PM Narendra Modi presents paintings of Chinese painter Xu Beihong to Xi Jinping

WUHAN: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday gifted to President Xi Jinping the paintings of a famous Chinese artist who taught in Visva Bharati University in West Bengal.
Modi presented Xu Beihong's paintings to Xi during their informal summit here.

Xu was known for his Chinese ink paintings of horses and birds. He was one of the first Chinese artists to articulate the need for artistic expressions that reflected a modern China at the beginning of the 20th century.

The paintings depicted a horse and sparrows on grass.

Xu made those paintings during his stay in Visva Bharati, officials said.

The paintings were specially ordered by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) for the summit.

Xu met luminaries such as Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi during his stay in India.