Root Art Museum

Root Art Museum

The Root Art Museum is located in the northeast corner of Hongmei Park, covering an area of 2,000 square meters. It is a complex of antique-style courtyard architecture, featuring white walls, black tiles, carved beams and painted rafters, curved bridges over water, and lush trees—offering a very beautiful environment. The interior decoration is elegant, with display stands of varying heights and collections arranged in an orderly manner.

In the 1980s, the Changzhou Municipal Government invested several million yuan to build the Root Art Museum to permanently preserve and exhibit the rare works of Tu Yidao. A half-length bronze statue of Mr. Tu Yidao was erected in the exhibition hall of the root art collection museum, making it a new scenic attraction in Changzhou. The museum displays over 200 root carving masterpieces created by Mr. Tu Yidao, who poured his lifelong talent and dedication into his craft. It is currently the largest and richest root art museum in China. Tu Yidao’s works have been collected by numerous art museums both at home and abroad. He has also donated more than 200 of his most exquisite root art creations, which he painstakingly produced, to his hometown of Changzhou. Party and state leaders have given full recognition and high praise. The former Vice Premier of the State Council, Gu Mu, personally inscribed for him: “Ingenious craftsmanship, art born of heaven.”

Tu Yidao’s works are renowned throughout China and abroad and are hailed as “treasures of the world.” Party and state leaders have given full recognition and high praise. The former Vice Premier of the State Council, Gu Mu, personally inscribed for him: “Ingenious craftsmanship, art born of heaven.” His works have been exhibited in dozens of countries and are permanently housed in the “Tu Yidao Root Art Collection Museum” in Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province; the “Tu Yidao Root Art Collection Museum” in Jingzhou City, Hubei Province; the “Tu Yidao Root Art Collection Museum” in Fuzhou City; the “Tu Yidao Root Art Collection Museum” in Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province; and museums in 28 other countries including the United States, Japan, Canada, and Singapore.

As a form of plastic art, root carving uses old tree roots as raw materials and takes the sculptor’s unique discoveries and creative vision as its soul. It simulates the images of flowers, trees, birds, beasts, ganoderma, and even Buddhist and Taoist deities for artistic creation, blending object and self, form and meaning. There are grand masterpieces over ten feet tall, as well as delicate miniatures no larger than a square foot; there is the thrilling "Eagle Catching a Snake" and the gentle musicality of "Rain on Lotus." Each piece is vivid and lifelike, exuding the resonant brilliance of ancient bronze and the enduring subtlety of aged wood, giving viewers a sense of vitality and instant admiration. The artistic quality of these pieces almost reaches the pinnacle of perfection. Gu Mu’s impromptu verse truly captures these extraordinary root art pieces and their creator. Viewing the treasures in the museum makes it even clearer that Gu Mu’s high praise is in no way exaggerated. “When man and nature unite in root carving, and both heart and eye delight in the art.” It is because root carving creates such a realm where man and nature merge into art that it allows viewers to hear the music of heaven, feel refreshed and joyful, and experience the shock and pleasure of aesthetic appreciation.