Recently, the exhibition "Bridging Eras - The Copper Art of Zhu Bingren through Eight Decades" debuted at the National Museum of China. Co-hosted by the National Museum of China, the China National Academy of Arts, the China Arts and Crafts Association, the Chinese Folk Literature and Art Society, and the Zhejiang Federation of Literary and Art Circles, the exhibition showcases over 100 pieces, presenting to the audience a "seemingly familiar yet unfamiliar" world of copper casting.

Copper is one of the earliest metals known and used by humans. Hangzhou copper sculpture, as a continuation of bronze casting techniques, has revived with new vitality through generations of craftsmanship and development amid historical changes and epochal transformations. In 2008, Hangzhou copper sculpture was listed in the second batch of national intangible cultural heritage representative projects. Zhu Bingren, a national representative inheritor of intangible cultural heritage projects and a master of copper sculpture arts and crafts, bases his work on traditional techniques of copper casting, engraving, and forging. While inheriting and promoting traditional Chinese copper art, he pioneered the "molten copper" technique.

This exhibition is divided into four sections: "Ancient Methods with New Ideas," "Craftsmanship in Copper," "Ingenious Copper Sculpture," and "Artistic Innovations." It features over 100 exquisite copper works of various shapes and themes, elucidating from different angles the artistic transformation of Chinese copper sculpture from "casting bronze to resemble objects" to "departing from form to capture essence." Among the exhibits is Zhu Bingren's 2022 creation "A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains," inspired by Northern Song painter Wang Ximeng's painting A Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains. The piece vividly recreates the majestic landscapes of the Song Dynasty with the brilliance and dimensionality of colored copper, transforming the two-dimensional painting into a three-dimensional scene.

The exhibition is located in Halls South 1 and South 2 of the National Museum and is expected to run for three months.

Translator: Feng Haoxuan

Reviewer: BAI Jing