The scenes are as American as apple pie, as Arkansan as fried catfish. Their human faces span the generations, personifying "The Soul of Arkansas" at Historic Arkansas Museum.
On exhibit at the Little Rock museum until mid-October, the 16 acrylic and oil paintings are the work of Longhua Xu. He was born in Shanghai on the last day of 1954 and didn't emigrate until just before turning 35. Having left China in 1989, the year of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, he spent time in Rochester, N.Y., before moving to Hot Springs in 1990.
Attentive readers may recognize Xu's name. In 2019, he received the Arkansas Arts Council's annual honor as an Arkansas Living Treasure. His paintings of ordinary people doing ordinary activities depict images drawn from photographs he and others have taken. They make up "The Soul of Arkansas," exhibited in several forms since 2018.
Xu has described the "Soul" paintings as "inspired by my admiration for hardworking Arkansans such as farmers, and by children, all wearing smiles that beam with happiness." The images also reflect the Chinese tradition of honoring one's family, especially the elderly.
In "Friends of the Artist," a 65-by-100-inch acrylic completed in 2018, Xu portrays himself along with a couple of dozen guests mostly seated at round tables for a festive dinner with a Christmas tree in the background. Also in the image is his wife, Chen Shun Ying, who died in 2020.
Lone figures appear in some of the paintings. In "Petting Zoo," a boy of preschool age wearing a cap reaches through the fence to pet a lamb. In "The Collector," a woman in a floral-patterned dress is surrounded by knickknacks she has accumulated over the years.
"The Woodcarver" pictures an older craftsman decked out in overalls sitting in a rocking chair beside a half-dozen of the canes he has created. "Crochet" shows a seated woman holding in her lap a piece of an orange item she has crocheted
Other paintings, like "Friends of the Artist," are crowd scenes. In "Market Place," the goods for sale include a rooster, a hen and recently laid eggs. In "Counting Eggs," four youngsters are tallying the dyed Easter eggs they've just hunted.
Four paintings are pictured from the “Soul of Arkansas” exhibit. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette/Marcia Schnedler) Xu is also an accomplished sculptor. His massive "Mother Nature" can be seen in front of the Arlington Hotel at the north end of Hot Springs' Bathhouse Row. It depicts a woman pouring water from a jug as deer gather at her feet.
On his website, the artist asserts that "in order to fully express one's ideas, thoughts and emotions, one must be proficient in all techniques of art. Since art is not separated by country or race, it should also not be separated by technique or medium. This way, the expressions of those ideas and visions are limitless."
After his prestigious award was announced three years ago, Xu told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that becoming an artist is not foremost about skill:
"It's about expressing your emotion, your philosophy, your ideas through your work. This makes the difference. First you just have the art form to create a thing. Then you go to another level to express your ideas."
His ideas about the homespun values of many ordinary Arkansans radiate from his canvases in "The Soul of Arkansas."
‘The Soul of Arkansas,’ Works by Longhua Xu
- Where: Historic Arkansas Museum, 200 E. Third St., Little Rock
- Hours: Open 9 a.m.-5p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 1-5p.m. Sunday.
- Admission: Free.
- Information: Visit arkansasheritage.com/historic-arkansas-museum or call (501) 324-9351.