Fang Zengxian (; 1931 – 3 December 2019) was a Chinese painter and art educator, considered a founder of the Zhe(jiang) style of figure painting. As the director of the

Shanghai Art Museum The Shanghai Art Museum () was an art museum in the city of Shanghai, China. In October 2012, the museum was rebranded as the China Art Museum when it moved to the China pavilion at Expo 2010 on the former Shanghai Expo 2010 lands. The Shanghai ...

, he founded the Shanghai Biennale in 1996. He also served as Chairman of the Shanghai Artists Association and was elected to the 5th National People's Congress. He won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2nd China Fine Art Awards.

Biography

Fang was born in 1931 in Hengxi Town, Lanxi, Zhejiang, Republic of China. His father Fang Zicheng (方自成) was an elementary school teacher, and his mother Zhou Yunque (周云鹊) a housewife. In July 1949, Fang entered the National Academy of Art (now

China Academy of Art China Academy of Art (), also translated as China National Academy of Fine Arts, was founded in Hangzhou in 1928 by the government of the Republic of China and the renowned educator Cai Yuanpei. It was the first art university and first gradua ...

) in

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, whic ...

to study

oil painting Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

. After graduation in 1953, he joined the faculty of the academy while also pursuing his graduate studies. In 1954, Fang transferred to the academy's reestablished guohua department and studied traditional Chinese painting methods. This laid a foundation of his style which blends techniques from the West and the East. Fang became a faculty member of the guohua department in 1955, and spent three months painting at the

Mogao Caves The Mogao Caves, also known as the Thousand Buddha Grottoes or Caves of the Thousand Buddhas, form a system of 500 temples southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu p ...

in Dunhuang. He taught at the academy until the beginning of 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 ...

in 1966. He and

Zhou Changgu Zhou may refer to: Chinese history * King Zhou of Shang () (1105 BC–1046 BC), the last king of the Shang dynasty * Predynastic Zhou (), 11th-century BC precursor to the Zhou dynasty * Zhou dynasty () (1046 BC–256 BC), a dynasty of China ** West ...

, also a 1953 graduate of the academy, became its most influential guohua instructors despite their lack of long apprenticeship considered a crucial part of traditional guohua training. The two young painters began to draw figures from daily life using traditional Chinese techniques, developing a distinctive style called the "Zhe(jiang) School" which greatly influenced modern guohua practices. Their style was further developed by their students such as Liu Wenxi, who disseminated it to other parts of the country. In 1956, Fang's painting ''Every Grain Is Hard Work'' (粒粒皆辛苦) was exhibited in

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

and appeared on the cover of an art journal in that country. In 1963, he published the book ''How to Paint Human Figures in Ink Wash'' (怎样画水墨人物画), which became highly popular. It was reprinted in 1973 with hundreds of thousands of copies. In 1978, Fang was elected a delegate to the 5th National People's Congress, and proposed the rebuilding of the

Huang Binhong Huáng Bīnhóng (; 1865–1955) was a Chinese literati painter and art historian born in Jinhua, Zhejiang province. His ancestral home was She County, Anhui province.Cihai: Page 2056. He was the grandson of artist Huang Fengliu. He would lat ...

Museum and the establishment of the Pan Tianshou Museum. Both proposals received support from the government. He was elected Vice Chairman of the Zhejiang Artists Association in the same year. Fang transferred to the Shanghai Chinese Painting Academy in 1983 and became its vice president the following year, serving until 1991. In 1985, he was concurrently appointed Director of the

; in this capacity, he founded the Shanghai Biennale in 1996, which has since become a premier art event of Asia. He was elected Chairman of the Shanghai Artists Association in 1999. In 1989, his painting ''Mother'' (母亲) won the silver medal at the 7th National Art Exhibition and the

Qi Baishi Qi Baishi (1 January 1864 – 16 September 1957) was a Chinese painter, noted for the whimsical, often playful style of his works. Born to a peasant family from Xiangtan, Hunan, Qi taught himself to paint, sparked by the Manual of the Musta ...

Prize. He held a major personal art exhibition at the Zhejiang Art Museum in 2009 and the

National Art Museum of China The National Art Museum of China (NAMOC, ) is located at 1 Wusi Ave, Dongcheng District, Beijing, People's Republic of China. It is one of the largest art museums in China, and is funded by the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of Chin ...

in 2010. He was conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2nd China Fine Art Awards in January 2013.

Personal life

Fang was married to Lu Qihui (卢琪辉), also an artist. He died on 3 December 2019, aged 88.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fang, Zengxian 1931 births 2019 deaths 20th-century Chinese painters 21st-century Chinese painters China Academy of Art alumni Academic staff of China Academy of Art Delegates to the 5th National People's Congress Painters from Zhejiang People from Lanxi, Zhejiang Chinese art educators