Gao Jianfu

Gao Jianfu (October 12, 1879 - June 22, 1951), formerly known as Lin, later named Lun, also known as Jueting, also known as Jueting, Zhuoting, also known as Jianfu, was born in Panyu, Guangdong, and was a modern Chinese painter, art educator and revolutionary activist. In his early years, he studied Lingnan flower-and-bird painting from Ju Lian, and was exposed to Western painting in Macau. Later, he went to Japan to inspect Western and Japanese paintings. He, his brother Gao Qifeng, and his friend Chen Shuren jointly advocated "New Chinese Painting" and advocated "eclectic Chinese and Western, blending ancient and modern". The three were later known as the "Three Masters of Lingnan". Gao Jianfu was also regarded as one of the main founders of the Lingnan School of Painting. Gao Jianfu linked the innovation of painting with political revolution, social education and industrial development. He joined the Chinese Tongmenghui and participated in activities related to the Guangdong revolutionary organization, the assassination group and the Huanghuagang Uprising. After the founding of the Republic of China, he ran an aesthetic library in Shanghai, founded "Truth Illustrated", and tried to run an art ceramics business. After the 1920s, he gradually shifted the focus of his activities to painting and education. During this period, he founded Chunsui Painting Academy and Foshan Municipal Academy of Fine Arts, and taught at National Sun Yat-sen University, National Central University and other schools. During his travels in South Asia from 1930 to 1932, he came into contact with the Rabindranath Tagore family and the Bengal School of Painting. Since then, his creations have gradually reduced the obvious traces of Japanese paintings in his early days. The themes of his creations have expanded from flowers, birds, and landscapes to modern things such as airplanes, warships, ruins, hungry people, and battlefields. In addition to traditional brushwork, he has also absorbed the expression methods of perspective, light and shade, air, and light color in addition to traditional brushwork. During the Anti-Japanese War, he continued to teach in Macao, held art exhibitions and charity sales, and expressed the war in works such as "The Flame of the Eastern Battlefield" and "The Destruction of Civilization". Gao Jianfu's art was criticized during his lifetime for borrowing from Japanese paintings. Since then, the changes in Japanese factors in his painting style, his interactions with overseas art circles, and the formation of the title "Lingnan School" have also become important issues in studying his artistic career.