A leading U.S. art institute announced Thursday that it will bring a collection of contemporary art of the American West to China next month.

The exhibition aims to "serve as an ambassador to our Chinese friends, seeking to acquaint them with one of the most magnificent areas of America," said Nancy Matthews, a vice president of the Meridian International Center, the event organizer.

The exhibition, "Out West: The Great American Landscape", includes 68 paintings by 50 U.S. artists, depicting various aspects of the American West.

The event will feature several well-known U.S. artists including Dana Boussard, Russell Chatham and William Matthews.

An exhibition of 40 photos of the American West by National Geographic photographers will accompany the "Out West".

The China tour will begin at the National Art Museum in Beijing on March 29, and then the exhibition will go to Urumqi, Xi'an, Shanghai, Qingdao and Hong Kong until October.

In organizing the exhibition, the Meridian International Center is collaborating with the National Art Museum of China and the China's Ministry of Culture.

"Out West" will complete a U.S.-China cultural exchange that begun with the "Ancient Threads, Newly Woven", a Meridian exhibition focusing on China's Western regions.

That exhibition, which started in 2004, is still on tour in the United States.

The Meridian International Center is a nonprofit organization that organizes cultural exchanges with the support of the U.S. government.

Founded in 1960, its members are mainly former U.S. diplomats and it is viewed as a bridge for foreign art to enter mainstream U.S. society.

Source: Xinhua