He Tianjian

Artist Biography:

He Tianjian (Chinese, 1891–1977) was a traditional, guohua-style painter and leading member of the Shanghai School. Born He Jun in Wuxi in the Jiangsu Province, the artist began painting at a young age. After briefly attending Guomin University in Nanjing, he dropped out and became a painting editor at the Zhonghua Book Company in Shanghai. During the 1920s he taught landscape painting in Wuxi, Nanjing, and Shanghai.

Around the same time, traditional painting was facing harsh criticism from those who claimed that it was neither scientific nor progressive. He, along with other guohua painters, strived to defend and revive traditional art, fusing established techniques with contemporary methods. The artist was particularly well known for his landscapes, executed in meticulously applied brushstrokes. He was unique in his emphasis on the spirit of the painting rather than on its resemblance to the subject depicted.

In addition to being a painter, He was also a teacher, theorist, and writer. After the creation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the artist accepted a position as a staff painter at the Shanghai Institute of Chinese Painting.

He was one of the seven artists featured in first phase of the Exhibition for Noted Painters at the China Art Museum in Shanghai. His works are also in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.