"The Light of the Nation - Centennial Mali and Her Artistic Friends" Special Exhibition Appears at Ma Xiaoli | Mali | Friends
The special exhibition "National Light - Centennial Mali and Her Artist Friends" opened on August 19th at the Jinshan Museum. The exhibition is divided into six exhibition areas: "Centennial Mali", "Friend of Painters", "Star of Aesthetic Education", "Light of Domestic Products", "Light of Nationalities", and "Ma Xiaoli Experience Area", vividly showcasing the close connection between "Mali" as a national pigment brand, artists, and the development process of Chinese art.
!["The Light of the Nation - Centennial Mali and Her Artistic Friends" Special Exhibition Appears at Ma Xiaoli | Mali | Friends](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/c2c2120030ca18e58118fcd9222a25c9.jpg)
Centennial Marley and her artist friends
!["The Light of the Nation - Centennial Mali and Her Artistic Friends" Special Exhibition Appears at Ma Xiaoli | Mali | Friends](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/1ebb6942d141de223afaf09bac0e0963.png)
As the first brand of Chinese painting materials and pigments, the "Mali" brand was established in May 1919. Curator Zhang Lixing introduced that the emergence of the Marley brand in 1919 embodies the Chinese people's high expectations for owning ethnic art pigments. Mali's century long history is also a vivid portrayal of the development process of Chinese art.
!["The Light of the Nation - Centennial Mali and Her Artistic Friends" Special Exhibition Appears at Ma Xiaoli | Mali | Friends](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/e812cde6424bf6ae4c66e1c64115715b.png)
Centennial Marley and her artist friends
!["The Light of the Nation - Centennial Mali and Her Artistic Friends" Special Exhibition Appears at Ma Xiaoli | Mali | Friends](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/a64660f49d9ac8b1619fa71fbb78246e.png)
At the beginning of the 20th century, in order to revitalize national painting art, a group of knowledgeable people began to promote the far-reaching "Western Painting Movement" in the history of modern Chinese art, centered around Shanghai. At that time, expensive Western painting pigments from countries such as the UK and Germany gradually occupied the Chinese market, and a group of patriotic people in Shanghai were determined to use Chinese pigments to paint. In May 1919, Zhang Yuguang led the establishment of the Mali Craft Factory with nine other painters, educators, entrepreneurs, and other professionals from all walks of life. The ten founding initiators first selected a ten stroke character for "horse", which means "horse to success"; I have chosen another word for "benefit", hoping that the pigment factory can benefit the country and the people. In the early years of its establishment, Mali Craft Factory successfully developed China's first bottle of advertising color pigment, marking the first time that Chinese people produced artistic pigments for Western paintings. In 1920, Mali Craft Factory produced China's first watercolor pigment. After more than ten years of development, "Mali" has become a well-known pigment brand.
!["The Light of the Nation - Centennial Mali and Her Artistic Friends" Special Exhibition Appears at Ma Xiaoli | Mali | Friends](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/0b9587471765bffe0fd393225ba91068.jpg)
Centennial Marley and her artist friends
!["The Light of the Nation - Centennial Mali and Her Artistic Friends" Special Exhibition Appears at Ma Xiaoli | Mali | Friends](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/0f6a712c7b6b5e2e9765145049aa7972.jpg)
Centennial Marley and her artist friends
!["The Light of the Nation - Centennial Mali and Her Artistic Friends" Special Exhibition Appears at Ma Xiaoli | Mali | Friends](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/73a03abb20b9bcd14f0fb902f9f798b3.png)
With the outbreak of the September 18 Incident, the domestic situation has taken a sharp turn for the worse, and Mali Craft Factory has begun to expand into overseas markets. In the 1930s and 1940s, Mali's products became the earliest representative of national industry to cross the sea, providing a large amount of high-quality pigments for Chinese artists who lived and traveled. At that time, many famous calligraphers and painters wrote inscriptions for him, such as Yu Youren's inscription "Illuminating China", Xu Beihong's inscription "Radiant and Radiant", Lin Fengmian's inscription "Advocating for Domestic Products and Recovering Spillover Rights", He Xiangning's inscription "Brilliant and Brilliant", Liu Yazi's inscription "Colorful", Wang Yachen's inscription "Light of Domestic Products", and so on.
!["The Light of the Nation - Centennial Mali and Her Artistic Friends" Special Exhibition Appears at Ma Xiaoli | Mali | Friends](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/1e3931d05dcc47ecc2d72af9bc9482ca.png)
Centennial Marley and her artist friends
!["The Light of the Nation - Centennial Mali and Her Artistic Friends" Special Exhibition Appears at Ma Xiaoli | Mali | Friends](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/102a476ed68450c37f0f26b69cc6cc32.png)
Centennial Marley and her artist friends
!["The Light of the Nation - Centennial Mali and Her Artistic Friends" Special Exhibition Appears at Ma Xiaoli | Mali | Friends](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/b62bcbed4781affa7b3f926b43d9a51b.jpg)
In 1949, Mali Craft Factory produced China's first crayon, igniting the artistic light in the hearts of generations of children in New China. On May 15, 1958, Jincheng Craft Society merged into Marley Craft Factory and renamed it "Jincheng Marley Craft Factory", which was later renamed "Shanghai Art Pigment Factory". In 1993, based on Shanghai Fine Arts Pigment Factory, Shanghai Industrial Mali Painting Materials Co., Ltd. was established, and began to introduce advanced instruments and technological processes for developing pigments from abroad on a large scale. The goal was to promote the revitalization of the "Mali brand" trademark with rich cultural heritage.
!["The Light of the Nation - Centennial Mali and Her Artistic Friends" Special Exhibition Appears at Ma Xiaoli | Mali | Friends](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/03f2faff2c4fe92f6f66600dcec80b42.png)
Centennial Marley and her artist friends
!["The Light of the Nation - Centennial Mali and Her Artistic Friends" Special Exhibition Appears at Ma Xiaoli | Mali | Friends](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/e5926f79168b1597af7686b80983b3b0.jpg)
In this exhibition, the "Centennial Marley" exhibition area records 20 important events of the Marley brand since its inception in 1919 to the present day. "The Star of Aesthetic Education" and "The Light of Domestic Products" showcase the glorious history of the Marley brand from different perspectives through rich and diverse literature materials. The "Friends of Painters" exhibition area tells the story of the deep friendship formed by many painters since the birth of the Marley brand. The history of the Marley brand is also a history of mutual growth and achievement with Chinese painters.
!["The Light of the Nation - Centennial Mali and Her Artistic Friends" Special Exhibition Appears at Ma Xiaoli | Mali | Friends](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/af837b59a9281e630acc7077d827dda9.jpg)
Centennial Marley and her artist friends
Centennial Marley and her artist friends
Over the course of a century, many calligraphers and painters have used Marley pigments to paint their works and have gifted over a hundred paintings. The "National Light" exhibition area displays a total of 52 works, including 8 calligraphy works, 24 traditional Chinese painting works, and 20 Western painting works. The content covers various themes such as landscape, flowers and birds, and characters, integrating the expressive power of Chinese calligraphy and painting with the excellent cultural value of China.
Centennial Marley and her artist friends
Centennial Marley and her artist friends
In the "Ma Xiaoli Experience Area" with the brand's virtual image spokesperson "Ma Xiaoli" as the visual subject, a personalized, youthful, and artistic exhibition area is presented. Ma Xiaoli's bookmarks, hair cards, and canvas bags are cute and exquisite. Her calligraphy and traditional Chinese painting works, such as refrigerator stickers and folding fans, are full of creativity. Ma Xiaoli's digital artwork "The Color of the Sky" is lifelike, showcasing the brand spirit of Ma Xiaoli, despite being a "Chinese time-honored brand" for a century, who still dares to explore and seek innovation and change.
Centennial Marley and her artist friends
Jiang Xizhou, Secretary of the Party Branch and Chairman of Shanghai Marley Painting Materials Co., Ltd., stated that Marley has had an inexplicable bond with artists since its inception. This year marks the 104th anniversary of Marley's establishment, and in the future, Marley will give back to artists, art enthusiasts, and people from all walks of life with higher quality products, more outstanding craftsmanship, and more professional services.
The exhibition is hosted by Jinshan District Cultural and Tourism Bureau, Jinshan District State owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, Jinshan District Archives Bureau, and Shanghai Red Double Happiness Co., Ltd. It is also hosted by Jinshan District Museum, Shanghai Cultural and Educational Sports Goods Co., Ltd., Shanghai Guoyun Double Happiness Culture Co., Ltd., and Shanghai Mali Painting Materials Co., Ltd.