On the morning of December 17, under the guidance of the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television and Tourism and the Propaganda Department of the Tianhe District Committee of the Communist Party of China, the "Thousands of People and Thousands of Faces - Cantonese Opera Mask Exhibition" sponsored by the Red Line Girl Art Center, the Tianhe District Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the Tianhe District Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports Bureau, and the Guangdong Cantonese Opera Promotion Association opened in Tianhe Art Garden, Tianhe District.
At the opening event, Ni Huiying, president of the Guangdong Cantonese Opera Promotion Association and winner of the Plum Blossom Award for Chinese Theatre, delivered a speech on behalf of the organizers. Ni Huiying introduced that the masks on display in this exhibition are all displayed in the public for the first time, which is a pioneering and exploration to inherit and promote Cantonese opera culture, and will lead the general public and audience into the splendid world of Cantonese opera characters through facial masks.
Feng Hanhua, the intangible inheritor of Cantonese opera masks at the district level, the head of the art research department of the Red Line Girl Art Center, the curator and main painter of the exhibition, reviewed the sincere teachings and support and encouragement of the red line female teachers, and expounded the artistic characteristics and value of Cantonese opera masks.
Cantonese opera is a treasure of Lingnan culture. Cantonese opera masks use freehand, exaggeration, symbolism and other techniques, seeing the temperament in the pattern, placing love and hatred in the color, and rich in the beauty of decoration, which has an important position in the art of Cantonese opera.
The "Thousands of People, Thousands of Faces – Cantonese Opera Masks Exhibition" showcases 170 Cantonese opera masks, which is a concentrated display of the art of Cantonese opera masks.
The face masks on display this time are pioneered by Wu Xing, an expert in Cantonese opera masks, and only draw eye sockets without eyeballs, and 70 masks drawn by Mr. Wu Xing are selected, and 100 commonly used face masks drawn by Mr. Feng Hanhua specially for the upcoming "Cantonese Opera Performing Arts Encyclopedia - Stage Beauty Volume", including black face, white face, black and white face, main color face, three-color face, four-color face, five-color face and special yin and yang face, etc., which shows the richness and diversity of Cantonese opera face masks in three dimensions.
In 2021, the Cantonese opera mask painting project was included in the 10th batch of representative projects of intangible cultural heritage in Tianhe District, Guangzhou. The successful inscription of Cantonese opera masks on the World Heritage List has opened up a new field of intangible cultural heritage culture and art, and filled the gap in the intangible cultural heritage items of Cantonese opera masks in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
It is reported that the exhibition will continue to be held in Tianhe Art Garden until January 7, 2024.
Southern + reporter Xu Ziming
Correspondent: Xu Yanbin
【Author】 Xu Ziming
[Source] Southern Press Media Group Southern + client