Veteran female sculptor He E's exhibition opens

A major retrospective of works by veteran Chinese female sculptor He E has opened Wednesday at Shenzhen Art Museum. 

Themed Love for the Mother River: One of New China’s First Generation of Women Sculptors, the exhibition features 89 sets of sculptures plus 18 manuscripts and sketches spanning seven decades of He’s artistic career, fully showcasing her artistic attainments and pursuit.

Works by veteran Chinese female sculptor He E are on display at Shenzhen Art Museum. Photos courtesy of Shenzhen Art Museum

Structured in four progressive chapters namely Initiation, Continuation, Transition and Harmony, the exhibition presents a complete timeline of He’s artistic creation. The opening chapter Song of the Mother features the replica of her iconic masterpiece Mother Yellow River. The second chapter Carrying Forward the Past and Forging Ahead into the Future pays sincere tribute to the inheritors and creators of China’s splendid traditional culture. The third chapter Embracing the Public exhibits her fruitful achievements in public urban sculpture art that integrates art into daily life. The final chapter Harmony of the Times interprets her core artistic philosophy of sculpting for the era and expressing the sentiments of the people through art.

Beyond Mother Yellow River, the ongoing exhibition also showcases 13 Dunhuang painted sculptures reproduced and refined by He, 229 precious historical documents and archives related to the creation of Mother Yellow River, as well as five original poems created by the artist.

He, a distinguished sculptor and pioneer of contemporary Chinese urban sculpture, was born in Wuhan, Hubei Province in 1937, with ancestral roots in Jinshan, Shanghai. In 1952, she was admitted to the Sculpture Major of the Fine Arts Department at Northwest Art College (now Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts), laying a solid professional foundation for her lifelong artistic career.

From 1962 to 1974, He worked at the Dunhuang Cultural Relics Research Institute (now Dunhuang Research Academy) for 12 years. Immersed in the treasure trove of Dunhuang grotto art, she devoted herself to studying and copying ancient Dunhuang painted sculptures. 

Having rooted her artistic creation in northwest China’s for 64 years, He has independently created and presided over the design and production of more than 200 sets of public sculptures. Eighteen of her fine works have been permanently collected by the National Art Museum of China. Her work Mother Yellow River, completed and unveiled in Lanzhou, Gansu Province 40 years ago, ingeniously integrates the gentleness of femininity and the warmth of maternal love into large-scale urban sculpture. 

The exhibition is undertaken by Gansu He E Sculpture Institute and Shenzhen Art Museum. It will be open to the public until December 10.