Au Ho-nien

Au Ho-nien is a Chinese painter. He is part of the Lingnan School of painting. In 2019, a solo exhibition of his work was displayed at the Asian Art Museum (San Francisco). He was born in 1935. He was a student of painter Chao Shao-an.He is representative of ink painters of the Lingnan School, had considerable influence on ink wash in Taiwan. The subject matter of his creations covers both landscapes and feathers, with rich and varied forms and strong and vivid colors.

Biography

Au Ho-nien was born in Guangdong in 1935. He studied under Zhao Shao’ang from 1952, at age 17, and belonged to the Lingnan School. In 1950, his family moved to Hong Kong. In 1968, he came to Taiwan to hold his first solo exhibition, at the National Museum of History. In the same year, President Chiang Kai-shek and his wife Soong Mei-ling selected 8 of Au’s pieces for collection in the Zhongshan Building in Taipei, where they are still on display today. In 1970, when he was 35 years old, Au went to Taiwan to teach at the Chinese Culture University, settling on the island and creating close ties between the Lingnan School of painting and the development history of art education in Taiwan. Beginning several years after settling in Taiwan, Au helped spread Chinese culture to all corners of the globe through his rich experience in international exhibitions. As Taiwan’s political situation on the international stage became difficult, Au participated in international art exhibitions as a means of cultural diplomacy., and was a representative of Taiwanese artists during Taiwan’s economic boom

In 1983, he served as a jury member for the National Literature and Art Awards. In 1993, he was bestowed with a Special Award of the Grand Palais in Paris, France, becoming the first Chinese painter to win this honor. In 1994, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Wonkwang University in South Korea. In 1995, he was hired as a director of the Chu Hai College of Higher Education in Hong Kong. In 1999, he won the second Global Outstanding Persons Gold Dragon Award. In June 2016, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from National Dong Hwa University, and in November of the same year, he was also awarded an honorary doctor of letters degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

In 2000, he established the Au Ho-nien Cultural Foundation, organizing large-scale exhibitions and academic seminars on the Lingnan School.

In 2002, the Au Ho-nien Cultural Foundation donated more than 100 paintings to Academia Sinica to establish the Lingnan Art Museum. In 2004, the University of Indianapolis established the Au Ho-nien Museum, and in 2005, the Au Ho-nien Art Center (now the Au Ho-nien Art Museum) was established on Chinese Culture University’s Yangmingshan Campus in Taipei.

In his later years, he devoted himself to poetry, publishing “A Poem of Yicui Mountain Hall” in 2006. Qin Xiaoyi praised him as a “great master” and all-rounder of poetry, calligraphy, and painting unique in the history of the Lingnan School.

Au’s work is characterized by the Lingnan School’s use of colors, white space, and skeletal structure, along with a combination of modern and Western elements. In his later years, he has integrated poetry and calligraphy into his paintings, earning him a reputation as an artist embodying the humanistic spirit of Eastern cultural tradition. Painter Chu Ko described Au’s paintings as having “achieved the realm of one whose ‘mastery has penetrated downward,’ which is why he enjoys a great reputation".

International exhibitions

1956 (21 years old): Tour of Southeast Asia

1962 (27 years old): Tour of major museums in West Germany

1965 (30 years old): New York City, USA

In 1973 (38 years old): Participated in “Contemporary Chinese Master Painters” exhibition in Nagoya and other cities around Japan

1975 (40 years old): Singapore, United States (San Francisco’s Asia Foundation, Peninsula Museum of Art, Stanford University)

1976 (41 years old): San Jose Museum of Art, USA

1977 (42 years old): Tokyo and Osaka, Japan; New York, USA

1979 (44 years old): San Diego Museum of Art, USA; Stanford Museum, Frankfurt, West Germany

1980 (45 years old): Malaysia; Singapore; Thailand; New York State, USA

1982 (47 years old): Toyota City, Aichi Prefecture and Niigata Prefecture, Japan

1983 (48 years old): Cape Town, Pretoria, and Johannesburg, South Africa

1985 (50 years old): London, England; Nagoya, Japan; British Columbia, Canada

1989 (54 years old): Belgium; Spain

1990 (55 years old): Paris, France; London, England; Netherlands; Austria

1991 (56 years old): Germany; Kyoto, Japan; several cities on the east coast of the United States

1993 (58 years old): Paris, France; San Francisco, USA

1995 (60 years old): Los Angeles, USA; Guangzhou, China

2000 (65 years old): Shenzhen, China

2002 (67 years old): Shanghai and West Lake, Zhejiang, China

2004 (age 69): Beijing, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong

References

Chinese painters

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