Xu Jiang, head of China Academy of Art, gives the media a tour of the exhibition. [Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

Modern ink master Pan Tianshou (1897-1971) pushed the creation and education of Chinese ink-brush painting to a new height, in the wake of a crisis of classic Chinese art in the first half of the 20th century.

He explored forming a distinctive style of grandeur and magnificence in the realm of flower-and-bird painting, when this traditional genre had lost its appeal to people's taste at the time.

Marking the 120th anniversary of Pan's birth, the Hangzhou-based China Academy of Art, which Pan headed, is organizing an exhibition at the National Art Museum of China in Beijing.

The exhibition through May 14 shows Pan's 120 paintings reviewing his most celebrated figures and series of rocks and eagles.

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Exhibition held in Beijing to commemorate Chinese artist Pan Tianshou