My father, Feng Zikai

Author: Feng Yiyin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features:
Feng Zikai (1898-1975): Modern painter, litterateur, educator of fine arts and music. Born in Tongxiang, Zhejiang. In his early years, he studied painting and music under Li Shuxiang. In 1921, he went to Tokyo, Japan. After returning to China, he engaged in fine arts and music education in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Chongqing, and other places. Influenced by Buddhism, he created The Collection of Protective Life Paintings, conveying the Buddhist principle of protecting precepts and avoiding killing. After the May Fourth Movement, he began creating cartoons. Early cartoons exposed the darkness of old China, while later works often combined classical poetry with modern paintings, frequently featuring children's lives as themes. He claimed to bridge the relationship between literature and painting, with works such as The Sound of Drums and Gongs. His style is simple yet expressive, with a rustic aesthetic, influenced by the Japanese painter Takahashi Hiroshige. After the founding of New China, he served as the Director of the Shanghai Chinese Painting Institute and the Chairman of the Shanghai Branch of the China Artists Association. He created innovative works such as Celebrating the Thousand Years and Thinking of the Source of Water. He also wrote Introduction to Music and translated works such as Twelve Lectures on Western Painting and various foreign literary works, including The Tale of Genji and The Hunter's Diary. Skilled in prose and poetry, his style is concise and elegant, unique in its own right, with collections such as from Yuan Yuan Hall.