as a national key cultural relic conservation unit which is only opened to a limited number of visitors. In order to protect and, in the meantime, spread this unique art, China Dunhuang Grottoes Conservation Research Foundation and Dunhuang Research Academy have employed digital technology to make copies of these classic murals in Mogao Grottoes, and present them to universities in China. Up to now, these reproductions have been exhibited in many famous universities such as Tsinghua University, Central Academy of Fine Art and Renmin University of China. What distinguished Wuhan University from the rest was the related activities held here, which include academic lectures in the library and the competition of mural copying in Wanlin Art Museum, to name but a few. The exhibitions are held for the purpose of arousing students’ increasing interest in Dunhuang mural art.
On entering the museum, visitors will see a display of a series of historic photographs on easels, telling them the stories happened during Mogao Grottoes’ discovery.
The display on the first floor
The second floor displays more than 50 mural reproductions, including 7 copies of historical documents, 2 multicolor clay sculptures and a scaled-down replica cave in Mogao Grottoes. All the murals are exhibited in rows in chronological order. From the perspective of the theme, they cover Buddhist stories and Buddha statues, Flying Apsaras, sunk panels and so on, in which there is no lack of epics or exquisite works.
A glance at the second floor
Nearly every mural attracts several visitors to linger on. Two girls from Hunan Normal University, Miss Zeng and Miss Tang, stopped at a famous mural named “The Forest of Recovered Eyesight”. A guide, wearing a portable microphone with a laser pen in her hand, was explaining the Buddhist story depicted by this mural. After hearing the story, Miss Zeng said “I only saw these arcane murals on TV before, and I never thought that it can be so lively and interesting! How lucky we are to catch this exhibition.” These two visitors from Hunan Province had originally intended to enjoy the beauty of cherry blossoms in WHU, but the imposing post board outside Wanlin Art Museum drew them to the museum. The fame of Dunhuang mural art spread so widely and greatly that nobody will miss this golden opportunity to experience it in the flesh.
A visitor is appreciating the clay sculpture
But to Mr. Bi in School of History in Wuhan University, the highlight changed. Deeply buried in the copies of historical documents, he said that all these copies are of great significance to the study of history from Sui to Tang dynasty, which is exactly the superior subject in the School of History. “What’s more important,” he added, “Our school even boasts a professional institute in this field--China third Century to ninth Century Research Institute. We hope that there will be more exhibitions about Dunhuang mural art! ”
Two students are appreciating the mural
Yu, a student from the WHU School of Law, is a volunteer guide in Wanlin Art Museum. She works as a guide is to explain and tells stories behind those murals over and over again. However, she never feels bored, because the beautiful artworks can always light her up. “No matter how many times I have shown visitors around, I’m still enthralled by those delicate murals, especially for those sunk panels which are full of complicated decorative patterns and a mass of colors.” She said.
Visitors were listening to the guide
Although there are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes, Dunhuang mural art presents different people with such a wide variety of masterpieces to meet their tastes, and maybe that is where the infinite fascination of Dunhuang mural art lies in.
(Edited by Siying Wu, Mark & Sijia Hu)
