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Legendary artist's work on show
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Song Yingwen
THE name of Pan Yuliang, one of the greatest Chinese woman artists of the 20th century, is familiar to most Chinese, thanks to the famous actress Gong Li, who starred in a film in 1993 based on Pan's life story. Yet despite the hype, few have actually seen her paintings up close.
This is set to change in Shenzhen, where an exhibition of paintings by this accomplished artist opened on Friday at the Shenzhen Museum, allowing Shenzheners a chance to the inner world of this famous painter of a checkered life.
To understand Pan's paintings and her status in China's art circle, a general understanding about her life is essential.
Born to a poor family in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province, Pan Yuliang was sold into a brothel on the death of her parents. Then married as a teenage concubine to a man named Pan Zanhua, she adopted his surname and moved with him to Shanghai. In 1918, presumably with his support, she began studying painting at the Shanghai Art Academy, and in 1921 she was awarded a government scholarship to study in Lyons. She returned to Shanghai eight years later, after receiving her degree, and several of her works appeared in the First National Fine Art Exhibition of 1929. She taught for a time at the Shanghai Art Academy, and later, under Xu Beihong, another China's finest painters, served as a professor at the National Central University in Nanjing. In 1937, at the age of 35, finding it difficult to attain a respectable status in a still feudal society, she returned to France, where she remained for the next 40 years, to further her Western painting study. In 1977 she passed away in Paris at the age of 82.
By combining the distinctive characteristics of Chinese and Western painting, Pan developed a personal style based on a synthesis of various post-impressionist modes, but imbued with an unusual emotional intensity. Her works are still popular in museums and collectors around the world. She is the first Chinese artist whose sculptures were exhibited at the Paris Modern Art Gallery.
Eighty paintings out of her 2,000 works on various subjects are included in the Shenzhen show, including quite a few of her excellent nudes. With simple yet delicate sketches and bold and strong colours, Pan's paintings delivered a message of vitality.
The exhibition will run until May 6. Admission costs 10 yuan.
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