Baohau Zhou, painter and artist (1936-2022) Youtube video
Born and raised in Kunming, China, this artist dedicated her entire life to gouache watercolor painting, decorative pattern and a cross-stitch pattern designing.
Her paintings are visually characterized by vibrant colors and powerful images that combine
eastern and western elements in her paintings. Throughout her artistic career, Zhou remained detached from fame and fortune, and the majority of her works were never publicly exhibited.
She saw the day in 1936 where she was born into a wealthy family that gave her the opportunity to grow and develop her creative passion for painting. In this privileged milieu, she received an above averaged education and was generously provided for during her childhood and early teenage years.
The Chinese revolution and social upheaval between the poor and the wealthy in 1949 gave way to her family’s wealth and their assets being confiscated, leaving them in poverty. None the less, they eventually managed to survive on faith and hard work.
In 1953, Zhou gained admission to the renown Sichuan Fine Arts Institute through discipline and self-study. She learned painting under the guidance of Mr. Li You Xing who was able to taint his student with his profound artistic knowledge of the fine art of painting.
Zhou left the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (Southwest Academy of Fine Arts) in 1957 although she had proven to be one of her masters most outstanding students. She was forced to quit school due to associating with classmates accused of being far right supporters and sympathizers. In fact, the school expelled her for her associations with this group of people as this marked her first ordeal as a political victim.
She returned to Kunming in 1958 where she started working at Yunnan Printing and Dyeing Factory.
In 1966, the Chinese cultural revolution began, and due to her background of being born into a wealthy family, Zhou was beaten by the Chinese red guards, resulting in the disability of her right hand. There-after, she had no choice but to use her left hand for painting.
Three years later in 1969, during the revolution, Zhou, who was creating art with her left hand, was deprived of her work privileges and sent to the countryside to be reformed and reeducated. During this time, she ceased her artistic creations as she had to raise a young son and newborn daughter.
At the end of the cultural revolution in 1976, Zhou who was considered rehabilitated was able to regained her job at the factory. For those years of lost revenues, she was compensated with a lump sum of $1 000 CNY ($139 USD). Subsequently, she was promoted as the chief designer at the Yunnan Printing and Dyeing Factory until her retirement in 1999.
In the end, Zhou Baohua’s artistic career emanated through the struggles of her family’s persecution, the Chinese liberation movement and her resilience to several political ordeals,
As an artist who eschewed fame and fortune, she was one of the most underrated artists of the 1950s, with the majority of her works having never being exhibited. Zhou’s artwork.
Wang Bangsi (1931-2023) Youtube video
He was a well-known artist and craftsman from the south western region of China specializing in watercolor, gouache and oil paintings as well as sketches, and craftwork.
His art consisted of over 450 works made up of watercolor paintings (200 pieces), oil paintings (150 pieces), sketches (100 pieces) and craftworks (pieces lost)
He was born into a middle-class family in Kunming in 1931 as an only child. As his father worked as a geological surveyor and he was not of an artistic bloodline, he was an autodidact painter who learned by observing and working from painting manuals.
In 1948, during the early years of the Chinese liberation period, Wang joined the underground party while still a student, despite strong opposition from his family who even locked him indoors for a period of time.
After the liberation period, he joined the border guerrilla forces where he was enrolled in the armed struggle. Later, he found the opportunity to display his talent and became a solo singer in a military political and cultural group.
A few years later in 1957, Bangsi taught art at the Guangxi Arts Institute.
In 1965, he worked for the Yunnan Provincial Light Industry Department and later made a living by painting movie advertisements for the Kunming Theater.
In the late 1980s, he joined the Yunnan Arts University, where he worked as a professor, specializing in textile and dyeing, until his retirement.
Wang’s artworks can be categorized into three main types. In his early years, he excelled in watercolor paintings, particularly landscapes and natural scenes, with a focus on capturing life-like imagery. His technique was fluid and conveyed the grandeur of mountains and rivers. In his later years, from 2000 onwards, he primarily focused on oil paintings with a more modern style, creating art that was abundant in life and creativity until his later years. Wang’s sketching prowess was astounding, spanning his entire artistic career, from early depictions of people during his travels to later manuscripts, showcasing a wealth of content.
Throughout his life, Wang had a deep passion for freedom and led the establishment of the Yunnan Dai Ethnic Brocade Weaving Factory, promoting natural dyeing and ethnic weaving. He also collected and preserved the traditional weaving arts of Yunnan’s ethnic minority groups. In the 1980s, he was the first to bring Yunnan wax-dyeing art to an exhibition in Chicago, USA.
The artist led a modest and unassuming life, placing little emphasis on fame and fortune. He did not advocate for teaching art, believing that excessive intervention was a major impediment to teaching painting. He is perhaps one of the many artists of the 1950s in China who were underestimated, with the majority of his works remaining unseen. Wang’s artwork.
Ni is a third-generation art enthusiast， founder of Dada art, she excels in hand-drawn books. Growing up in an artistic household, she embraced her parents’ philosophy that painting is just one of the many forms of art. She graduated from Kunming University of Science and Technology, majoring in international marketing, and received additional training in painting at Yunnan Arts University under her father’s guidance. Youtube Video
After graduating from university, Ni founded a decorative arts company, engaging in artistic projects such as urban reliefs. In 1997, she decorated a sightseeing cruise ship on Erhai Lake in Yunnan with a capacity for 500 passengers. Despite the success of the art company, Ni, influenced by her childhood dream of exploring the world, sold the business and entered the tourism industry as a professional tour guide for seven years, traveling extensively across China. During this period, she learned French and developed a deep interest in Chinese culture, obtaining qualifications in Tai Chi and intermediate massage therapy.
Demonstrating her capacity for embracing novel pursuits and venturing into uncharted territories, Ni embarked on a diverse array of endeavors. Upon immigrating to Montreal, Canada in 2004, she delved into the fields of sports therapy and kinesiology. Subsequently, in 2008, she dedicated two years to teaching Tai Chi within the local community. Transitioning in 2018, she assumed the role of a school bus driver, a position she held for five years. In 2019, a newfound passion led her to become a local amateur sailor. Finally, in 2023, Ni established Dada Art.
Ni contends that art springs from existence, asserting that each individual possesses innate artistic capabilities. Life, in her perspective, is an art form—an equilibrium, a manifestation of living in the moment. Through the vehicle of Dada Art, she aspires to cultivate increased links, interactions, and dialogues concerning art, painting, aesthetics, and the convergence of Eastern and Western cultures. Ni’s Art
Master of applied arts; Youxing Li (1905 to 1982)
Mister Li was born in the Shuangban Township of Zitong (Sichuan) China, and passed away in Chongqing in 1982 at the rightful age of 77.
From 1918 to 1926, he studied at the Beijing School of Specialized Art which was the first modern public art school of its kind in China at that time. Its predecessor was the classical Central Academy of Fine Arts. Mr. Li enrolled at the early age of thirteen (13) and ranked second overall in pattern design, becoming one of the very first students to successfully achieve the program with high honor. His mentor during his studies was Zheng Jin, who had previously undergone his art education in Japan. It was during those important years that Mr. Li acquired his most valuable foundation in painting.
From 1926 to 1931, Mr. Li studied at the renown Lyon Academy of Fine Arts in France, specializing in textile pattern design and applied arts. During this time, he created a series of art works including the “Night Scene of the Paris Canal”, the “Eiffel Tower” the “Street Scene” and a “Self-Portrait.”
In 1930, he graduated with high regard and was immediately employed by a specialized silk printing and dyeing pattern design company in Paris (France) for his outstanding talent.
The following year in 1931, he married Yang Dixuan, and the newlyweds returned quick after to China to pursue their life partnership and to establish a family. That same year, he took up the position as director of the art department at the Shanghai Mei Yasi Silk Factory.
Five years later in 1936, he returned to his alma mater, the National Beijing School of Specialized Art. First as a professor, and soon after as the head of the department of applied arts where he also served as the director of academic affairs. It was during this time that he embarked on his passionate journey of relaying his knowledge and mastery of art for a period of over forty (40) years.
In 1937 following the incident of the Lugou Bridge (Marco Polo Bridge Incident) and until 1939, like all other universities in the occupied areas, the National Beijing Art School was forced to relocate its operations. The journey was arduous, but Mr. Li, along with Zhao Tailou, Shen Fuwen, Wang Manshuo, Lei Guiyuan, Pang Xunqin, and many others, traveled to Chengdu to reestablish its activities. Tragically during the transition, news reached Mr. Li that his younger brother, Li Yougan (lieutenant pilot in the Air Force) had perished during aerial combat against the Japanese fleet over Shanghai.
From 1940 to 1949, mister Li established the Sichuan Chengdu School of Specialized Art where he served as its president. Throughout his tenure at the school, he collaborated with numerous known Chinese scholars, including Shen Fuwen, Tan Danjing, Guo Qiande, Yu Yixuan, Xu Beihong, Zhang Daqian, Wu Zuoren, Ye Qianyu, Ding Cong, Guan Liang, Liu Kaiqu, Lei Guiyuan, Pang Xunqin, Gu Qi’yi, Lv Shuxiang, Xu Jingke, just to name a few.
1947 was a golden year in Mr. Li’s career where he created a series of landscape paintings depicting Mount Emei. These masterpieces became an integral part of his legacy and that of a nation. Today, the existing fifteen pieces of the “Mount Emei” series is considered to be the pinnacle of his landscaping artworks and proof of his divine artistic talent.
Of his students from the 1940s, Zhang Yangjun, Guo Qixiang, Ye Yushan, Zhong Zhiyi, Zhu Zhifu, and Lang Xiuyu were some of his most promising talents.
In 1953, following a nationwide restructuring of the higher educational system, Mr. Li became a professor and the director of academic affairs at the Southwest Institute of Fine Arts (later Sichuan Fine Arts Institute). Here, he introduced a unique “Limited Color Painting” technique, which had a profound impact on art education that even spread to the Central Academy of Fine Arts and the Arts and Crafts Institute in Beijing.
From the early 1950s until the early 1980s, a large number of high-quality students graduated and remained loyal to the establishment.
Their devotion became the backbone of the art education community in China, spreading out to major textile printing and dyeing centers across the country, including Shanghai, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Qingdao, and other cities in the Southwest region.
His students from the 1950s included but not limited to Zhang Mingde, Li Baoqin, Zhong Maolan, Huang Meiyao, Yang Liang, Li Laiyuan, Peng Bangyi, Fan Jitao, Xu Shuhua, Wu Pingzhang, Chen Heding, Zhang Rengui, Zhou Zilin, Wang Bangsi, Zhou Baohua, Wang Qingming, Wu Peizhu, Gu Ying, Fu Guanggeng, Xiang Zhongxin, Liu Shengyang, Zhang Chenjie, Liu Dailiang, Shi Zushan, Sun Wenguang, Tang Dequan, Chen Chuanchi, Huang Wei’yi, Chen Zhongchang, Sun Yunling, Yi Benkui, Yao Yutang, Xiao Minghua, Liu Shengyang, Yang Tianyou and Zhang Fuxian.
In the 1960s, his most prized students included Chen Chongwu, Chen Xingwei, Yang Ganzhao, Tan Benyu, Chen Zuji, Sun Dexian, Qian Laizhong, Li Zhengkang, Kang Shaoxi, Wu Manyi, Zhu Bing, Xia Shenglan, Li Zhihe, Sun Weixin, and He Zhesheng amongst others.
Thanks to the help and support of the party secretary of the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute; Wang Songxian, Mr. Li was shielded from being labeled as a rightist. This made it possible for Mr Li to travel to different regions of his native country, leaving behind a heritage of works from landscapes to floral sceneries. These works are not only vibrant in color, but also demonstrate his unwavering genius in painting.
In 1973, Mr. Li underwent surgery for cancer, but this did not dampen his creative enthusiasm. His later travels included a visit to Dunhuang, resulting in the “Dunhuang Landscape” series.
Finally, in 1982, Li Youxing returned to the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, where he spent his final days. His artistic career was marked by challenges, but also by his strong resilience and passion, leaving a profound impact on Chinese art education.
Even though Youxing Li left this earth plane several years ago, he gifted us with a heritage of over four hundred spectacular works before his departure. These unsurpassed pieces display his unique style, combined with his bold and precise use of color and light, showcasing his artistic prowess. It is equally interesting to note that Li Youxing was a pioneer in introducing western modern painting concepts of color and light to China. This made him an outstanding architect in applying both concepts in his works to create matchless results. He is thus hailed as a grand master of eastern colors.
Throughout his uninterrupted career of over forty years as a teacher, his exceptional artistic skills and innovating methods made him a rare and sought expert in his field.