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Huang Shaoqiang
黃少強
Self-Portrait on 39th Birthday (detail, 1940)
Born	Huang Yishi 1901 Xiaojiang Village, Guangdong, China
Died	7 September 1942(1942-09-07) (aged 40–41) Xiaojiang Village, Guangdong, China
Movement	Lingnan School

Huang Shaoqiang (Chinese: 黃少強; pinyin: Huáng Shǎo Qiáng, 1901 – 7 September 1942) was a Chinese artist of the Lingnan School.

Early life

Huang was born Huang Yishi (黃宜仕) in Xiaojiang Village, Guanyao, Nanhai, Guangdong, in 1901. The descendent of a village official, Huang came from learned family and read poetry extensively. He was also exposed to famed works of art from youth, including works from Europe. He also created his own works, painting No One to Tell (无告人) in 1911 as he was processing the Xinhai Revolution.

In 1919, Huang travelled to Guangzhou to learn painting at the Bowen Art School. He continued to Shanghai the following year, where he first studied under Gao Qifeng before apprenticing under Gao Jianfu. The Gao brothers were known as the founders of the Lingnan School of painting, which blended Western styles with traditional Chinese art. Huang thus learned to combine western approaches to modelling with traditional ink- and brushwork, though unlike his teachers Huang often depicted human figures. He later spent time studying under Liu Haisu at the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts (now part of Shanghai University).

Artistic career

Huang, who took the courtesy name Shaoqiang in adulthood, began a tour of China in 1923. Making stops in Guangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, and Shanxi, he observed the experiences of the common people, later drawing on these observations for his depictions of such subjects. By 1926, he had returned to Nanhai, where he became the principal at the Dunmu Primary School and taught at several other local schools. With fellow Lingnan School painter Chao Shao-an, he established an art garden to teach painting to youths. During the 1920s, he also taught at several art schools, including the Foshan City Arts Institute, Nanhai Normal University, and Guangzhou City Arts College.

Several members of Huang's family died in the 1920s, including his grandfather, father, mother, and sister. He continued to paint, holding his first solo exhibition in Foshan in 1926. Over subsequent years, he participated in numerous solo and joint exhibitions. For example, two paintings by Huang, Dust on an Empty Bed (尘榻空留) and Self-Admiration in Despair (穷途自赏), were exhibited at the First National Art Exhibition in 1929; these were the only recent works exhibited therein. His painting Sad String (哀弦 was sent for display in Berlin as part of an exhibition of Chinese art in 1933, then brought to London for further showings.

Following the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria, Huang contributed his Floods and Refugees (洪水图流民图) to the National Disaster Painting Exhibition (1932) in Guangzhou. He took first place in the exhibition, sold the work, and donated the proceeds to support the war effort. In 1934, he and several other artists organized another exhibition, with proceeds donated to support the fight against the Japanese. Outside of exhibitions, he organized students to spread anti-Japanese propaganda. He also produced several works that denounced the invasion, including Daughter of Resistance (抵抗之女) and National Soul Rising at the Yalu River (鸭绿江头起国魂). At one point, he travelled to Hunan to comfort soldiers fighting the Japanese.

While living in Guangzhou, Huang frequently met with fellow artists, including He Qiyuan, Zhao Shaoang, and Ye Shaobing. He also opened a small school and exhibition space at his home. He established the Folk Painting Gallery at his home in 1935, which he used to educate young painters. He also wrote about art, producing several texts – including a compilation of poetry from his works. With the fall of Guangzhou in 1938, Huang fled to Hong Kong, where he organized more art exhibitions as fundraisers. With fellow artists Ye Shaobing and He Jiafang, he also established the Sui Han Society.

Later years and death

When Hong Kong fell to the Japanese, Huang returned to Guangzhou briefly before travelling to Foshan. There, he continued to paint, while also mentoring young artists such as Pan He. At his Zhilu Painting School in Donghuali, as in his earlier educational roles, Huang urged his students to paint based on their observations in the field, rather than isolated in the field. Pan recalled that, during this period, Huang would follow his subjects on the streets, sketching them; this resulted in many subjects being depicted from behind.

Huang refused, however, to acquiesce to the Japanese, and was unwilling to join the Japan-established South China Arts Association; when asked to do so by fellow Lingnan painter He Qiyuan, he refused to do so in person, sending a written reply instead. He was detained in 1942, and though released, he became sickly. With little money available, he lived for a time with his mother-in-law, before departing for his family home in Xiaojiang Village in May. Huang was robbed died on the road, further affecting his health. Ultimately, he died at the family home on 7 September 1942.

Legacy

Writing for the Foshan Museum, Li Xiaoqing notes that Huang participated in some eighty-five exhibitions in his lifetime, with international showings in Belgium, France, Germany, Russia, and the United Kingdom. He also taught numerous artists, both at schools and in private. These included the sculptor Pan He, as well as the painters Chen Ningdan [zh], Huang Zhijian, and Tan Yong. Pan He identified Huang as his greatest artistic influence, holding that his mentor's approach to art – viewing it not as a means of earning money, but as a means of serving the people – had influenced his own paradigm.

Huang's family have donated more than four hundred of his works to various museums, hoping to ensure their safekeeping and spread knowledge of his oeuvre. Numerous retrospectives on Huang and his work have been held, including an exhibition of more than one hundred paintings, as well as related poetry, photographs, and other media, at the Guangdong Museum of Art in 1999. The Huang Shaoqiang Memorial Hall, located in Nanhai, contains several works by Huang, donated by his family.

Style and analysis

Huang, who was known professionally by the art name Zhilu (止庐), sought to use traditional Chinese approaches to painting to capture modern situations. His early works show the influences of Japanese painting, something that he likely inherited from the Gao brothers; Gao Jianfu had been close to Takeuchi Seihō in his early years. These paintings were characterized by broad swathes of colour, as well as a sense of three-dimensionality. Later works abandon the influence of wood-block painting. They use less colour, with rougher line-work that nonetheless reflects the approaches to modelling used in Western art. Often Huang's works are accompanied by poetry, some quite lengthy.

Huang's art deals primarily with Chinese subjects, often everyday situations and people. Attested in his works are beggars, craftsmen, peasants, peddlers, street performers, and tea house servants. Consequently, Ye describes them as imbued with a humanitarian spirit, taking a critical realist approach to highlighting their suffering while condemning the excesses of luxury. Liu Haisu likewise used these works to highlight art's transformation from a media of the wealthy to something belonging to the masses. Some of his works, however, had religious themes, and several depict arhats (persons who have achieved nirvana) or the Bodhisattva of compassion, Guanyin.

Death and suffering are common themes in Huang's works, which Wei Chenghong of the Lingnan School of Painting Memorial Hall links with the successive deaths of several family members and the "inescapable nightmare" and "irresistible magic" of Huang's resulting fear of death. Huang was aware of this tendency, viewing himself as "composing the sorrow of the country and the suffering of the people". The curator Chen Ji argues that, through his explorations of sorrow and human suffering, Huang was able to "surpass traditional Chinese figure painting not only in form, but also in spirit, speaking directly to the ontology of modern art and completing the transformation of his figure painting into modern meaning".

Gallery

• Immortality and Oblivion (undated)
• Broken Pagoda in Autumn (1926)
• Farewell (1930)
• Sketching Guilin on the Way Home (1931)
• Martyr (1932)
• Guanyin with Child (1935)
• Correction of Youth (1940)
• Peasant (1941)

Explanatory notes

1. Original: "无法摆脱的梦魇" and "可抗拒的魔力".
2. Original: "谱家国之哀愁，写民间之疾苦".
3. Original: "黄少强的人物画不惟在形式上，而且在精神上超越了传统的中国人物画，直指现代艺术的本体，并完成了他的人物画向现代意义上的转变。"

References

1. ^ Ye 2021.
2. ^ Nanhai Museum, Online Appreciation Issue 42.
3. ^ Southern Metropolis Daily, 2009.
4. Guangdong Museum of Art, Early April.
5. ^ Li n.d.
6. Jiang 2020.
7. Guangdong Museum of Art, Huang Shaoqiang's Belief.
8. Guangdong Museum of Art, Huang Shaoqiang.

Works cited

• "Early April". Guangdong Museum of Art. Archived from the original on 12 May 2024. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
• "黄少强(1901-1942) 谱家国哀愁 写民间疾苦" [Huang Shaoqiang (1901-1942) Wrote About the Sorrow of the Country and the Suffering of the People]. Southern Metropolis Daily (in Chinese). 23 March 2009. Archived from the original on 5 January 2024. Retrieved 5 September 2024. (via Guangzhou Library)
• "黄少强·走向民间专题展" [Huang Shaoqiang: Towards the People Special Exhibition] (in Chinese). Guangdong Museum of Art. 6 March 2008. Archived from the original on 6 September 2024. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
• "黄少强认为"有人格自然有风格" 对我的影响很大" [Huang Shaoqiang's Belief that "Personality Naturally Leads to Style" has Greatly Influenced Me] (in Chinese). Guangdong Museum of Art. 27 August 2017. Archived from the original on 6 September 2024. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
• Jiang Xinchen (蒋欣陈) (26 November 2020). "潘鹤：渔女之父的珠海情缘" [Pan He: The Father of the Fisherwoman and His Love for Zhuhai]. Southcn.com (in Chinese). China South Publishing & MediaGroup. Archived from the original on 1 September 2024. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
• Li Xiaoqing (李小青) (n.d.). "另辟蹊径 独树一帜——记岭南派著名画家黄少强" [Taking a Different Path and Being Unique: Huang Shaoqiang, Famous Painter of the Lingnan School] (in Chinese). Foshan Museum. Archived from the original on 6 September 2024. Retrieved 6 September 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
• "在线品鉴第四十二期—黄少强断塔秋零图" [Online Appreciation Issue 42 - Huang Shaoqiang's Broken Pagoda in Autumn] (in Chinese). Nanhai Museum. 26 November 2020. Archived from the original on 5 September 2024. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
• Ye Shuming (叶曙明) (16 August 2021). "为平民而画的岭南画家黄少强" [Huang Shaoqiang: A Lingnan Painter for the Common People]. Yangcheng.com (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 20 May 2022. Retrieved 5 September 2024.

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