The First Exhibition on Liu Jipiao: A Pioneer of Chinese Art Deco

How do you take a "scene-stealing" group photo in 1925?

Just ask this fascinating soul.

In 1925, a grand exposition took place along the Seine in Paris – the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes – the event that gave birth to what we now call Art Deco, a style that would soon sweep across the world.

The designer of the Chinese Pavilion was a 24-year-old Chinese architect and artist, Liu Jipiao. Before arriving in Paris, he had studied and lived in Shanghai, where he designed the Shanghai County Government building during the Republican era.

In 1928, Liu Jipiao co-founded the National Academy of Art in Hangzhou (today's China Academy of Art) with artists such as Lin Fengmian, and later served as the chief designer of the first West Lake Expo, creating remarkable works that blended Chinese classical motifs with the emerging Art Deco style.

Today, the China Academy of Art is presenting the first-ever retrospective exhibition dedicated to Liu Jipiao. Jointly curated by Chinese and French teams, the exhibition brings together more than 400 works from collections in China and abroad, including many precious original pieces, most of which are being shown to the public for the first time.

Through rich and vivid materials, the exhibition revisits the creative work and ideas of Liu Jipiao, a representative figure among the first generation of Chinese artists who studied in France, and the founding head of the Pattern Design Department at the National Academy of Art.

📍 Exhibition venue: China International Design Museum, China Academy of Art (Xiangshan Campus), Hangzhou

📅 On view until: April 15, 2025

🎟 Entry: Visitors can scan a QR code at the campus gate to enter.

If you are in Hangzhou, this exhibition is absolutely worth a visit.