He Tianjian (; 1891 – 2 April 1977), formerly romanized as Ho T'ien-chien, was a Chinese '' guohua'' painter and a leading member of the

Shanghai School ''Haipai'' (, Shanghainese: ''hepha'', ; literally " hangai style") refers to the avant-garde but unique "East Meets West" culture from Shanghai in the 20th and 21st centuries. It is a part of the culture of Shanghai. Etymology The term was co ...

of art.

Biography

He Tianjian was born He Jun (贺骏) in

Wuxi Wuxi (, ) is a city in southern Jiangsu province, eastern China, by car to the northwest of downtown Shanghai, between Changzhou and Suzhou. In 2017 it had a population of 3,542,319, with 6,553,000 living in the entire prefecture-level city a ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with it ...

province in 1891. He was also known by the name He Bingnan (贺炳南). He began to paint at the age of eight. In 1911 he briefly studied at the Guomin University (国民大学) in

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and t ...

, but dropped out the same year and joined the

Zhonghua Book Company Zhonghua Book Company (), formerly spelled Chunghwa or Chung-hua Shu-chü, and sometimes translated as Zhonghua Publishing House, are Chinese publishing houses that focuses on the humanities, especially classical Chinese works. Currently it has ...

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...

as an editor for paintings. In the 1920s he taught

landscape painting Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent compo ...

in Wuxi, Nanjing, and Shanghai. He became extremely influential in the 1930s and 1940s. After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, he became a staff painter at the Shanghai Institute of Chinese Painting. He Tianjian is one of the seven artists featured in the Exhibition for Noted Painters at the

China Art Museum The China Art Museum, also called the China Art Palace (; Shanghainese: ''Zongwu Nyizeh Ghon'') or its original name, Shanghai Art Museum, is a museum of modern Chinese art located in Pudong, Shanghai. The museum is housed in the former China ...

. His works are also in the collection of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:He, Tianjian 1891 births 1977 deaths Painters from Wuxi Republic of China landscape painters People's Republic of China landscape painters