Feng Zikai, Complete Collection of Famous Chinese Painters

Author: Feng Zikai (Illustrations) / Xiao Chan (Editor)
Publisher:
Publish Date: March 1, 2002
Features:
Feng Zikai, born in Tongxiang, Zhejiang Province in 1898, entered the Zhejiang Provincial Normal School in 1914 and studied under the renowned master Li Shuxiang. In 1921, he studied Western painting and music in Japan. Upon returning to China, he dedicated himself to the fields of art and music. In 1924, he began publishing cartoons and became a member of the Progressive Literature Research Association. Feng Zikai was one of the pioneers of China's New Culture Movement. As early as the 1920s, he published works such as An Introduction to Art, An Introduction to Music, and A Tour of Western Masterpieces. Throughout his life, he published over 180 books. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he served as Vice President and later President of the Shanghai Artists' Association, Vice President of the Shanghai Association for Cultural Exchange, and Director of the Shanghai Art Institute. During the Cultural Revolution, he suffered persecution, which led to his illness and eventual death in 1975 at the age of 78.
It can be said that Mr. Feng Zikai was the pioneer of lyrical cartoons in Chinese literature. In 1925, the Literary Weekly, published by the Shanghai Literary Research Association, asked Zheng Zhenduo to commission cartoons from Feng Zikai, which were then continued to be published in the weekly under the title "Cartoons." From then on, the term "cartoon" was officially standardized in China as a name for a specific art form.
Feng Zikai himself divided his cartoon creation into four periods: the first was the era of depicting classical poetry, the second was the era of depicting children, the third was the era of depicting social scenes, and the fourth was the era of depicting natural scenes. However, these periods interweave and overlap, making it impossible to clearly distinguish between them. Rather, his cartoons simply reflect these four aspects.
Feng Zikai's cartoons are a rich treasure trove of art. As a cartoonist, writer, art educator, and translator revered both in China and abroad, Feng Zikai possessed profound cultural and artistic cultivation. He skillfully absorbed artistic traditions from both China and the world, forming a unique style with distinct national characteristics and personal flair. He believed that cartoons were a form of painting that used simple lines but emphasized meaning. He once said that he aimed to bridge the relationship between literature and painting, striving to capture the essence of "seeing the big in the small" and leaving "resonance beyond the notes." His cartoons often depicted scenes from daily life, yet they carried universal human emotions and moving charm. They were appreciated by both the refined and the popular, and by the young and the old. His cartoons, with their profound meanings, concise compositions, fluid brushwork, and simple yet elegant style, possess an artistic appeal that transcends time and space. They are timeless artistic treasures that have left a lasting legacy in China and the world.
This book collects over 150 of Feng Zikai's cartoons and provides a detailed introduction to his life and artistic journey. It also includes selected excerpts from Feng Zikai's own writings on art, a chronology of his life, and reviews of his works by various critics. The book is rich in information and is an invaluable resource for and studying Feng Zikai's cartoon art.