Xu BeiHong

Xu Beihong (1895-1953), originally named Xu Shou Kang, was born in Yixing, Jiangsu Province. He was a modern Chinese painter and art educator, skilled in both oil painting and ink painting. In 1919, he received a government scholarship to study in Paris, where he attended the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts and was deeply influenced by realism. After returning to China, he dedicated himself to promoting the "nationalization" of oil painting, advocating for a foundation in realism while integrating the brushwork and charm of traditional Chinese painting with the structure, light, and color of Western painting, thus forming a unique modern art style.

Xu Beihong's works encompass figures, historical subjects, animals, and landscapes, with his horse paintings being particularly renowned both domestically and internationally. His works are concise, lively, and full of vitality. He proposed the creative concept of "exhausting the details to achieve the grandeur," and advocated "preserving the best of ancient methods, continuing those that are about to be lost, correcting the bad ones, adding to what is insufficient, and integrating what can be adopted from Western painting," emphasizing the spiritual connotation and precise form of his works.

As a founder of modern art education in China, Xu Beihong taught at the South China Art Academy, the Department of Art at National Central University, and the Art College of Peking University, among others. He was known as one of the "Four Great Principals" along with Yan Wenliang, Lin Fengmian, and Liu Haisu. He promoted sketching and the institutionalization of the curriculum, nurtured important artistic talents such as Ai Zhongxin and Wu Zuoren, and held the "Exhibition of Modern Chinese Painting" in Paris in 1933, which promoted Chinese art to the international stage and had a profound impact on the development of modern Chinese art.