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Painter | Wang Nong

  • Date:2016-01-20
Painter | Wang Nong

  • Birth Name: Li Tien (立田)
  • Born: 1926
  • Died: March 28, 2013
  • Birthplace: Shenyang (Nationalist China)
  • Do You Know That…?
  • Wang Nong entered the Peking University School of Arts thanks to the prominent Chinese painter Hsu Bei-hong (徐悲鴻), who served as the school principal and later became Wang's key mentor. Wang once noted that he led two lives - the life bestowed upon him by his mother, and the artistic path granted by Hsu.


Wang Nong was a celebrated painter and Peking opera enthusiast who used Western painting techniques to portray Eastern literati subjects such as galloping horses and literary characters.


Born and raised in Shenyang, Wang studied under revered artist Hsu Bei-hong (徐悲鴻) before resettling to Taiwan in 1949. He initially designed floral patterns for a textile factory to make ends meet, and subsequently opened a wallpaper shop in 1967 before deciding to pursue his passion for arts and make Chinese painting his lifelong career.


Wang was influenced by his mentor Hsu, who was a master in portraying horses, but created his own style by integrating western painting skills to replicate Chinese aesthetics. Wang focused on capturing the movement of horses, illustrating their shapes abstractly but vividly.


In addition to horses, Wang also did landscape paintings of prairies and deserts that stemmed from his childhood experiences in mainland China. His figure portraiture of traditional Chinese figures such as Zhong Kui (鍾馗), Bodhidharma (達摩) and Li Bai (李白) also capture their unique character traits.


Wang's passion for Peking opera also made him a deft professional in painting theater and costumes. Wang enjoyed performing opera as well as creating opera scenes with Chinese paintings, in which the figures come to life through his expressive brushstrokes.


In 1978, Wang won 1st prize in the National Sun Yat-sen Cultural and Arts Awards. Subsequently, his paintings were exhibited in numerous countries, and several paintings are now held in the collection of foreign museums such as the Guimet Museum in Paris.


Before passing away in 2013, Wang had been working with his daughter on a book titled "Wang Nong - Visualization, Expression, Serene Freedom (王農 - 觀想.寫意.大自在),” a memoir about his art journey with a collection of 70 representative paintings. Though Wang couldn't live to finish the book, his daughter carried on his spirit and completed the book as Wang's legacy.