Lao She’s art collection on display at National Art Museum

The third section elaborates on the couple's criteria as collectors: They bought artworks that they were interested in, not those that would bring short-term gains. And the modern masters on their collecting list trace the peak and evolution of Chinese art in the first half of the 20th century, including Wu Changshuo (1844-1927), Fu Baoshi (1904-1965) and Lin Fengmian (1900-1991), to name a few.

"Lao She loved paintings. He loved collecting and hanging them on the walls. He also loved befriending the painters and commenting on their works. In one word, he was obsessed with paintings," Shu Yi once said.

He said his father started to purchase small-sized paintings, including picture postcards, when he served as a lecturer at the University of London between 1924 and 1929. Although he lived on a limited wage, he bought many albums and printed pictures of Western artists including Rembrandt and Michelangelo, before he returned to China.

The couple hung their collections on a wall in the living room. They would rotate the paintings regularly. They didn't keep these valuable assets only to themselves but would invite friends in to appreciate them. The wall was called the "Lao She Gallery".

Lao She felt quite humble to be recognized as a connoisseur though, Shu says, "because he said he couldn't identify a real antique painting, nor could he afford a masterpiece".

Lao She also collected a lot of picture fans once owned and painted by famous Peking Opera actors such as Mei Lanfang (1894-1961) and Ma Lianliang (1901-1966). "He was quite familiar with them. They dined and drank together very often. He knew that these star performers worked with opera-loving literary figures who also wrote scenarios and helped rehearsals, hence they had gained artistic attainments during the process," Shu says.

The fans, however, were confiscated and lost during the "cultural revolution (1966-76)", when the family suffered mistreatment.

The works on show come from the collections of the National Museum of Modern Chinese Literature, the Beijing Lao She Memorial and private hands, as well as a recent donation from Lao She's family to the National Art Museum of China.

Painting Collections of Lao She and Hu Jieqing, a set of five volumes compiled by China Guardian Auctions, will soon be published.

If you go

9 am-5 pm, through March 15. National Art Museum of China, 1 Wusi Dajie, Dongcheng district, Beijing. 010-6400-1476.