"Dong Xinbin Paintings"

Author: Dong Xinbin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1999-04-01
Features: Dong Xinbin (1942-2002) was born in Zhangjing, Wuxi in 1942. At the age of six, he began studying calligraphy under Zhang Yuneng. At 14, he became a disciple of Qin Guliu, and at 17, he enrolled in the Nanjing Art Institute to study Western painting. In 1979, he was admitted to the Nanjing Art Institute as the only postgraduate student of landscape painting under President Liu Haisu. From 1982 to 2002, he engaged in landscape painting creation at the Jiangsu National Painting Institute and served as the director of the theoretical research office. In 1994, he was appointed as a first-class national artist.
He primarily focused on landscape painting, while also working on figure painting and floral-and-bird painting. Skilled in theoretical research, he was also proficient in calligraphy, seal carving, poetry, prose, martial arts, medicine, and philosophy. Since 1985, he completed pioneering and systematic theoretical works such as "The Theory of Dual Categories in Chinese Painting," "The Ecological Theory of the Six Methods in Chinese Painting," and "The Magic of the Sun: An Introduction to Human Cultural Ecology."
He held solo exhibitions at the National Art Museum of China, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Jiangsu National Art Museum, and Nanjing Art Institute, and participated in numerous national and international art exhibitions. In 1989, the Taipei magazine "Xiongshi Art" published a special issue on Dong Xinbin. His works were frequently featured in journals such as "Jiangsu Painting," "Art," and "Rongbaozhai." In 1998, Lin Publishing House published the large-scale art book "Dong Xinbin Paintings." In August 2001, the Ministry of Culture's Overseas Exhibition Center held the exhibition "Jiangnan is Beautiful—Dong Xinbin Chinese Painting" at the main round hall on the first floor of the National Art Museum of China, along with publications such as "Dong Xinbin Figure Painting Draft" and "Painting Whispers and Seal Traces."
Dong Xinbin was knowledgeable in both astronomy and geography, with a mind like a flowing spring and eloquence like a hanging gourd. He synthesized the achievements of East and West, ancient and modern, with rigorous research into the essence of Chinese painting. His works were marked by both theory and technique, with unrestrained brushwork and ink, expressing the highest spiritual realm and artistic skill. He pioneered a new style for the Jiangsu School of Painting after Fu Baoshi, becoming a great master with a distinct influence.
In 1985, Liu Haisu praised his paintings as "dedicated to transforming the old into the new, with bold and upright lines reminiscent of Northern stele calligraphy; dense ink that penetrates light, and light ink that generates richness, with a refined charm." In 1984, He Haixia said of him, "No one in Jiangnan surpasses him, and in twenty years, he will dominate the world." He was the leading figure of the Southern School of New Literati Painting. His works combined the aesthetics of imperial court painting, literati painting, folk painting, and the spirits of many disciplines in both China and the West, creating a unified artistic essence—the essence of the painting itself.
He advocated cold abstraction and hot expression. In the 1980s, he gained fame in the Chinese art world with his unique and unrestrained long-hand brushwork, establishing a strong personal style. In the first half of the 1990s, he focused on ink innovation, using thicker and more solid lines, supplemented by splashing and accumulating ink, resulting in a robust and profound style. From the late 1990s to the early 21st century, he dedicated himself to color innovation, using color as ink and writing instead of splashing, creating a new style after Zhang Daqian and Liu Haisu, and further elevating his artistic style to brilliance and splendor.