Central Academy of Fine Arts Gallery 中央美术学院美术馆
朝阳区, 花家地南街8号
Part of A Better Guide to Běijīng’s coverage of Běijīng Suburbs and Beyond
Japanese ‘starchitect’ Areta Isozaki’s striking L-shaped gallery, his first in China, is part snail and part shaggy dog, and partly buried to occupy a small site on the campus of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. The Academy’s name was much more appropriate when it was just east of Wángfǔ Jǐng.
The museum has a small permanent collection, but mostly displays temporary exhibitions, including shows by CAFA students and teachers. Some shows have a distinctly commercial bent, in association, for instance, with makers of luxury timepieces who are using art as a marketing tool. But CAFA has multiple affiliations with arts institutions in the West and occasionally brings in shows worth making the trip to see.
There’s a surprisingly good café in the basement.
The Academy was founded in 1950 and is the only art institution to report directly to the Ministry of Education. The school that produced Xú Bēihóng may produce the next Ài Wèiwèi, and no doubt there’s every intention of keeping a watchful eye on creative criticism.
The modern campus is impressive, the students are welcoming, and wandering around it is unproblematic.
Architecture fans will also find Zaha Hadid’s Wàngjīng Soho complex (望京 soho), copied elsewhere in China even before it was completed, about 1km to the northeast in Wàngjīng Jiē and impossible to miss.
▶ Zhōngyàng Měishù Xuéyuàn Měishùguǎn, Chaoyang District, Huā Jiā Dì Nán Jiē 8, NE of centre just outside Fourth Ring and Airport Expressway, t 6477 1575, www.cafamuseum.org, 9am–5pm, Tue–Sun. ¥15. m Fùtōng (Line 14). b to 花家地南街:132 (from Dōng Zhī Mén), 944.
Next in Museums and Other Sights: Marco Polo Bridge
Previously: Guānfù Classic Art Museum
Main Index of A Better Guide to Beijing.
For discussion of China travel, see The Oriental-List.
