Wednesday marks the 110th birthday of the late Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai. In Beijing, the National Museum of Fine Arts has curated a new exhibition revealing a previously obscure chapter of the life of Zhou Enlai. Zhou was a founder of the People's Republic of China. Zhou Enlai and Chinese Fine Arts traces the footsteps of Premier Zhou through Chinese arts in over one hundred photos and paintings. The mention of Premier Zhou Enlai evokes memories of deep commitment to public service rather than passion for fine arts. Yet, the lesser-known quality in the late premier is the thread which ties together an ongoing exhibition of photos, paintings, prints, sketches, sculptures and postcards. The exhibits are displayed in five halls covering 18-hundred square metres. All of the galleries are in crimson hue to evoke the sense of solemnity and subdued artistic animation. The unprecedented systematic approach to Zhou Enlai and Chinese fine arts begins with three postcards, on loan from the Tianjin History Museum. On public display for the first time, the cards: Miller's "The Gleaners", Girodet's "Burial of Atala" and Auguste Rodin's "the Age of Bronze" come from Zhou's correspondence with a Tianjin youth society. Zhou was studying in France at the time. The cards are clear proof that Zhou was among the first to introduce Western art to Chinese people. The Premier's lifelong devotion to China's revolution is recorded on canvas -- "The Premier and the People", "Zhou Enlai in a Disaster-Stricken Area" are among the works. The sixty paintings executed from 1930 to 1980 embody a soulful commemoration of the leader. Zhou Bingyi, a niece of Zhou Enlai, happily recalls her conversations with her uncle when she was choosing her college.

来源：雅昌艺术网