Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c11.136

v2.c11.136

Chinese painter Xu Beihong visited India from 1939-1940. The Indian tour brought Xu Beihong to the creative peak of Chinese painting. In the winter of 1939, Xu Beihong came to Indian Tagore International University for giving a lecture at the invitation of Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore. During the tour, he painted 10 portraits for Tagore, including a sketch, drawing, oil painting, Chinese painting. The Chinese painting *Figure of Tagore* was one of his master works. On February 17, 1940, when Mahatma Gandhi visited Shantiketan, Xu Beihong sketched for Gandhi and Gandhi signed the picture. In the same year, Xu Beihong successively held a painting exhibition in Shantiketan and Calcutta (present day Kolkata). Tagore spoke highly of his artistic achievement in the introduction of the exhibition. From April to July, 1940, Xu Beihong went to Darjeeling, Himalayas and completed the huge Chinese painting *Yu Gong Yi Shan*. Most figures in the picture modelled Indian people. He also drew Chinese painting *Horses* and *Indian Women* in Darjeeling.