thank you for coming out this afternoon and thanks to Asia Society for inviting me I'm no I'm no scholar and not much of a public speaker either so I apologize for reading quite a bit of my presentation as Pauline said I'm active in Friends of the Art Museum for Chinese u we're a nonprofit that raises money for art acquisitions and student scholarships and our secondary goal is to learn about Asian art and culture so we have this study group where we pick a broad topic in this case it was cultural cross cultural exchanges through art and then each of us does a presentation with a PowerPoint on some subtopic under that main one so I prepared this in 2016 I was a bit limited to resources in the only in English language and since the exhibits been on here in Asia Society I've realized there's lots more information about Pena Liang out there so I'll share with you what I found back in 2016 and I would just like to add that there's much more to learn about her and she really is a fascinating woman penny Ling's life and art have Kevin have inspired considerable scrutiny she's been immortalized in several books and films she came to my attention in 2006 during a friend's trip to Taipei where there was an exhibition of her work at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts Liu Rongji creative director Shanghai modern art gallery rights it has become more and more difficult to compile panhu Lang's life history owing Trudeau manic owing to dramatic exaggerations and an abundance of fictitious materials including numerous biographical versions and films being circulated on the internet distorting the historical record the panyu Liang in the fictional world has in the mind of the public taken on a fabled life even coming to be known as the female Van Gogh of China it is probably true to say that panyu liang has become the most storied female artist in chinese arts history penny Liang was born in Yangzhou in 1895 orphaned at an early age she went to live with her uncle who sold her into a brothel in woohoo on way at the age of 13 following the fall of the corrupt shinra's regime Western ideas were beginning to influence China but concubinage persisted women were still bought and sold and their status and marriage in society was anything but equal a fictional account of pani Lang's life during this time suggests that she was involved in a homosexual relationship but there is no conclusive evidence of this although some of her paintings depict women together in intimate scenes Pena Liang probably embroidered as a young girl which would have been consistent with the time embroidery may have been her first introduction to creative art leading to her interest in painting you will notice elaborate textiles in many of her paintings and you can see some of those here fortunately for Pena Liang she was bought out of the brothel by pen Sunhwa a whoo-hoo customs superintendent educated in Japan at Waseda University Penh was a part of the group that pushed for youth democratic reforms as well as a member of dr. Sun yat-sen's revolutionary league he was friends with Chen Ducie du jeu an early leader of the Communist Party who introduced him to Lu hyesoo the principal of the Shanghai College of Fine Arts Liu described pan as a tall strong figure with bright eyes and a sonorous speaking voice character wise he was steady and determined full of the spirit of practical perseverance penny Liang became pen son was concubine and second wife in 1913 at the age of 18 pen Sunhwa taught Yuling to read and when he noticed her artistic talent encouraged her to take up painting he taught her calligraphy and arranged for her to learn French penny Liang sketched Ponson y in 1926 and in 1931 painted my family a composition including herself and pans son woz son the mystery of her name Pena Lee elinks original surname chen her name was changed to zhong when she was orphaned and adopted by relatives after pants on wah bought her out of the brothel she changed her name to panty Liang and gratitude to him she used this name when she applied to the shanghai art school however after she was accepted it was suggested that she is the named Zhang Yue Liang to avoid attracting unwelcome attention it does not appear that she used this name for long and returned to pan Yue Liang when signing her work however there is one oil painting with a unique signature late crossing the river was undoubtedly done by panty Liang but it is signed pond she's Joo she may also have used this name after she married pen son hua and before she was admitted to the Shanghai College of Fine Arts after panyu Liang arrived in France she changed the spelling of her name to pan you'll in probably to make it easier for rest earners to pronounce after her marriage to pan you Liang began to study painting under professor Hong Yi of the shanghai art school who was her neighbor with his introduction in the strong support of the school's principal penn entered the Shanghai School of Fine Arts in 1918 there she studied under Wang Jian and Zhu Zi Shan although by all accounts Yuliang was a spirited and talented young woman she was lucky to have found supportive friends among the local intelligence of the time the Shanghai School of Fine Arts was also a propitious choice for an education Wang Zhi yuan was the director of the Western painting division and excelled at composing watercolor works in both the Western and Chinese style he was active in the shanghai art circles but also traveled to europe and japan to study he was very enthusiastic about the western painting movement in modern china throughout his career the principal of the Shanghai School of Fine Arts Luo hai su is well known in China even today there is a museum named after him in Shanghai where many of his works and his collection of work from other artists are displayed had Luo hai su not accepted pan Zhi Liang in the to the Shanghai College of Fine Arts invited her to return to China after her first trip to Europe and nurtured her painting career panel yang would never have been as prolific and successful as she was it was a tumultuous time in China the May 4 movement of 1919 was a student political cultural and anti-imperialist movement with its roots in Beijing it was part Cultural Revolution and part social movement during the preceding two decades students had been exposed to and inspired by Western thought creating a feeling of dissatisfaction and frustration with Chinese tradition intellectuals United in the new culture movement attempted to make Chinese culture more accessible to other social groups by changing the written language there were attempts to stop the practice of foot binding women who had been educated such as pani Liang became a voice for further changes the May 4 movement is seen as a catalyst for the founding of the Chinese Communist Party and is still a point of reference for China within the arts circle a painters association that upheld reform and opposition to traditional ways was formed in 1919 by members that included paneling's teachers Weng Zhi yuan and Luo hai su called the heavenly horse painting society it attracted many female painters the horse flying through the air symbolized the energy and freedom of the group their annual exhibitions became a feature of Shanghai artistic life from 1920 until 1929 by which time many of the principles had gone to Europe intellectuals of this time encouraged study abroad the educationist Kai yuan Pi along with Li Shi Jing initiated a self-supporting program for studying in France in 1914 with government support Pandu Liang Yu Liang travelled to France in 1921 to study 13 other female students were her traveling companions curiosity and interest in Western culture led others during this period such as Deng Xiaoping Jo and lie and Jubei Hong to travel to France to study Wang Shu yeh who is Pena Liang's companion in the latter part of her life also came to France around this time initially admitted to the Lyon sino French Institute penny Liang soon entered the Ecole de Bo's our de Lyon she next moved to the Ecole des Vosges R de Paris to study under Lucien Simon despite the fact that she was a foreigner with limited financial means Yoo Lian began to come in contact with members of the parisian art circle in 1925 panyu liang graduated with top honors from the Ecole des Beaux our bows are in Paris even more impressively she was awarded the Grand Prix de Rome and became the first ever female Chinese student admitted to study in the National Art Institute in Rome by 1926 she had won the gold prize for her works at the Roman international art exhibition which included a 5,000 lira scholarship you-liang entered the sculpture class after graduating from oil painting in 1928 this time in Rome proved pivotal in her life allowing Yuliang to assimilate the traditions of the great Renaissance of the West as well as done to grow a traditional Western art academy educational process the Western emphasis on the human body and the accompanying training influenced young for the rest of her life returned to China in 1928 following a chance encounter with her formal former principal Leo hyesoo panyu Liang accepted his academic offer and returned to China full of hope and confidence she accepted an appointment to teach Western painting at the Shanghai art school she also took part in the inaugural national arts exhibition becoming China's best known female Western art painter her former teachers organized a personal exhibition of over 200 of you Liang's works which captured the attention of art circles and the wider public in 1931 panyu liang took up postive professor in the fine arts faculty of National Central University Nanking at the invitation of a friend from a cold a bazar jiu zhai Hong ji Hong during this time she assisted kaiyuan PI in establishing the Chinese Fine Arts Association penny Liang gave five solo exhibitions in China from 1929 to 1936 during this time in China penny Liang's studied with Chinese masters learning traditional Chinese art she travelled extensively through China although this was the period in which she received the most recognition in China traditional mores remained strong and exercised a profound negative impact on you Liang's teaching career rumors about panyu Liang's past dogged her success her modernist works to caught works caused controversy and drew criticism in China during the 1930s in part because she painted nudes the painting of nudes did not become acceptable in China until the 1950s except for pornographic paintings that circulated privately and the oil paintings produced by Wong Taschen for sale in overseas markets in the years of the Ching dynasty western-style painting in China rarely included you nudity when Ponyo liang tried to incorporate what she had learned in europe into her teaching she came under attack opposition from conservative moralists were a serious obstacle to the transmission of Western aesthetics in China during this period China was at a crossroads pluralism and Western thought constituted a serious challenge to traditional values and concepts many Chinese intellectuals who had studied overseas threw themselves into political activity to rebuild the nation on their return home although pena liang was criticized by many traditionalists she and fellow woman painter guan geelong became favorites in the art world in of the republic of china and they were considered modern and avant-garde disenchanted panyu liang decided to leave china before she left however she painted see from many different locations she took these pictures back to France with her the most significant painting of this time was Confucian temple in Nanking at the time of her painting brothels still existed near the Confucian temple the painting reflects her personal experience with both Confucian teaching and prostitution just a few months after the painting was completed The Rape of Nanking occurred although penny Liang escaped The Rape of Nanking and the years of war that followed in China she arrived in Europe in the midst of another war while she may have felt detached from what was going on around her the chaos and misery of the war were reflected in her paintings of that time penny Liang returned to France in 1937 when she arrived in Paris she joined the faculty of the Ecole de Bo's our the city was seized by Nazis in 1940 and her studio was requisitioned panyu liang moved to suburban Paris where she painted the genocide as an indictment of Nazi atrocities penny Leon was invited to take part in an International Exposition in Paris and to hold a personal exhibition during during the exhibit one of panyu Liang's paintings attracted the interest of a German officer who tried to buy it for a low price penny Leon resisted selling her paintings generally and she refused his offer two days before the close of the exhibition the painting was slashed with a knife a work by another artist suffered the same fate after she returned to Paris in 1937 penny Liang met Wang Shu Xu Yi they became close friends Wang was born in a poor farmers home in Hebei province in 1898 and studied in France through the assistance of others in his village he eventually opened a Chinese restaurant in Paris Wang helped pan Yuliang set up a studio bought her art supplies and raised money and made arrangements for her to hold exhibitions there are various versions of their relationship but he supported and cared for her during her later years as she became poverty-stricken although Pena Lian continued to paint with oil during this time in 1942 she began to undertake ink and color paintings on rice paper probably due to the high price of rice paper overseas sometimes she also used deckled edge paper and mulberry bark paper as substitutes well as most of you probably know the exhibit here concerns Penny Lange's work during this time the second trip to take a second period in Paris so some of these are paintings that you'll see again and when you when we go around with Linda penny Leon was elected president of the Chinese overseas student Arts Association in France in 1945 during this time she issued issued a joint petition with members of the Association beseeching the cumin town government to demand Japan's return of plundered artworks during the Japanese occupation of China as well as payment of compensation for damages to Chinese artifacts the petition was published published in Parisian newspapers on April 28 I mentioned this to show that although she was painting in a very creative person she was also quite involved in political activities and still very concerned about the Chinese French relationship by the 1950s penny Liang's style of Western oriental painting incorporated Chinese ink brush techniques with her academic training in oil painting from far vism she adopted the liberal use of colors she adopted the dotting techniques of post-impressionism and amplified the lines and Stroke work as well as the color rendition techniques of Chinese ink and water paintings penny liang was devastated when she learned of pen son woz death from illness in 1960 she hardly painted during that year in 1963 she held personal exhibitions in San Francisco in New York and was well received by the local Chinese communities an untimely car accident in September of that year added more pressure to her frail health she and Wang Shu Yi began living together around this time although the cultural rim lucien was a tragedy for China for panyu Liang living far away the ideas correspondent with her own with her own thinking Maoist ideology exercised a powerful influence on French thinkers France was the first country to establish diplomatic relations with China a self-portrait of this time show spaniel yang with a copy of thoughts of Chairman Mao in her hand most of the work produced by panyu Liang in the latter part of her career used the same materials traditionally used in Chinese ink painting this was a bold step from her earlier use of Western materials it may have been prompted by her meeting with Zhang Jian the master of traditional Chinese ink painting or the fact that these materials were cheaper and pena Liang was living in poverty penny Liang never returned to China living and working in Paris for the next 40 years her works were exhibited internationally especially in the United Kingdom United States Germany Japan Italy Switzerland Belgium and Greece Pena Liang's final years were marred by the illness she had suffered all her life and a serious drinking problem since she had made no arrangements for her own funeral Wang Shiyi gave up the burial plot he had purchased for himself in the Montparnasse Cemetery of Paris so that she could be buried there when she died in 1977 four years later he was buried with her their names combined on one gravestone since he could not afford another plot although they never married he wanted to be united with her in death her art penny Liang was China's first female artist to paint in the western style she painted many pictures of women and some couples many nudes another favorite topic was pictures of mothers and children she painted a few portraits in addition to still lifes and landscapes what strikes the viewer of pandu Long's paintings immediately is the bold composition and rich colors combining Chinese conceptual elma elements brushstrokes and use of line with the Western framework she developed a unique style and the reason that I put together this slide is because I think so interesting to look at her I'm still life here completely Western and then this picture here also done also her work that looks like a classic Chinese paintings and then the ones in-between but I think this gives you an idea of the amazing breadth of her work can you you Liang's paintings of human forms demonstrate her unique techniques she tended to create outlines by well-placed in flowing strokes followed by color renderings to create the body's texture quality sometimes she would use watercolors to outline forms before finishing them with ink lines in terms of structure she preserved the concept of leaving parts of the paintings blank only to fill the empty spaces with criss-crossing brushstrokes she often painted herself by looking in the mirror pani Liang's emotional world continues to befuddle her critics despite her manly appearance and demeanor she was obviously very sensitive and harbored a huge desire for love judging from her various sketches that depict interaction between the sexes her origin is an orphan and her desire for a mother's love are revealed in her many paintings of mothers and children a mother's love was a recurring theme indicating her deep longing the Western influence of autism is evident in Penny Liang's paintings Wikipedia describes five ism as the style of LaFave French for the wild beasts a loose group of early 20th century modern artists whose work emphasized painterly qualities and strong color over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism the leaders of them of the movement were on Ray Matisse and Andre Durham the paintings of the Falls were characterized by seemingly wild brushwork and strident colors while their subject matter often had a high degree of simplification and abstraction however as lue wrong Jiro Jubei Hong and Peng Yue Liang belonged to that generation of overseas intellectuals who missionary zeal for the promotion of Chinese culture they refuse to be overwhelmed by the West and insisted on integrating the best of Oriental and Western cultures he goes on to add that is not to say that the Chinese with 5000 years of cultural tradition were not acquainted with the bold and casual brushstrokes upheld by five ism the Chinese artists familiarity with splashing techniques spontaneity and unpainted canvas could have endeared them to cubism whose sole claim to fame was the fragmentation of natural forms into abstract structures the Chinese artists who studied in the West could not be expected to understand many of the concepts of Western modern art not only were they brought up in an entirely different way they simply did not have the vocabulary to comprehend the furies of futurism and Dadaism an important Chinese influence on Penny Liang's work was Zhang deechi on the ink brush master who wrote texts for some of her paintings the sketch she made of him in 1959 is now part of the collection of Paris Modern Art Museum so this is Zhang this is a one of John's works this is the sketch she did of him and this isn't one of her paintings where he's done the inscription to particular models are significant in pani Liang's portraits they are both from the time when she was studying in Rome around 1925 the first Antonio was the porter of her apartment who became her volunteer Italian tutor Antonio head of parents had apparently once been a rising singer but had fallen out with various groups because of his outspoken demeanor he took to drinking after his first wife left him for a French clown worked as a mover until he hurt his back and ended up a supporter in pani Liang's building the other important model was honest Antonio's goddaughter whose parents perished in North Africa pani Leon looked after her and honest was her companion for many years in order to raise money for honest penny Liang even sold a few of her paintings penny Liang is famous her nude paintings she persisted with these even when conventional Chinese artists and others discouraged her in this way she was truly influenced by Western art and Western ideas about painting when she was in China it was difficult to find models so too said that she often visited bath houses to sketch the women there but most often she drew her own figure by looking in the mirror in penya Liang's later years she created more elaborate and decorative figure groups that some felt exude to sweetest a charm especially in the faces she was a frequent exhibitor and Prize winner at the salon the honour of which she was most proud was the gold medal of the city of Paris awarded to her in 1959 no other Chinese artist of her generation had their works shown at so many international exhibitions although penny Liang is better known for her paintings she began learning sculpture while she was in Italy sculpture had little status among Fine Arts in China at the beginning of the 20th century however his more artists travel to the west they began to create sculpture and pani Leone was no exception in 1985 many of pandu Liang's works were returned to China where they are held by the National Art Museum of China in Beijing and the onwe provincial museum in hefei there are approximately 4,000 pieces collected in the onwe museum of these 361 or oil paintings 205 are signed and only 118 are precisely dated JD Fung assisted in restoring and conserving pond ulong's works in 2004 and 2005 he prepared the following chart of pani Leung signed oil paintings in the onwe museum by date he notes that the period from 1939 to 1940 2 was the most creative oil painting period for pond Yuliang these were the years after her return to France considering that these do not include paintings that she rejected those that are either signed but not dated or unsigned her total output during 1940 could have been as many as a hundred paintings considering the circumstances of the time with war a general shortage of resources and our own limited financial situation this is an indication of how devoted pena Leon was to her work and to her strength and perseverance thank you I've asked Linda to help me out if you have any questions in case I don't know the answers so does anyone have anything that they'd like to ask or maybe to add how was it that the paintings were returned to China what precipitated that yeah you take it when Pan Yulin died in 1977 she requested that her work be returned to China and it took them quite a long time to do that a man named wu zhu Ren came to look at her works and to catalog them in 1980 and he recommended to the Chinese government that they be returned by 1984 they were all sent back to the Anne and Way Museum she came from anway province so I'm sure that that's the reason that it was chosen as a storage site for her work and what was on the gravestone yeah four year difference did you um yeah there's been speculation on on why that is most people believe that the earlier date 1895 is their actual birth date and that she lied on her visa application and the reason for this is is because she went there as a student and there was an age limit on students she was 25 years old so it meant that she could stay in France longer if she wasn't a hundred percent truthful on her application [Laughter] since we have this exhibition lecture here and well we I heard a lot about her study in France and and her teaching in Shanghai but have you done any research on her teaching in when she went back to France for the second time I didn't know she's been just was also a teacher there as well my understanding is that most of the work that she did there was through the Chinese artist association so as far as I'm aware she didn't have any formal role as a teacher it was more sort of an ad hoc through references so more of a tutor type role that's all that I've ever been aware of but as Susan said we're not scholars we're just people who love her work actually this is our second installment of the 20th century of Chinese female artists of the first one was last year of functionality and the second one this year we're doing paladin because she's definitely one of the most important Chinese female Chinese artists of this century of this versus early century and she's one of the very where women able to travel to Europe to study at that time for three and also she established her fame as an artist over there actually the further where it's not her she set a very good example for new women at that time but at the same time she faced also some difficulties and obstacles she firstly she's a Chinese over there and she's a woman and so she she's new able to stand on has her feet there and to establish herself and get recognition from lots of European so actually she has a great accomplishment as a woman as well a Chinese woman and also probably I don't know if you maybe loss of you know about you Yankee Kusama she's also first similar to her she is a woman and an Asian woman when she was in New York face or self of discrimination even though she is quite famous and lots of people recognize her work but she wasn't able to well-received by the young but it arcing over that because her race and her net has a pretty much the same situation even though your arm your yaki was like 50 years or like even 60 years younger than her she is still she's still facing the same situation so I we think it would be a great opportunity for us to statue discuss this issue about women artists even now what obscure was a any discrimination or the future of women artists in especially Asian women artists next year we'll have the third the last installment of 20th century we are Chinese female artists exhibition and next should be next year September and hopefully this what I know is the artists will be much younger and still well established and also a bit more contemporary art so we are so stay tuned with our website