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In 1492, with a letter from the Spanish queen to the Chinese emperor, Columbus and his crew sailed forth to China.
But his fate would not bring him there. They would miss Asia and fortuitously "discover" the New World.
"What would the Sino-Spanish cultural exchange have been like if Columbus had not lost his way to China?" Xing Xiaosheng, 64, asked in his study and home in an old apartment building in western Beijing.
A veteran art historian and translator of European art, Xing said he has always felt it a pity that China and Spain, two of the world's giants in arts and culture, have not had enough dialogue between each other, especially in the field of visual art.
"Because of differences in history, geography, languages and cultures, the two countries have remained remote for a very long period of time," said Xing, who has, since the 1980s, devoted himself to advancing artistic interchanges between China and Spain.
Before Xing, very few Chinese scholars have focused their research on the art history of Spain, the birthplace of such greats as Velazquez, Goya, Picasso, Miro, Dali and Tapies, among many other masters.
Even fewer scholars have made it their responsibility and life-long goal to introduce Spanish art to Chinese audiences while trying to enhance the understanding of Chinese art in Spain.
New Book
Following his previous publications on Spanish art, Paintings of Spain, a three-volume, 1,314-page book he authored, has rolled off the presses at the Hebei Education Publishing House. Experts have hailed it as a breakthrough that broadens the vision of Chinese readers, especially artists and researchers, on Spanish art.
Ranging from pre-historic murals in the Altamira Cave about 25,000 years ago to mixed media works of contemporary artist Antoni Tapies, the magnificent publication is the first book in Chinese that presents a full scope of the history, artists and images of Spanish painting.
"For Chinese artists like me, this book is no doubt a bridge leading to the great artistic kingdom of Spain," said Wen Lipeng, a noted oil painter and professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing.
Wen explained that language is still a major obstacle for most Chinese artists who are eager to learn about foreign art.
"Besides his concise and fluent writing that gives us a clear picture of the development of Spanish painting, the book is even more remarkable for including a large number of images. Readers feel as if they are strolling in an art museum with abundant collections," Wen noted.
Believing that images say the most, Xing included 999 color photographs and 141 black-and-white ones. A majority of the images are photographs of the original works taken by the author or provided by art museums or institutions in Spain and other countries. Most of the color images take up one or two pages to give a vivid, clear representation of the original works.
"I intend to be both objective and subjective in my writing, that is, to be faithful to the historical facts and to express my individual understanding of Spanish art from the perspective of a Chinese scholar," said the author.
For example, in the foreword of the book, Xing emphasized three phenomena in the evolution of Spanish painting that are especially inspiring for Chinese artists and worthy of further research.
They include, a strong awareness of national identity, the contrast and interaction between old and new trends, and the similarity between Chinese and Spanish paintings in their methods, styles and concepts.
"As part of Xing's numerous publications on Spanish art, this book also fills a void by introducing Spanish visual art to China," said Spanish Ambassador to China Eugenio Bregolat.
Art Envoy
Bregolat is not the first Spaniard to give such high praise for Xing and his work.
On October 14, 1988, the leading Spanish newspaper EL PAIS published a profile on Xing, praising him as "El embajador de la culture y el arte Espanol en China" (The Spanish ambassador of arts and culture in China).
Even today, Xing feels proud of that and the road he has chosen.
Xing is a graduate of the Beijing Foreign Languages Institute (now known as Beijing Foreign Studies University), where he studied Spanish and French from 1957 to 1962. He has developed his strong interest in art and art history since he was a student.
But it wasn't until the early 1980s when he became an editor of the magazine World Art, which was published by the Central Academy of Fine Arts, that he has found himself tied to art professionally.
In June 1984, at the age of 46, Xing became the first scholar sent by the Chinese Government after the "cultural revolution" (1966-76) to study Western art history in Paris.
During his two years of study at the University of Paris I and University of Paris IV, he made his first visit to Spain, where he was shocked by the splendor of Spanish art and determined to concentrate on introducing Spanish art to China and to help Spanish people better understand Chinese art.
"Since 1985, I have visited Spain eight times, with support from the Spanish Government and some friends," said Xing. "All together, I have spent more than three years in the country to study Spanish art and give lectures on Chinese art."
He was grateful for the experience, he said.
"As a historian of Spanish art, I was lucky to be able to visit the country so often to collect first-hand materials, to see masterpieces in art museums and to make friends with important contemporary artists," Xing said.
In recent years, Xing has published more than 10 books on Spanish art, including books about sculpture and architecture as well as catalogues of individual artists. He is also the driving force behind bringing the grand solo shows of Spanish masters Tapies, Miro and Dali to China.
On June 21, 1988, Xing was invited as the first Chinese scholar to lecture on the development of Chinese painting at the famous Museum of Prado in Madrid.
And he has been invited to give lectures on Chinese art in Spain many times since.
From 1988 to 1998, he helped establish a studio in Madrid which sponsored more than 30 Chinese artists to visit and study in Spain.
In 2000, in recognition of his contributions, Xing was selected as a correspondent academician of the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando de Espana (the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Spain). He was the first Chinese to be given such an honor.
"It is my life-long wish to bring the best of Spanish and Chinese art to the audiences of each country," Xing said. "I believe there is still a lot more work for me to do in the rest of my life."
(China Daily August 13, 2002)
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