Huang Yongyu Art Museum

Huang Yongyu Art Museum

Mr. Huang Yongyu (1924–), a native of Fenghuang County, Hunan Province, is a renowned modern artist and literary figure, as well as a world-famous cultural master. He was self-taught in fine arts and literature, and led a life full of legend. His artistic achievements earned him the China Golden Prize for Fine Arts and the Lifetime Achievement Award (2003), as well as the Italian Commander’s Cross (1986) and the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity, 2nd Class (2006).

In July 2003, Mr. Huang Yongyu, together with the renowned American museum expert Mr. Harvey West, visited Jishou University and expressed his willingness to donate approximately 200 pieces of cultural relics from his lifelong collection to his hometown university — Jishou University. Later, he also offered to donate some of his own paintings, calligraphy works, and manuscripts to the university. To express gratitude for Mr. Huang’s deep affection for his hometown and its university, the school decided to establish the Huang Yongyu Art Museum. The museum aims to promote and showcase outstanding human cultural achievements and the wisdom of creation, contributing to the progress of human civilization and society. The cultural relics collected by Mr. Huang are tangible examples of human civilization across various eras. The vast body of artworks and literary creations by Mr. Huang, rich in imagination and creativity, are exceptional works that blend Chinese and Western cultures and symbolize human wisdom. The establishment of the Huang Yongyu Art Museum is of great significance and far-reaching impact. It serves as a key center for the study of Huang Yongyu’s artistic achievements and unique thinking style; a key to inspiring wisdom and developing intellect; a platform for exploring the laws of social life and artistic creation; and a bridge for inheriting civilization and promoting cultural exchanges between China and other countries.

The Huang Yongyu Art Museum was designed under the leadership of Professor Zhang Yonghe (1956–), a leading architect of the new China, Director of the Beijing Architecture Research Center, Head of the Department of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Director of Beijing Very Architecture Studio. It is one of the representative works of his Very Architecture.

The Huang Yongyu Art Museum has a total construction area of 4,200 m² and an exhibition area of 2,600 m², divided into sections such as the Preface Hall, Artistic Life, Painting and Calligraphy World, and the Collection World.

The Preface Hall displays a large bronze sculpture “Mountain Ghost” (800 cm × 300 cm), Huang Yongyu’s giant painting “Picking Lotus Leaves to Make Clothes” created on-site at Jishou University, ancient submerged wood that lay dormant at the bottom of the Three Gorges for 15,000 years, large-scale photographs of Huang Yongyu, as well as large wall hangings of Tujia brocade and craft patterns.

The Artistic Life exhibition hall adopts a cultural perspective, tracing the trajectory of Huang Yongyu’s life and artistic world. Through five major life stages — “Landscape That Will Never Return,” “The Vagabond of the Carefree River,” “The Talented Painter of New Life,” “The ‘Rebel’ of Western Hunan During the Cultural Revolution,” and “A Hundred Thousand Wild Flowers Entering My Dreams” — and using a combination of text, charts, photos, and physical objects, it comprehensively depicts Huang Yongyu’s legendary artistic life. It highlights his unique personality and artistic charm, providing a vivid interpretation and a living example of human civilization and wisdom.

The Painting and Calligraphy World exhibition hall displays selected artworks (including sculptures, woodcuts, paintings, calligraphy, etc.) created by Mr. Huang Yongyu, primarily featuring ink paintings. This offers an opportunity to study and appreciate Huang Yongyu’s highly imaginative and creative, uniquely personalized artistic world. The focus is on showcasing his exceptional ability to integrate ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign cultures, as well as his artistic style, offering a glimpse into his relentless pursuit of human wisdom and his continuous creative journey as a wise artist. Among them are large-scale works such as “Pine Wind Like Waves” (1500 cm × 5500 cm).

The Collection World exhibition hall displays nearly 200 cultural relics, including precious items such as pottery figurines from the Zhongshan State, stone coffins from the Tang Dynasty, and stone statues (Wengzhong) from the Song Dynasty. The relics span from the Longshan and Yangshao cultures to the Ming and Qing Dynasties, with a focus on pottery from the Warring States Period to the Han Dynasty. These pieces reveal Huang Yongyu’s profound knowledge of traditional Chinese culture and his aesthetic preferences. The exquisite artifacts from the Han Dynasty, remarkable in their shapes, patterns, craftsmanship, and artistic conception, embody a romanticism of innocent wildness and the beauty of primitive grandeur — qualities particularly cherished by Huang Yongyu.

“Artworks always revive as they should in later generations, passing through the death zones of epochs that once rejected them.” — This is a famous quote by Blok, favored by Mr. Huang Yongyu.

On October 1, 2006, the Huang Yongyu Art Museum was grandly inaugurated on the shore of Fengyu Lake at Jishou University.

Attraction Location

Jishou University, No. 120 Renmin South Road, Jishou City, Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, Hunan Province