A painting of the Mocao Caves in Dunhuang, Gansu province, by Chang Shuhong, founding director of the Dunhuang Academy, in 1947. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Oil paintings, watercolors and sketches of Chang Shuhong (1904-94), founding director of the Dunhuang Academy, are on show at the Zhejiang Provincial Museum in Hangzhou, Chang's hometown.

The exhibits also include Chang's copies of the murals in the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang, Northwest China's Gansu province — a UNESCO World Heritage Site — as well as zhongcai (heavy-color) paintings, an important genre of Chinese painting with fine, precise delimitation and the layering of pigmented hues.

In his youth, Chang studied oil painting in France and won several awards as an emerging artist. Some of his works are among collections of French cultural and artistic institutions including the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Having accidentally learned about the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang in the 1930s, Chang made up his mind to go back from France to his home country and became devoted to the preservation of the grottoes and the promotion of Dunhuang studies.