Dunhuang (CNS) -- The good news for tourists making a pilgrimage to the Dunhuang Mogao Grottos is that they can now purchase and bring home copies of the frescoes in this cave gallery of ancient Chinese art. Reproductions are available at the local market and at last visitors can chew over their once-in-a-lifetime experience at home.
Zhang Lin is one of the owners and painters of such a shop. After graduating from the Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts and working in a local art institute for five years, Zhang started his own gallery, selling copies of the frescoes and teaching students of ancient culture.
Picking the right colors to express the vitality of the frescoes and their original brightness, and avoiding obvious fabrications,,is a high art in itself, Zhang told CNS.
Capturing people's expressions is another key to making quality reproductions, noted Gao Feng, a local painter who makes a living by copying the frescoes. In a fine work, the face tells what is felt inside, in his view.
Gao also brings his understanding of Buddhism to his re-creations. To develop people's understanding of this broad and profound religion, Gao has established his own school in Dunhuang. Here he exchanges his knowledge of Buddhism and of painting with those who share his admiration of the frescoes, the collected masterpieces of centuries.
