Xu Beihong

Xu Beihong was a pioneer of 20th century Chinese art, who combined traditional Chinese painting techniques with Western realism and perspective. He was also an influential art educator and leader, who served as the president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and the chairman of the Chinese Artists' Association. He was one of the four great academy presidents of modern Chinese art, along with Lin Fengmian, Liu Haisu, and Yan Wenliang. Xu Beihong was born in 1895 in Yixing, Jiangsu Province, into a poor family. His father, Xu Dazhang, was a self-taught portrait painter and a private school teacher. Xu Beihong learned Chinese classics, calligraphy, and painting from his father at an early age. He showed great talent and interest in art, and often imitated the works of late Qing dynasty painters, such as Wu Youru and Ren Bonian. He also painted portraits of people around him, and helped his father sell paintings in neighboring towns. In 1915, Xu Beihong moved to Shanghai, where he made a living from commercial and private work. He also studied French at Fudan University, and traveled to Tokyo in 1917 to study art. In 1919, he won a scholarship to study at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he learned oil painting and drawing. He was known as Ju Péon while studying in Paris. He traveled around Western Europe and observed and imitated Western art techniques. He was especially influenced by the realism movement and the works of Jean-François Millet and Jean-Léon Gérôme. Xu Beihong returned to China in 1927, and became an advocate for the reformation of Chinese art through the incorporation of lessons from the West. He argued that Chinese art should reflect the modern reality and spirit of China, and that Chinese artists should master both Chinese and Western art forms. He taught at various institutions, including Peking University, National Central University, and National Beiping Art School. He also organized exhibitions of modern Chinese paintings that traveled to France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, and the Soviet Union. He was renowned for his ink-and-wash paintings of horses and birds, which he painted with firm and bold brushstrokes and precise delineation of form. He also created monumental oil paintings with epic Chinese themes, such as Tian Heng and His Five Hundred Warriors, The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains, and The Eight Fine Horses. He integrated Chinese and Western elements in his paintings, and expressed his patriotic and humanistic ideals. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Xu Beihong traveled to Southeast Asia, holding exhibitions in Singapore and India. He donated all the proceeds from these exhibitions to the Chinese people who were suffering from the war. He also painted many works that reflected the war situation and the people's resistance, such as Refugees and Put Down Your Whip. He enjoyed massive support from art collectors across Asia, and became friends with many prominent figures, such as Jawaharlal Nehru, Rabindranath Tagore, and Lee Kuan Yew. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Xu Beihong served as the president of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and the chairman of the Chinese Artists' Association. He was also a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He devoted himself to the development of Chinese art education and culture, and trained many young artists. He also wrote many articles and books on art theory and history, such as The Complete Works of Xu Beihong and Outline of the History of Chinese Painting. Xu Beihong died of a stroke in 1953, at the age of 58. He was buried at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery in Beijing. His wife, Liao Jingwen, who was also an artist and art historian, donated more than 1200 of his works and his personal collection of more than 1000 artworks to the government. The Xu Beihong Memorial Museum was established in his former residence in Beijing in 1954, and later moved to a new and larger location in Xinjiekou, Beijing, in 1983. The museum displays his works and those from his collection, and promotes his artistic legacy and spirit.