In Shanghai in October, the streets have some autumn coolness, and the citizen Wu Yu asked her friend to go straight to the Bund.
As a native of Shanghai, the Bund is a familiar area for Kureha. However, today's Bund has more attraction for her than it did in the past.
What attracts Kure is not only the Bund itself, but a series of exhibitions that are being exhibited in many art venues on the Bund. Here, within a few hundred meters of walking distance, there are many art venues such as the Bund Art Museum, the Kushi Art Museum, and the Dongyi Art Museum, including Raphael's "San Sebastian", Matisse's "The View of Antibes", etc., and many other world-class "top" famous paintings, and they are invariably "grouped" to exhibit on the Bund.
Including Kureba, in recent years, the Bund has attracted more and more global art lovers to punch in. This former "Oriental Wall Street" now exudes a strong artistic temperament, and with this new atmosphere, it is gorgeously transforming into another new highland of humanities and art in Shanghai.
Behind the "coincidence" of art venues and art masterpieces converging on the Bund, it also shows the "inevitability" of Shanghai's urban soft power.
Famous paintings frequently "guest" the Bund, go to the Bund to see the exhibition, and become a "new reason" to like Shanghai
Kureha's first stop is the Bund One Art Museum at 1 Zhongshan East Road.
The second floor of the building, built in 1916, is on display "From Monet and Bonaire to Matisse – a major exhibition of modern French art". At the exhibition, 29 French art masters such as Monet, Gauguin, Bonaire, Matisse and Picasso appeared on the same screen, and 80 top authentic works were unveiled in Shanghai for the first time.
Not long ago, Wu Yu and her friends also came to the Dongyi Art Museum to see the "Monet and the Impressionist Masters Exhibition". During the nearly five-month exhibition, visitors can enjoy Monet's 20 masterpieces up close on the Bund, including "Saint Lazare Train Station", "Snow Train", "Water Lilies", "Japanese Bridge" and other masterpieces.
The exhibition was very popular. Foreign netizens "Sugar Xiaojia" rushed to Shanghai to see this exhibition, and the number plate obtained at 12 noon was already 503. Due to the normalization of epidemic prevention and control, the flow of people must be restricted, and she was told that she would have to wait for the 200th to visit the exhibition. Tong Yao, the actor of Gu Jia in the hit drama "Thirty Only", also "crossed" to the exhibition site to reproduce the relevant "famous scenes" of Monet's work "Water Lilies" in the play.
In September last year, Monet's "Sunrise Impressions", a famous painting in the history of world art and the pioneering work of Impressionist painting, was also exhibited here. Many viewers walked into the exhibition hall more than once to "two brushes", or even "three brushes".
Home in the south of France, Martin has worked in Shanghai for many years. This is his second meeting with Sunrise Impressions. A few years ago, when Martin was on a business trip in Paris, he went to the Mamodan Monet Museum in Paris to see "Sunrise Impressions".
Compared with Monet's large number of "Water Lilies", "Sunrise Impression" is only one piece, and it is more precious. The Monet Museum in Mamodan, France, which collects this painting, rarely lends this "treasure of the town hall". If people want to see this masterpiece, they have to go to the Monet Museum in Mamodan like Martin. But it crossed the ocean to Shanghai, to the Bund. This is the first time in nearly 150 years that the painting has come to China.
The world's famous paintings frequently favor the Bund, which is not the "positioning" of individual art museums. At the same time that the Higashi-il Art Museum exhibited "Sunrise Impression", the Kushi Art Museum, which is not far away, is also exhibiting another authentic painting of the world's "top", Edward Munch's "Scream". Two large exhibitions one after the other settled on the Bund, setting off a wave of Bund exhibitions.
A few steps from the Kunshi Art Museum, at 18 The Bund, a few steps from the Kunsei Museum, is now exhibiting the art exhibition of Spanish national treasure artist Okuda San Miguel. A few months ago, Tadao Ando: The Challenge was also opened to the public at the Shanghai Fosun Art Center along the Bund. Tadao Ando's classic work", the "Church of Water", was "moved" to Shanghai.
"Without going abroad, I can often see the rare works of world-class masters on the Bund, which is the happiness and sense of gain brought to me by Shanghai." Wu Yu told reporters.
Visiting the bund is also a new reason why Martin, a "foreigner" in Shanghai, loves Shanghai. "I love the Bund, especially going to the Bund to see the exhibition. In just 800 meters, you can go to several art museums to see many masterpieces. It was almost incredible, but it happened on the Bund in Shanghai. ”
A community of art galleries concentrated in the core area of the Bund has been formed
The Bund is 1.5 kilometers long, from Yan'an East Road in the south to waibaidu bridge on suzhou creek in the north. After Shanghai was opened as a commercial port, the Bund became the financial center of the whole country and even the Far East, and the reputation of "Far East Wall Street" has always been accompanied.
For a long time, the Bund was often associated with words such as commerce, finance, fashion, etc., but rarely with art. Now, it seems that overnight, the trend of going to the Bund to see the exhibition has quietly arrived. Behind this is the efforts of many institutions and personnel.
The entire core area of the Bund, because there are 52 buildings with different styles, also makes the Bund known as the "International Architecture Expo Group". Among them, 16 outstanding historical buildings are now managed by Jiushi Group, with a total construction area of about 138,000 square meters. How to deeply "awaken" the Bund humanities and make historical buildings available to the public? In recent years, Jiushi Group has launched the exploration of urban renewal.
On September 30, 2018, the main exhibition hall of Shanghai Jiushi Art Museum, located at No. 27 Zhongshan East 1st Road, was opened in the building of the National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit - the Bund Complex of Jardine Matheson & Co. Building in Shanghai.
The exhibition site of the Kushi Museum of Art
Then, in March 2019, the No. 18 Bund Art Space at No. 18 Zhongshan East 1st Road was unveiled. The building in which it is located is an excellent historic building, the Macquarie Bank Building.
On October 1 of the same year, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Jiushi International Art Center located at No. 1 Zhongshan East 1st Road was officially opened, ushering in the first exhibition of "World Peace - Qi Baishi Fine Works Exhibition". The building is known as the "First Floor on the Bund". The Venue for Monet's "Sunrise Impressions" special exhibition, the Toichi Art Museum, is located in the Kushi International Art Center. In addition to professional art museums, the building also plans to introduce internationally renowned art institutions, auction houses and other formats.
Interior view of Dongyi Art Museum
In mid-October this year, the renovated Bund Art Museum also "returned" in full costume. Located in the Bund Yuanyuan area, the Bund Art Museum was formerly built in 1932 as the Asian Cultural Society Building, and was one of the earliest museums in China, the Shanghai Museum.
The staff of the Bund Art Museum told reporters that the renovation of the art museum, on the basis of fully respecting and preserving the historical building, redesigned the public area of the art museum with a large number of mirrors, arcs and metal elements, so that the space could be opened and more fluidity was created.
Exterior and interior view of the Bund Art Museum
"Going to the Bund to see the exhibition has become a new fashion in Shanghai. The Bund has also become, in fact, another centralized urban 'art gallery' after Xuhui Riverside. Xiao Fang, an industry insider, was sincerely grateful.
Similar to the Concentrated Art Museum community in Xuhui Riverside, including the Bund Art Museum at Bund Source, the Dongyi Art Museum at No. 1 Zhongshan East 1st Road, the Jiushi Art Space at No. 18 Zhongshan East 1st Road, the Jiushi Art Museum at No. 27 Zhongshan East 1st Road, and the Jiushi Art Salon at No. 230 Beijing East Road, an art museum community concentrated in the core area of the Bund has been formed.
It is interesting to note that most of the art venues in the Bund Art Museum community are most of the former foreign firms and financial buildings. From commercial buildings to art halls, from protected historical buildings to more open-minded art venues, the Bund's cultural heritage has also been further opened.
"Seeing the exhibition on the Bund, this experience is unique. I saw not just Sunrise Impression, but Sunrise Impression on the Bund. This kind of superimposed experience is not available in other art venues. Chen Ming, an audience member who often comes to Shanghai from Hangzhou to see the exhibition, said.
It is worth mentioning that standing in the window of Jiushi Art Space on the Bund No. 18 near the Huangpu River, you can also see the new Internet red art museum on the other side of Lujiazui - Pudong Art Museum. There, the treasure of the town hall of the Tate Museum in the United Kingdom is on display.
Martin, who likes to watch the exhibition, even benchmarked the Bund on the banks of the Seine River in France. "The Musée d'Orsay and the Louvre across the Seine, a relatively concentrated area where you can see countless world art treasures. Now on the Bund, there is a similar feeling. Hopefully, more and more art treasures will be seen on the Bund in the future. ”
The Bund has become an "artistic highland", which is the embodiment of Shanghai's urban soft power
Impression Sunrise and Scream were exhibited on the Bund at the same time
The frequent "guest" of top famous paintings on the Bund is related to the attractiveness of Shanghai and the landmark significance of the Bund.
"Shouts and Echoes – Edward Munch Prints and Paintings Exhibition," said Morten Zündag, co-curator of the foreign side: "We love the Bund because the Bund represents Shanghai. ”
As an iconic landmark of Shanghai, the Bund is a "living fossil" of the fusion of Chinese and Western cultures in Shanghai. "International exhibitions here, the fit is self-evident." Xie Dingwei, general manager of Shanghai Tianxi Cultural Development Co., Ltd., told reporters.
In 2014, Tianxi Culture held a Monet exhibition at K11 in Shanghai. The exhibition was popular, but the curator of the French Mamodan Monet Museum arrived in Shanghai "quite dissatisfied", believing that the environment of the mall was not enough to match the elegant atmosphere of the national treasure-level artwork exhibition.
The 2020 "Monet's Sunrise Impressions" and the 2021 "Monet and the Impressionist Masters" exhibition, located in the Century-old Building on the Bund, have been recognized by the Monet Museum in Mamodan. "Foreign countries are very recognized for transforming classical buildings into museums or art galleries, because art is originally the inheritance of history, and they think it is very appropriate to hold exhibitions in historical buildings." Xie Dingwei said.
Monet unfolded the box scene with the Impressionist masters
What the French side recognizes is not only the geographical environment of the Bund, but more importantly, the exhibition conditions of the art museum. The exhibition hall of Dongyi Art Museum has the constant temperature and humidity conditions required for the display of cultural relics of international standards, so that the cultural treasures on display are safe and sound during the exhibition period. "The renovation of Dongyi Art Museum has been certified by the international art museum facility certification system, global risk assessment GRASP." Xie Dingwei said, "Regardless of temperature, humidity, or security conditions, the exhibition hall must meet international standards. Especially for exhibits of the level of "Sunrise impressions", the museum has stricter requirements. ”
In Xie Dingwei's view, the transformation of the Bund's historical buildings and art museums and the certification of facilities, doing these three things well, basically all the way to the "green light".
And the real works of famous paintings have crossed the ocean to be exhibited, and behind them also need the guarantee of a perfect exhibition system in a city.
The 80 works on display of "From Monet, Bonaire to Matisse - French Modern Art Exhibition" were tailor-made to protect the wooden box, underwent numerous security inspections and epidemic prevention inspections, and were escorted by professional transport companies to the Bund with the cooperation of the cultural relics exhibits. After the customs officer opens the box for inspection, the oil painting restorer will check the preservation status of each painting on the spot and fill in the status report.
Check the paintings out of the box
After making sure the painting was foolproof, the staff carefully hung it on the wall
In view of the audience's viewing experience, these "young" art museums are also further improving and upgrading.
In the Bund Art Museum, the transformation of public spaces on the first and sixth floors is the most obvious, replacing the original minimalist linear moving line with staggered curves, so that the audience's experience is richer. For the first time, the museum has opened a roof terrace as a new space for the café, giving the public a new perspective on the Bund.
With the transformation of the Rock Bund Source Area basically completed, visitors will be able to reach the entrance of the square on the other side of the Bund Art Museum from the alley connecting the Yuanmingyuan Road in the future. "After the change of the art museum's moving line, it also opens up more angles for project planning, increases the possibility of using the space inside and outside the venue, and the audience will have a richer artistic experience here." The staff of the Bund Art Museum told reporters.
"More and more Bund art galleries are benchmarking internationally in construction, which meets the conditions for exhibiting the world's top artworks. The Bund Art Museum community and its endless exhibitions, through its international vision, professional positioning, academic exhibitions, and public art education, have become Shanghai's contemporary urban cultural business cards, and have also become one of the important platforms for lifelong education for the whole people. Hu Jianjun, associate professor and doctoral supervisor of shanghai academy of fine arts at Shanghai University, believes that famous paintings have favored the Bund as an exhibition pier, which is the embodiment of Shanghai's urban soft power, and will further enhance the soft power of the city and make Shanghai more internationally influential and attractive.
"Let the general public walk into the outstanding historical buildings on the Bund, read the architecture and feel the history in the art appreciation, and inject new humanistic vitality into the Bund." The historical buildings of the Bund are also a symbol of the fusion of Eastern and Western cultures, in these buildings, the Jiushi Art Museum has promoted the exchange and mutual learning of Chinese and foreign cultures through the exhibition of excellent cultural and artistic products at home and abroad, and has also enhanced the city's popularity to a certain extent and highlighted the soft power of the city. The relevant person in charge of the Kushi Art Museum community said.
Expert view: One end is linked to rich history and life, and the other end points to a bright future
Hu Jianjun (Associate Professor, Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, Shanghai University, Doctoral Supervisor)
The Greek poet Euripides said that being born in a famous city is the first condition for a person's happiness. Shanghai is such a city, facing the sea, spring blossoms. The Bund, a landmark where Chinese and Western cultures blend, is both traditional and contemporary, low-key and luxurious, and is also a spiritual landmark that highlights the style of the Shanghai era.
The Bund Art Venue is not only a container for the display of works of art, but also a place to present artistic creations and explain aesthetic concepts to the public. These influential exhibitions are themselves a way of extending and writing the history of contemporary art.
The possible factors driving this cultural phenomenon, in addition to geographical location, cultural background, and urban landmarks, are the push of new media such as WeChat, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu, including the behavior of Internet celebrities punching cards. In addition to the classic exhibitions, other eye-catching art events are also held on the Bund, such as Cai Guoqiang's "Nine Levels of Waves" floating across the Bund, and yang Yeju, an artist who has recently been hotly discussed, throwing golden rice grains into various corners of Shanghai, and the Bund is also the main performance location. There are also various art festivals (such as the recent Houlang Art Festival), fashion activities (such as the phenomenon of national tide brands gathering on the Bund, fashion weeks, etc.), as well as the influential Bund light show, various brand activities, etc. These all include the artist's pluralistic judgment and reflection on mass media and popular culture in a pluralistic identity, promote the public's attention, understanding and participation in global contemporary art, and lead the international attention to the Bund, so that the Bund field where the museum gathers becomes a pluralistic, open, free and interactive art and cultural community.
In the process of urban transformation from a traditional development model to a new development model with culture and art as the core, urban culture has increasingly shown an important trend of becoming a new engine for the development of international metropolises. The future of Shanghai is bound to be a cultural center city with world influence in a certain area, based on historical and cultural resources, highlighting the cultural characteristics of The Shanghai School, inclusive, open and integrated. It is the countless citizens who love the food of culture and spirit that make those highly gathered urban art exhibition groups an important window for spreading urban culture and showing urban vitality. Whether it is artists, curators or a large audience, they have poured their ideals and enthusiasm into the grand narrative carried out in these pavilions full of dreams and glory, so that there are solid and broad footnotes of thoughts and emotions, one end connecting the rich history and life, and the other pointing to a bright future.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Li Junna Text Editor: Li Junna Title Image Source: Provided by the Interviewee Photo Editor: Yong Kai
Source: Author: Junna Li