On the morning of Nov. 16th, the First Wenzhouese Artists’Picture-Story Book Retrospective was open at the Wenzhou Art Museum. Among the exhibits are  over 800 excellent picture-story books and more than 1000 pages of selected original picturesby 48 artists born in Wenzhou. “Look! These are “Battle between Chu State and Han State” and“Sister Jiaing”… andthose are “The Princess's Messenger” and “Divine Comedy…”. The audience feasted their eyes on the displayed pictures at the exhibition.

The books on display were published from the 1930s to the 1980s. The pictures in the books are formed with a variety of techniques, such as woodcarving, line drawing, Chinese ink painting, painting with exact delineation and enriched colours, water colour, cartoon, etc. At the exhibition, 46-year-old Mr. Chen enthused: “I never expected that those picture-story books so familiar to us are represented by the artists of Wenzhou ancestry. What a profound knowledge of culture Wenzhouese have!”

It made the audience pleasantly surprised that the authors of the displayed books, an old generation of artists, such as Dai Ren, Zhao Ruichun, Men Qingjiang, Xia zhigang, Dai Honghai, Zhang Zhaoxing ,Wang Shaoji, etc. were present at the unveiling ceremony of the Retrospective.

Mr. Men Qingjiang, who has once acted as Vice Editor-in-chief of the People's Fine Arts Publishing House and Editor-in-chief of the Picture-Story Paper, regardless of his old age, hurried back to attend the event. Obsessed with his hometown, Mr. Men has once organized Wenzhou’s artists to create a picture-story book Emperor Qianlong’s Affairs. The book was completed in the 1980s but failed to be published for some reasons. This time, he brought its original pictures for display to make up for his regret for many years.

The retrospective will last to Nov. 26th. It is hosted by WenzhouLiterature and Arts Association and undertaken by Wenzhou Artists Association and Wenzhou Art Museum.