HCA NEWS SARS postpones Chinese visit

The Chinese paper cutout artist Lu Xue has been denied permission to travel because of SARS and will not attend the opening of her own exhibition in Odense in June.

By ms - H.C. Andersen 2005 - 05 May 2003

Chinese authorities have denied paper cutout artist Lu Xue permission to leave the country because of the disease SARS. Therefore, Lu Xue must postpone her visit to Denmark until next fall and cannot attend the opening of her exhibition of Hans Christian Andersen-inspired paper cutouts at the beginning of June.
Lu Xue has presented the Hans Christian Andersen Museum in Odense with 112 paper cutouts as a gift in connection with the celebration of Hans Christian Andersen's 200th birthday in 2005 and was to have been present at the opening of the exhibition on June 6. 

Instead, it has now been decided that the exhibition will open as planned - in consideration of the many summer guests to the museum - but that the official presentation ceremony will take place at a later point in time, when Lu Xue is able to travel again.  Probably in September.

"Of course, we had been looking forward to a visit at the beginning of June and it is really too bad that we will have to open the exhibition without Lu Xue. Nevertheless, we think it best to postpone her visit under the circumstances. So, we'll give Lu Xue a proper welcome some time in the fall," says museum keeper Karsten Eskildsen of Odense City Museums.

Connected to Andersen
Lu Xue had made 112 paper cutouts based upon five Hans Christian Andersen stories.  hese are paper cutouts at a virtuoso level. 31-year old Lu Xue has made cutouts, since she was six years old - always with scissors. No other cutting utensil is used, which has made her one of the most respected paper cutout artists in China. For example, Lue Xue is represented in Beijin's Great Hall of the People, and she has exhibited several times in Asia and Europe.

Even though Lu Xue has felt connected to Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales all her life, she also works within the Chinese tradition of paper cutting, which to our eyes uses much stronger expression than her Hans Christian Andersen cutouts.

The collection of 112 cutouts is the larges single collection to date in Denmark of Chinese illustrations of Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales.


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