This article investigates the narrative capacities of watercolour and pastel works exhibited at the 14th National Art Exhibition and its dedicated Watercolour and Pastel Works Exhibition (14th NAE & WPWE) in China. The study analyses thematic clusters—rural revitalisation, cultural-educational development, and daily life—and how artists employ material fluidity, chromatic symbolism, expressive brushwork, and spatial composition to construct affective and ideologically resonant narratives. Situating these artworks within the broader context of cultural confidence, aesthetic governance, and global visual discourse, the paper demonstrates that watercolour and pastel have been revalorised as strategic media through which contemporary Chinese identity, values, and aspirations are visually articulated.
Dou et al. (Fri,) studied this question.