ART LIFE XUBEIHONG

pulication_0618.indd 1 2015-06-18 1:47 PM Beihong (July 19, 1895 - September 26, 1953) (born in , )was a Chinese painter. He was primarily known for his Chinese ink paintings of horses and birds and was one of the first Chinese artists to articulate the need for artistic expressions that reflected a modern China at the beginning of the 20th century. He was also regarded as one of the first to create monumental oil paint- ings with epic Chinese themes – a show of his high proficiency in an essential Western art technique.

pulication_0618.indd 2-3 2015-06-18 1:47 PM Xu began studying classic Chinese travels around Western Europe works and calligraphy with his allowed him to observe and learn father Xu Dazhang when he was Western art techniques. Xu Beihong six, and when still wrote regularly for the Daily he was nine. In 1915, he moved to University of , where he made a living that dealt with wider issues then off commercial and private work. just campus politics. Xu addressed He travelled to in 1917 to issues of Art and Art History and in study arts. When he returned to 1920 a university art journal called China, he began to teach at Peking Painting Miscellany was published. University’s Arts school at the invi- tation of . Beginning in 1919, Xu studied overseas in at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, where he studied oil painting and drawing. His

He and his partner Jiang Biwei In 1933, Xu organized an exhibition of modern Chinese painting that came back to China in 1927 and, traveled to France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, and the . During from 1927 to 1929, he gained a World War II, Xu traveled to , holding exhibitions in Sin- number of posts at institutions gapore and India. All the proceeds from these exhibitions went to Chinese in China, including teaching at people who were suffering as a result of the war. National Central University in the former capital city .

pulication_0618.indd 4-5 2015-06-18 1:47 PM After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, Xu be- came president of the Central Acad- emy of Fine Arts and chairman of the China Artists Association. Xu Beihong was a master of both oils and Chinese ink. Most of his works, Of all of the Painters of the mod- however, were in the Chinese tradi- ern era, it can be safely said that Xu tional style. is the one painter most responsible

Western perspective and methods of for the direction taken in the modern composition. He integrated firm and world. The policies en- bold brush strokes with the precise acted by Xu at the beginning of the delineation of form. As an art teach- Communist Era continue to control er, he advocated the subordination not only official Government Policy of technique to artistic conception towards the arts, but they continue and emphasizes the importance of to direct the overall direction taken the artist’s experiences in life. in the various Art Colleges and

Universities throughout China. Xu enjoyed massive support from art collectors across Asia. Between 1939 and 1941, he held solo exhibitions in , India and Malaya (, and Ipoh) to help raise funds for the war relief effort in China.

pulication_0618.indd 6-7 2015-06-18 1:47 PM In one war benefit exhibition in Artworks like After a Poem of the March 1939, Xu held a group ex- Six Dynasties, Portrait of Ms Jenny hibition with Chinese ink painting and Put Down Your Whip were masters Ren Bonian and , also created during his sojourns and showcased 171 works of art in Southeast Asia. SAM Director at the Victoria Memorial Hall. He Kwok Kian Chow mentioned that also met luminaries such as Rabin- Xu’s name tops the list in Asian dranath Tagore and Mahatma modern realism art, and his con- Gandhi during his stay in India, nections with various parts of Asia and got his sources of inspiration and Europe opened a new chapter which led to the creation of iconic of historical narratives, exchanges works such as the 4.21m-wide The and influences of aesthetics and Foolish Old Man Who Removed the ideas in art. Xu constantly pushed Mountains painting on show at the the boundaries of visual art with (SAM). new techniques and international aesthetics to reinvent Chinese art.

A 24-episode history soap opera depicting Xu’s life from early adult- hood.

pulication_0618.indd 8-9 2015-06-18 1:47 PM Xu constantly pushed the bound- References aries of visual art with new tech- niques and international aesthetics, http://www.artx.cn/pic/29.html in bid to reinvent Chinese art. In http://www.zgqnsh.com/html/tupianzhongxin/gongchenganli/2.html fact, Xu’s influence extends beyond https://www.pinterest.com/hollysstables/xu-beihong-1895-1853/ China in the early 20th-century. http://www.dianliwenmi.com/postimg_864144_12.html Many pioneer Singapore artists http://www.gg-art.com/news/newsread6/artnews40663.html such as , and looked up to him as a mentor and a worthy peer, sharing Xu’s advocate to close- ly observe nature and inject realism into Chinese painting.

In 2008, two ceramic vases by Xu came into the centre of a legal tussle, between the sponsor of the art exhibition titled Xu Beihong In Nanyang at Singapore.

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