Traditional Chinese opera painting captures the essence of characters, crucial scenes and entire operas but many people today know little about the ancient art.

Opera painting dates back to the Song Dynasty (AD 960-1270) uses traditional Chinese painting skills to depict mainly Peking and Kunqu operas. Paintings were frequently used as book illustrations and posters for operas.

"A piece of Chinese opera painting is the concentration of a whole opera, which is its core artistic value," said Zhu Gang, one of the few artists who still specializes in the genre. The Shanghai native paints in oils and combines Western skills as well as the approaches of his Chinese predecessors from various painting schools. One of Zhu's Chinese opera paintings was selected to be exhibited at the National Arts Club in New York on Thursday. Zhu is the only Chinese artist at the exhibition that lasts until June 28.

Most famous contemporary painters in Shanghai, including Chen Shifa and Lin Fengmian, were skilled at Chinese opera paintings at a time when traditional opera was popular.

As the popularity of traditional opera waned, many painters lost interest.

Zhu carries on.

A skilled Chinese opera painter must capture key moments, getting the poses and movements exactly right to convey the main ideas, Zhu told Shanghai Daily in a recent interview. Furthermore, a painter must depict the characteristic facial expressions, especially the emotions seen in the eyes, he said.

It is these characteristics that distinguish Chinese opera painting from other paintings of opera figures and Western figure painting, the artist said. Chinese opera painting was not the artist's original goal. The 55-year-old Shanghai native graduated in the 1980s from the Shanghai Academy of Art in Western oil painting. He then painted covers for audio-visual products for a local company and eventually became editor-in-chief of Shanghai Audio & Video Publishing House, a post he holds today.

While creating covers for CDs of Peking and Kunqu operas in the 1980s, he was drawn by the many traditional Chinese elements in makeup and costumes. Then he started attending performances and became captivated.

"I gradually realized that many art forms are interconnected, such as painting and traditional operas - Chinese opera painting combines them," Zhu said.

The quality of a Chinese opera painting relies not only on painting skills but also the aesthetic appreciation of the painter, he observed.

Zhu never sets up an easel at performances, but instead sits in the audience to enjoy the whole opera.

"By watching the opera, some memorable images will stand out in my mind. Sometimes I add some artistic touches to highlight the theme of the operas," he said.

In one of his masterpieces from the Kunqu Opera "The Drunken Beauty," Zhu depicts Yang Yuhuan, the emperor's beautiful and powerful concubine, standing amid falling blossoms, symbolizing her death to come. Yang is considered one of the four great beauties in Chinese history and Emperor Tang Minghuang (AD 685-762) was so infatuated with her that he neglected his kingdom. In an insurrection he was overthrown and forced to have Yang executed.

"There are actually no falling flowers during the opera, but without the dying blossoms, the viewers of the painting would have difficulty understanding the character," Zhu said.

Before painting, Zhu also talks to performers about their understanding of the characters they portray and the opera itself. He also identifies what he calls the most important detail of a character.

For example, in his painting "Outside the Frontier" he depicts Wang Zhaojun, another of the four beauties, who is about to leave her home to marry a tribal leader for the good of her country. Wang (born circa 50 BC) is wearing a handsome red cloak and a brave expression, but a close inspection of the painting reveals that while she faces forward, her toes are facing backward to her home, symbolizing her reluctance to leave.

"I capture that detail to suggest her sadness to leave her home, despite her determination to leave the country forever for the sake of peace," Zhu explained. "To come up with that artistic detail, I have to carefully watch and understand the whole opera," he said.

In another creative detail, Zhu added a red handkerchief - red the color of lust - to the portrait of an apparently grieving widow, indicating she was eager to remarry.

Zhu has completed around 30 works from famous Peking and Kunqu operas and continues to paint traditional operas.

Many young painters today are reluctant to steep themselves in traditional Chinese opera painting, for which the profits are not large, Zhu says. He fears for the future of Chinese opera painting.

To promote both the painting and opera, Zhu plans to produce a series of works on all the major Kunqu operas. In that way young people may be attracted to actually attend the operas, he says.

"I hope the painting and the operas can promote each other so that more people from home and aboard get to know the charms of traditional Chinese art," the artist said.

About Chinese opera painting

The earliest Chinese opera paintings appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty (960-1279) when they appeared as illustrations of serialized books intended for people who were unable to watch live opera.

The books became very popular.

Illustrations from a Zaju Opera book are exhibited at the Palace Museum in Beijing.

Decorative opera paintings were also painted on lamps, chinaware and daily items used by wealthy people in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties.

In the late Qing Dynasty, Peking Opera was very popular and opera painting too became popular. It was recognized as an art category and many famous artists painted famous opera characters and scenes.

Thanks to these paintings, the images of many former Peking and Kunqu opera masters can be seen today.

In the 1950s, two major schools developed - abstractionism and realism. The abstract school was represented by the famous contemporary painter Guang Liang (1900-1986) who used a simple style mainly to convey the spirit of each character. Portraitist Shen Rongpu in late Qing Dynasty was the master of the realist school, copying every detail of performers, from their expressions to the patterns on their costumes. His masterwork "The 13 Peking Opera Masters" is the classic of China opera painting.