He Haixia
The following information about this distinguished 20th century Chinese artist is reproduced from a 2008 news release from the China National Academy of Painting.
He Haixia’s Chinese painting exhibition is unveiled
Sponsored by China National Academy of Painting, the Chinese painting exhibition of He Haixia is currently on display to commemorate the centennial anniversary of his birth until Sept.15 at the National Art Museum of China. The exhibition displays more than 100 paintings created from the 1950s to the 1990s and provides an overall picture of his artistic achievements.
Born in Beijing, He Haixia was vice president of Shaanxi Chinese Painting Academy and member of China Artists Association. He established a solid foundation through learning from Han Gongdian and Zhang Daqian and copying the paintings of the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. Due to precious experience in Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces, he formed “Chang’an School” in the field of landscape paintings with Zhao Wangyun and Shi Lu.
He Haixia stresses on wide themes, diversified techniques and vivid features. He is good at both large-sized and miniature paintings. He is skilled at using ink and various colours and creating unique flavour. He used to live in the Northwest China and created works for a long period. He established a unique school through magnificence in his works in the field of contemporary landscape painting. In his later years, he was devoted to creating grand works for the country’s important halls and venues.
As a master of the turning signification in the history of the Chinese modern landscape painting, He Haixiao worships the tradition, while his value lies in his extraordinary force and pioneering spirit. Based on the original appreciation of artistic traditions and modern life, he transfers the traditional skills to realistic representations, and adopts new themes and contents in order to develop new skills. With the interaction between tradition and life, he successfully solves the problems in modern life with traditional skills.
The exhibition provides the audience with a good opportunity to feel the artistic charm in a short distance, and it also offers precious materials for case study to help the academic circle recognize the evolution history of modern landscape printings and enhance the study on the aesthetic thinking of the Chinese paintings.