On show at the exhibition are some of the textbooks and correspondence in French from the Tushanwan era. While most of the teachers at the time were Western missionaries, the curriculum included Chinese characters and translation between French and Chinese.

Zhou founded his own studio teaching oil painting in 1908, and among his students were Liu Haisu (1896-1994), Wang Yachen and Wu Shiguang, founders of the private "Shanghai academy of art", known as Shanghai Meizhuan, in 1912.

The private art school has been known as an important institution in the history of modern art education in China. It was the first art school in the country to receive both male and female students, and the first to take students on group tours for life sketching. It was also the first to introduce nude models to its classrooms, which sparked huge controversy and a discussion that went on for years all over China.

The exhibition presents the evolution of the school, from its beginning, when Liu and the two colleagues rented a traditional shikumen-style house (with stone-framed gates) at No 8 Zhapu Road, to its final stage of development as China's earliest and largest private art school.

In 1919, Liu conducted a research visit to Japan, hoping to learn from the educational system there. This trip, as well as two visits to Europe in 1929 and 1933 respectively, marked important turning points for Liu and the art school, says Jin Wenyi, deputy director of the Liu Haisu Art Museum and one of the curators of the exhibition.