Since ancient times, most of the top first-class painters in China are men, and famous female painters are rare, but in the Republic of China period, a famous female painter appeared.
Her works were later sought after by thousands of people,
At an auction in 2005, her "Free Painting" was auctioned for 10.218 million yuan. At an auction in 2012, her ink painting "Four Beautiful Poses After bathing" sold for 113.732 us dollars.
Who is this female painter?
She is talented, has learned both Chinese and Western, she has a legendary experience, once a Qinglou woman, later a concubine, but through hard work, she eventually became a top female painter.
She is Pan Yuliang, who is known as the "soul of Chinese painting".
Pan Yuliang, whose original name was Chen Xiuqing, was born on June 14, 1895, to a poor family in Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province. Her childhood was very unfortunate.
He lost his father when he was one year old, his sister died when he was two years old, his mother died when he was eight years old, and the young Pan Yuliang was lonely and unable to support himself. There was no way but to live with her uncle.
But Pan Yuliang's uncle is not only good at gambling, but also good at wine, and Pan Yuliang lives in such a family, and naturally suffers a lot.
By the time Pan Yuliang was 13 years old, she had been living in her uncle's house for five years. It was also in this year that her uncle owed a large amount of money for gambling but could not afford it, so he sold Pan Yuliang to a qinglou in Wuhu.
After Pan Yuliang arrived at the Qinglou, she knew that if she wanted to leave the Qinglou, there were only two ways, one was to save money by herself and redeem herself. The second is to wait for others to redeem her.
It was 1913, when she was 17 years old, and it was in that year that she finally met someone who was willing to redeem her.
In 1913, when the newly appointed customs inspector Pan Zanhua came to Wuhu to take office, the local industry and commerce held a grand welcoming ceremony for him, during which he invited some women to sing, including Pan Yuliang.
It was at this banquet that Pan Zanhua met Pan Yuliang and was deeply attracted by Pan Yuliang.
Later, in order to bribe Pan Zanhua, the local merchant sent Pan Yuliang to Pan Province.
When Pan Zanhua found out, he was shocked, so he immediately ordered someone to send Pan Yuliang back, but at this time, Pan Yuliang suddenly knelt on the ground and begged Pan Zanhua not to send her back to the Qinglou.
When Pan Zanhua knew what happened to Pan Yuliang, he couldn't help but sigh for her, so he moved his heart of compassion and finally agreed to leave Pan Yuliang behind and redeem herself.
Pan Yuliang was very touched to hear that Pan Zanhua wanted to redeem himself, and immediately said that he would like to follow Pan Zanhua's side for the rest of his life.
At that time, Pan Zanhua was already married in his hometown, so he said to Pan Yuliang: "If I marry you again, you can only be a concubine." ”
After Hearing this, Pan Yuliang expressed his willingness to be a concubine.
So Pan Zanhua left Pan Yuliang by his side.
In fact, Pan Yuliang was not originally surnamed Pan, her original name was Chen Xiuqing, and later changed her name to Zhang Yuliang, until she followed Pan Zanhua, she changed her name to Pan Yuliang.
Although Pan Zanhua was not a small official, he was a man of integrity, not only was he not corrupt, but he also did not have bad habits, and when he had nothing to do, he wrote and painted.
Pan Yuliang has no culture, so he has great admiration for the talented Pan Zanhua. Therefore, Pan Yuliang loves Pan Zanhua very deeply. Of course, during the period, Pan Zanhua naturally taught Pan Yuliang a lot of knowledge,
A year later, Pan Zanhua officially married Pan Yuliang as a concubine.
Later, because Pan Zan became an official And Qingzheng, he was in the supervision of the customs but did not sell the accounts of merchants, so he was hated, and as a result, he was dismissed by Yuan Shikai soon after.
When Pan Zanhua was living in Shanghai after his dismissal, he found that Pan Yuliang was very interested in painting, so he began to teach her the knowledge of painting.
Unexpectedly, Pan Yuliang was very talented in painting, so Pan Zanhua decided to let her learn painting systematically.
Because Pan Yuliang's culture is not high, Pan Zanhua first found a tutor for her and taught her cultural knowledge.
In 1918, after Pan Yuliang had a certain cultural knowledge, Pan Zanhua applied for the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts for her.
Pan Yuliang did not live up to Pan Zanhua's expectations, and was finally admitted to shanghai fine arts college with the first place in sketching.
In the following years, Pan Yuliang's painting skills were greatly improved, and the most rare thing is that during this period, she not only studied traditional Chinese painting, but also came into contact with new concepts of Western painting.
Western painting has a long history of body painting, Pan Yuliang's "courage" is very large, she wants to try anything, so she began to specialize in body painting.
Of course, because China at that time was influenced by traditional culture and the folk customs were still very conservative, so body painting seemed to be "detrimental to customs and deviance" at that time, so Pan Yuliang suffered a lot on the road of body painting art. Fortunately, she finally succeeded by persevering.
At that time, body painting had a promising future for development in European countries, and at this time, Pan Zanhua, Mrs. Yuan, and Pan Yuliang were facing emotional entanglements, and in this case, Pan Yuliang made a request to her husband to study abroad.
In 1923, Pan Yuliang went to study at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Paris, France. In 1925, through her own efforts, she finally graduated with the first place.
After graduating from the National Academy of Fine Arts in Paris, Pan Yuliang went to Italy and entered the National Academy of Fine Arts in Rome to study oil painting and sculpture.
In 1926, Pan Yuliang's work won the first prize at the Rome International Art Exhibition, breaking the record of no Chinese prize in the history of the National Academy of Fine Arts in Rome.
At this time, Pan Yuliang can be said to have studied Both Chinese and Western, although she studied Western painting in Europe, but when she painted, she added elements of Chinese painting, so her works can be described as a combination of Chinese and Western.
At the end of 1928, Pan Yuliang returned to China, and at this time, because Pan Yuliang had already learned something and was quite famous, she was hired as the director and tutor of the Western Painting Department of the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts shortly after returning to China. In the next ten years, it was her golden period of creation.
On July 7, 1937, the Lugou Bridge Incident broke out, and at a time when the country and the nation were in danger of life and death, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China abandoned their former suspicions and united resistance to Japan, thus opening the prelude to China's all-round War of Resistance.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Pan Yuliang also threw himself into the propaganda work of the War of Resistance. But at this time, her husband Pan Zanhua was not by her side, and beside her was Pan Zanhua's original wife.
And Pan Zanhua's original wife has always been unfriendly to Pan Yuliang, who previously requested to study abroad because of the bad relationship between the two.
Today, their relationship is still not improving, and they are living together again, so the contradictions between them are constantly heating up.
Pan Yuliang was unbearable at this time, and did not want to embarrass her husband Pan Zanhua, so she went abroad again to France and began her sojourn career.
This time abroad, Pan Yuliang lived abroad for forty years, during which she made a living selling paintings, although her economic conditions were not rich at that time, but she was proud and helpful. Importantly, she also donated the money from her painting sales to China to support the national war of resistance.
In 1945, after 8 years of arduous resistance, the Chinese military and people finally won the final victory of the War of Resistance.
After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Pan Zanhua's original wife had passed away, and Pan Zanhua returned to his hometown to work as a teacher and engage in education.
Pan Yuliang, who was abroad, learned that Pan Zanhua was alone and bitter, and decided to return to China to reunite with Pan Zanhua.
But it backfired, and before Pan Yuliang could return to China, civil war broke out again, causing Pan Yuliang and Pan Zanhua to lose contact again. She also had to temporarily give up the idea of returning to China to reunite with her husband.
After the victory in the War of Liberation, Pan Yuliang and Pan Zanhua finally made contact again, but not long after, the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea broke out again. Because France also sent troops at that time, Pan Yuliang was unable to return to China.
By 1959, Pan Zanhua died of illness in her hometown, and at the time of her death, she had not been able to see Pan Yuliang, and they had not seen each other for many years since they separated. And the news of his death was not known until 1964, Pan Yuliang.
After Pan Zanhua's death, Pan Yuliang had no relatives in China, so she completely gave up the idea of returning to China.
However, although Pan Yuliang has lived abroad for a long time, she has three principles and calls herself "three no women", one, not to fall in love. Second, do not rely on the gallery to auction their own works. Third, do not add foreign nationality.
In 1977, Pan Yuliang became seriously ill in France. When she was seriously ill, she took a pocket watch from her arms, removed the necklace embedded in her and Pan Zanhua's photo from her neck, and she handed these two items to the people around her and said: "Now that I am almost dead, I have these two things, please bring them back to the motherland, transfer them to Pan Zanhua's children and grandchildren, and a self-portrait of me, and bring them back to the motherland, even if I return to the motherland." ”
It was also in this year that Pan Yuliang passed away. Before she died, she hoped to change into a cheongsam for her after death, hoping to be buried as a Chinese woman.
Pan Yuliang's life is unfortunate, but she has met the love and noble person of her life, Pan Zanhua, so her life is also lucky.
Because of Pan Zanhua, let her get out of the bitter sea of the Qinglou. Because of Pan Zanhua, she has the warmth of home. Because of Pan Zanhua, she was able to receive cultural education. Because of Pan Zanhua, she was able to study painting and study abroad.
But unfortunately, after Pan Yuliang went abroad for the second time, she and Pan Zanhua were on their own. During her forty years of living abroad. She also went back to China several times to reunite with Pan Zanhua, but each time she failed to make the trip, so that she and Pan Zanhua died and did not see each other again, which is inevitable to sigh.
Of course, although they had not seen each other for decades, Pan Zanhua was very important in Pan Yu's conscience.
Pan Yuliang is unfortunate and lucky, when she was creating, because she was a Qinglou woman, but also because of the reasons why she created content, so she once suffered a lot. But for future generations, she has always been a famous female painter, because her works have been affirmed and recognized by later generations.