Merrel here:

With the excitement of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and the game in full swing, all eyes have shifted to focus on one of the world’s oldest most enduring civilizations in the history of man; China. Unfortunately, the depth and breadth of Chinese art can often be overlooked or dismissed in the Western art world. In honor of the 2008 Olympic games I will explore some of China’s well known and not so well known contemporary figurative artists.

Pan Yuliang

Perhaps one of the most well known Chinese figurative painters, Pan Yuliang was born in the Anhui province in 1895. Yuliang’s painting style was a fusion of Western art techniques balanced by the sensibility of the traditional Chinese art. Her harrowing childhood and life story have been retold and fictionalized to much acclaim. It is easy to see why – she was sold into prostitution as a child, bought by a Chinese official as a concubine whom she later married, she was then encouraged to paint later getting accepted to the Shanghai Art School. Her nude figure works were criticized and viewed as taboo during that period in China, and Yuliang’s work achieved much accolade on the international stage.

Pan Yuliang’s work can be see at the China National Art Gallery in Beijing and The Anhui Provincial Museum in Hefei. Also check out the Jennifer Cody Epstein novel, a fictionalized acount of life of Yuliang, The Painter from Shangai.

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