Zhao Wangyun, Complete Collection of Famous Chinese Painters

Author: Zhao Wangyun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-03-01
Features: Zhao Wangyun (1906-1977) was a native of Shulu County, Hebei Province. He served as the Deputy Secretary-General of the Chinese Artists Association, the first Chairman of the Shaanxi Artists Association, the Director of the Cultural Relics Department of the Northwest Military and Political Committee, a member of the Shaanxi Provincial People's Congress, a member of the Shaanxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and the Deputy Director of the Shaanxi Provincial Cultural Bureau. Under the influence of the May Fourth New Culture Movement, Zhao Wangyun actively promoted the New Chinese Painting Movement. He expressed the real life of the working masses through a large number of rural sketches and Chinese painting creations based on real-life themes, and was hailed as a pioneer and trailblazer for the reform of Chinese painting. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, with the support of General Feng Yuxiang, he founded the War of Resistance Painting Magazine and actively promoted the anti-Japanese campaign. After settling in Xi'an in 1942, he created art based on the natural landscapes and diverse ethnic customs of the Northwest, forming a majestic, natural, and rustic artistic style. He nurtured renowned painters such as Huang Zhu, Fang Jizhong, and Xu Shuzhi, who are celebrated in the art world today. Together with his students, they depicted the customs, landscapes, and spirit of the western regions of China in a vivid, fresh, and lively style, forming a powerful force in contemporary Chinese painting. In the early years of the People's Republic of China, Zhao Wangyun played a guiding role in numerous far-sighted projects, including the excavation of cultural relics and the protection of cultural heritage sites. During this period, his artistic creation flourished even more, with his footsteps covering the Guanzhong Plain, the Qinling Mountains, the Hexi Corridor, and the Qilian Mountains, resulting in a vast number of works with a grand, lofty, and profound artistic style. In 1961, six painters from the former of the Xi'an Artists Association held a successful exhibition in Beijing, and Zhao Wangyun was hailed as the founder of the "Chang'an Painting School." In his later years, Zhao Wangyun's artistic creation reached a higher realm, with his works featuring novel themes, profound meanings, loose forms, and restrained spirits. His ethereal and clear artistic atmosphere, as well as his poetic and musical expressions, were considered the epitome of artistic perfection achieved through effortless mastery. Due to his pioneering role in promoting the representation of real life in Chinese painting through his early works, such as rural sketches, and his foundational contributions to the Chang'an Painting School in his later years, Zhao Wangyun's achievements in establishing a new artistic school hold an important place in the history of the development of modern Chinese painting. The book includes over 180 paintings, a brief biography, an overview of his artistic characteristics, excerpts from his own writings on art, comments from various critics, a concise chronology, his common seals, and a catalog of his masterpieces.