Huang ChiouYuan

Huang Qiuyuan (1914–1979), also known as Mingqi, with the courtesy name Qiuyuan and the pseudonyms Dajuezi, Bangeseng, and Qingfeng Laoren, was a native of Nanchang, Jiangxi Province. He was a highly influential yet relatively unknown literati painter in modern China. Immersed in traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy from a young age, he copied ancient paintings at a framing shop and studied under Zuo Lianqing. Exceptionally gifted, he began selling his paintings to support himself at the age of nineteen. He later worked in a bank for many years, dedicating his life to creating art as an "amateur painter," remaining aloof from fame and fortune, and devoting his life to the traditional spirit of Chinese painting and calligraphy.

Huang Qiuyuan excelled in landscape painting, both meticulous and freehand, and was proficient in ink wash and blue-green landscape techniques. In his later years, his brushwork reached a state of perfection, blending the spirit of Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing masters to create his own unique style, and he pioneered the "Qiuyuan Cun" (秋园皴), a technique with a modern aesthetic. His compositions are dense and imposing, with a fresh and refined artistic conception. After his death, his art shook the art world. Li Keran lamented, "The country has a Yan Hui (a legendary Chinese painter) and yet we do not know him; I feel deeply ashamed." Subsequently, he was posthumously appointed honorary professor and honorary member of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and the Chinese Painting Research Institute, and was listed as one of the 100 great masters of Chinese art. Huang Qiuyuan guarded tradition with a tranquil mind and created new realms with his solitary brush, ultimately becoming a master of his generation.