Chinese modern art goes digital at Google Arts & Culture

The Art Museum of China's Central Academy of Fine Arts has teamed up with Google Arts & Culture to bring a selection of the museum's art collection to a larger audience online. It's one of several cultural events to celebrate the 100th anniversary of CAFA, a leading art school in China.

More than 300 exhibits from the museum will be showcased online at Google Arts & Culture, which include some 200 works by celebrated Chinese painter Xu Beihong (1895-1953) - the father of Chinese modern art, whose pieces include Tian Heng and His Five Hundred Followers and Behind Me.

Xu's works exemplify the realism that became a defining characteristic of Chinese modern art.

The exhibits also include 27 ultra-high resolution images digitized with Art Camera: people can zoom in to explore fine details invisible to the naked eye. With a 360° visual tour service, internet users can even step inside the CAFA Art Museum, exploring the building's four floors of artwork.

The CAFA Art Museum is the first specialized art museum built after the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Its history can be traced back to the early 1950s. In 2008, the new museum building, designed by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, opened on the CAFA campus. It was named one of China's key national art museums in 2010.