By Fu Tongxian, our staff reporter

Fang Zenxian is a landmark master artist of figure painting in modern traditional Chinese art. His solo exhibition was ceremoniously unveiled on November 13, 2009 in Zhejiang Art Gallery, giving a vista of his achievements over the past decades.

Born in 1931 in Xitangxia Village, which used to be part of Pujiang County but today is part of Lanxi City in central Zhejiang in 1931, Fang Zenxian has had a brilliant career as a traditional Chinese painting artist. He was a professor with Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts (the predecessor of todays China Academy of Art in Hangzhou) for about two decades before moving to Shanghai in the 1980s. He has been deputy director of Shanghai Academy of Traditional Chinese Painting, curator of Shanghai Art Gallery, director of Shanghai Artists Association and councilor of China Artists Association.

For five decades, Fang Zenxian has been a pioneering and accomplished artist in exploring a modern way to best paint figures in traditional Chinese way. Moreover, he is a researcher and a teacher who has imparted his success to younger artists. He is an undisputable founder and leader of what is now famously known as the Zhejiang figure painting school.

The opening ceremony was attended by hundreds of prominent artists such as Feng Yuan, Liang Pingbo, Yang Xiaoyang, Wu Tianming, Yang Jianxin, Xiao Feng, Song Zhongyuan, Gu Shengyue, Lu Kunfeng, Liu Guohui, Wu Shanming, Tong Zhongtao, and Kong Zhongqi. They spoke highly of Fengs pioneering role and accomplishment.

In the 1960s, Fang and his colleagues at the academy started experimenting and seeking a new way to paint human images using traditional skills and tools.

They were not the only pioneers in this field. There were others. Liu Guohui, a PhD tutor and professor with China Academy of Art, says that the five young scholars at the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts contributed to the birth of the Zhejiang School, but Fang is definitely an outstanding figure of the school. Liu points out that Jiang Zhaohe, Huang Zhou and Fang Zenxian are the three leading masters that successfully broke new grounds in figure painting in 20th-century Chinas traditional art.

Fang Zenxian is widely recognized an accomplished figure painting master also because he has been trying to break new grounds all these decades. After moving to Shanghai, Fang spent a few years doing outline drawing, seeking a new painting vocabulary for new possibilities. Lu Kunfeng, a professor with China Academy of Art, notes that Fang Zenxian created a new style of outline drawing. His new approach, called Fangs outline drawing among some scholars, features both east and west elements; it is typical Chinese; it constitutes an innovative way to line organization; it introduces new and intriguing elements to brush techniques; and it adds changes and possibilities to imaging. Wu Shanming, a professor with China Academy of Art and now an accomplished artist who once studied under the guidance of Fang Zenxian in his college years, wows at Fangs latest huge-size paintings and feels amazed by his teachers incredible energy and enthusiasm for new changes in his golden age.

Fangs strong influence in figure painting in traditional Chinese art is also partly attributed to his teaching career. For decades he was a teacher at the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts. He taught his students ways to explore. Wang Qingming, a professor with China Academy of Art, observes that most present at the opening ceremony were Fangs students or students students. Wang says Fangs paintings are both realistic and avant-garde. The free and bold images are educative and informative.

Fang Zenxian spoke at the opening ceremony. He said that the 136 exhibits in three sections were his report to the people of his home province. Hangzhou and the West Lake stood out in his daily contemplation and in his dream. He was very nostalgic about the path in the Solitary Hill on the lake where he strolled in untold times.□