Fang Ganmin (; 15 February 1906 - January 1984) was a Chinese French-trained painter, sculptor and educator, who was educated in Paris and spent most of his adult life in China. Regarded as one of the fathers of Chinese oil painting, Fang was born in the Wenling county,

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Jiang ...

province. He began studying painting in 1924 and went to Paris in 1925, enrolling in the

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Science ...

, making him, along with

Xu Beihong Xu or XU may refer to: People and characters * Xu (surname), one of two Chinese surnames ( or /), transliterated as Xu in English * ǃXu, a name for the ǃKung group of Bushmen; may also refer to the ǃKung language or the ǃKung people * ǃXu ...

and Sanyu, one of the first Chinese painters to study abroad in France. Upon returning to China, he taught at the National Arts Academy,

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, whi ...

, becoming a professor at the Western Painting Department. During the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

, Fang was shamed and tortured by the Red Guards, and his works were destroyed. He died in 1984. His students include

Zao Wou-Ki Zao Wou-Ki (; 1 February 1920 – 9 April 2013) was a Chinese-French painter. He was a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Zao Wou-Ki graduated from the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, where he studied under Fang Ganmin and Wu ...

Chu Teh-Chun Chu Teh-Chun or Zhu Dequn (24 October 1920 – 26 March 2014) was a Chinese-French abstract painter acclaimed for his pioneering style integrating traditional Chinese painting techniques with Western abstract art. Chu Teh-Chun enrolled in th ...

and

Wu Guanzhong Wu Guanzhong (; 29 August 1919 – 25 June 2010) was a contemporary Chinese painter widely recognized as a founder of modern Chinese painting. He is considered to be one of the greatest contemporary Chinese painters. Wu's artworks display both ...

Timeline

In 1906, Fang Ganmin was born in Wenling, Zhejiang on February 15. His father, Fang Yue (also known as Xun Cheng), was an official literary degree holder, who majored in the study of written characters and published several books including "A Simple Approach to The Study of The Six Classes of Characters". In 1920, Fang attended Andin High School in Hangzhou, gradually showing his talent in art. In 1924, he went to Shanghai in the summer to apply for the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts and was accepted to the second level where he was educated with a solid drawing foundation under the direction of Russian teacher V. Podgursky. In 1925, he left Shanghai for France to further his studies. In 1926, after learning the French language at a town outside Paris for six months, Fang was accepted into an art school in Lyon where he took "Paster Casts" and "Future drawing" classes. In 1927, Fang attended École des Beaux-Arts de Paris and joined

Jean-Paul Laurens Jean-Paul Laurens (; 28 March 1838 – 23 March 1921) was a French painter and sculptor, and one of the last major exponents of the French Academic style. Biography Laurens was born in Fourquevaux and was a pupil of Léon Cogniet and Alexand ...

' studio, together with

Yan Wenliang Yan Wenliang (; 20 July 1893 – 1 May 1988) was a Chinese painter and educator, who is regarded as one of the fathers of Chinese oil painting and an important art educator of his time. Born in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, Yan began studying painti ...

. Apart from taking drawing lessons at the studio, he was also a frequent visitor of galleries and museums and developed a strong interest in post-impressionism. In 1929, he married Ms. Ai Lan Su, his fellow schoolmate at École des Beaux-Arts, in Paris. He returned to China in the winter and was hired by the Shanghai Private Xin Hua Fine Arts Academy, but later transferred to Shanghai Fine Arts University and Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts.

Career

Fang Ganmin studied in Shanghai Meizhuan and under Jean-Pierre Laurens (1875–1932), son of

(1838 – 1921), at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, from 1926 to 1929, together with Chinese artists such as

. He taught in Xinhua AFA, Shanghai, and Hangzhou Academy. In or around 1930, Fang Ganmin, along with artists such as Xu Shaozeng, Guo Guni, Li Jingfa and Zhu Yingpeng, founded the Changfeng Society for the Study of Western Paintings. In 1951 and 1952, a campaign against modernist art, condemned in Soviet terms as both bourgeois and formalist, had forced

Lin Fengmian Lin Fengmian (; November 22, 1900 – August 12, 1991), originally Lin Fengming (), was a Chinese painter and is considered a pioneer of modern Chinese painting for blending Chinese and Western styles, he was one of the earliest Chinese painters ...

and Wu Dayu to leave the art academy in Hangzhou and return to Shanghai.

Realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

was deemed the progressive style. Fang Ganmin managed to remain, but was nonetheless marginalised and condemned for his modern styles. During the

, Fang, branded an anti-revoluntary for his modernist artistic style, was paraded around the National Academy of Art in Hangzhou, ink and paint poured over him as students beat and denounced him. Fang was also imprisoned by the Red Guards for long periods.

Works

Of Fang's early paintings, two are particularly noteworthy. They are exercises in the Cubist manner, and give to their subject, both nudes, the geometrical and sculptural, but not the fragmented, effect of a picture by

Braque Georges Braque ( , ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculpture, sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his all ...

. One of them is ''Melody in Autumn'' (1934). The other is "White Doves" (1932), which portrays geometric shapes suggestive of Cubism, but with an Art Deco-like structural undertone. In jest, his students called his style fang (‘square’), punning on his surname Fang, which also happens to be one of the characters of the Chinese word for ‘cubic’.

Notable students

Chu Teh-chun Chu Teh-Chun or Zhu Dequn (24 October 1920 – 26 March 2014) was a Chinese-French abstract painter acclaimed for his pioneering style integrating traditional Chinese painting techniques with Western abstract art. Chu Teh-Chun enrolled in th ...

Zao Wou-ki Zao Wou-Ki (; 1 February 1920 – 9 April 2013) was a Chinese-French painter. He was a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Zao Wou-Ki graduated from the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, where he studied under Fang Ganmin and Wu ...

References

{{authority control 1906 births 1984 deaths Republic of China painters Academic staff of the École des Beaux-Arts China Academy of Art faculty Victims of the Cultural Revolution People from Taizhou, Zhejiang Artists from Zhejiang Chinese art educators 20th-century Chinese painters Chinese expatriates in France