CHINA: Shanghai opens Picasso exhibition with a glamorous ceremony featuring famous celebrities and socialites

Record ID: 1519818

  • Title: CHINA: Shanghai opens Picasso exhibition with a glamorous ceremony featuring famous celebrities and socialites
  • Date: 18th October 2011
  • Summary: SHANGHAI, CHINA (OCTOBER 17, 2011) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) EXTERIOR OF CHINESE NATIONAL PAVILION AT SITE OF SHANGHAI WORLD EXPO 2010
  • Embargoed: 1st November 2011 21:39
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVAC1UFYYTVCDPTF8IK4GVTO9ZKB
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Shanghai opened an exhibition of the works of famed artist Pablo Picasso on Monday (October 17) with a gala ceremony at the Chinese pavilion located inside the site of the Shanghai World Expo 2010.
    Chinese celebrities such as actor Liu Ye and actress Maggie Cheung joined more than a hundred invited guests to be the first to view the exhibition in China's financial capital.
    62 pieces of the art master's works are on display in seven exhibition areas inside the pavilion.
    To add to the exhibition, there are also eight areas where visitors can view photographs of Picasso's daily activities to gain a better understanding of his life.
    The paintings of display were in different ranges of his creative periods, including renowned pieces such as "The Barefoot Girl", "The Dream" and "The Sculptor".
    A three-dimensional figure of Picasso was also transmitted to guests visiting the exhibition, as if the art master was amongst those invited to the opening ceremony.
    Organisers said the scale of the Picasso exhibition was unprecedented, with the range of works being the biggest ever shown to a Chinese audience.
    Li Yong (pron: lee-yong), one of the organisers of the exhibition, said the show aimed to encourage visitors to look at things from different perspectives as Picasso did with his paintings.
    "In today's society, there are different interests and different groups, so we should see things from a more diverse perspective. So we should continue to learn how to keep on changing our perspectives, to keep finding a new perspective to view this world. This is the theme that we want to convey to the Chinese audience today," he said.
    China has been an up and coming force in the art world with its investors one of the most active in buying up art works across the world in recent years.
    In a country where only 60 years ago there was no such thing as an art market, the appetite for fine arts, antiquities and good old-fashioned, Hollywood-type memorabilia is big.
    And visitors to the exhibition said they were surprised by why it took so long for such a major exhibition to be displayed in China.
    "For the Chinese people, I feel that with increasingly close cultural exchange China is having with the world in recent years, such a big exhibition by an art master like Picasso is very normal. I was just thinking why it came so late, they should have come here much earlier," said 39-year-old Zhang Huahui (pron: djang-hooa-hwee).
    China's disposable income has multiplied 10-fold in the past 20 years, according to the China-based Hurun's list of the rich individuals.
    The annual study shows 64 percent growth in average wealth over the past two years, 400-500 billionaires (the world's most), and close to a million millionaires -- average age, 39.
    The Picasso exhibition is set to open to the public on Tuesday (Oct 18) and will run for more than three months in the city.
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