If Fyodor Dostoevsky is right, and “beauty will save the world,” then the award-winning paintings of “The Sixth NTD International Figure Painting Competition (NIFPC)” will do more than delight our senses.
The NIFPC is one of a series of international art and cultural events hosted by NTD, the sister media of The Epoch Times. The competition’s mission is “to promote the pure beauty, pure goodness, and pure authenticity of traditional oil painting,” thereby reviving the realist painting tradition.
This year’s competition received hundreds of entries, covering a wide range of subject matter including self-portraits, family gatherings, salvation, damnation, and religious persecution. The judges selected more than 50 finalists from some 20 countries. They assessed more than the artists’ technical skills; they looked to see if the figure paintings conveyed purity, beauty, and righteousness in order to guide and uplift humanity.
This year, the Salmagundi Club in New York City hosted the award ceremony and awarded three silver, five bronze, six outstanding technique, two outstanding youth awards, and a profound humanities award.
Accomplished sculptor and competition jury chair Kunlun Zhang explained in the exhibition catalog preface why this year’s top prize is the silver medal: “The gold medal of this competition will be the brightest point in the history of human art development, therefore must adhere to the highest standards, and must be a perfect combination of positive content and superior technology. If no work meets such high standards, the gold medal would rather not be awarded.”
Mr. Zhang noted that the competition entrants strove to transcend their artistic skills: “Everyone is yearning for beauty and exploring the way to present beauty and express it perfectly.”
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Lorraine Ferrier
Author
Lorraine Ferrier writes about fine arts and craftsmanship for The Epoch Times. She focuses on artists and artisans, primarily in North America and Europe, who imbue their works with beauty and traditional values. She's especially interested in giving a voice to the rare and lesser-known arts and crafts, in the hope that we can preserve our traditional art heritage. She lives and writes in a London suburb, in England.