蔡亮  

Biography

Cai Liang

He was born in 1932 in Hankou, and his ancestral home is in Amoy, Fujian Province. During his youth he learned painting in Yucai School founded by Tao Xingzhi. In 1950, he went from Shanghai to be enrolled in the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, but he missed the examination date. However, the art works he brought for registration captured the attention of Xu Beihong, President of the Academy who made an exception in admitting him. In 1953 he graduated from the painting department of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. He graduated from the Graduate Class of the Central Academy of Fine Arts in 1955 with Xu Beihong, Wu Zuoren and Dong Xiwen as tutors. After graduation, he devoted in teaching and painting at Shaanxi Art Gallery, Xi-an Artists’ Association, Shaanxi Provincial Art Creation Group and Xi-an Academy of Fine Arts.

From the end of the fifties to the seventies, taking the rural life in Northern Shaanxi as sketches and the historical revolutionary struggle of old liberated areas as themes, he created a series of historical paintings which are in conformity with political requirement, and possess higher artistic standard and historical truthfulness as well. One of his art works, “Torch of Yan-an” has been published for over ten times. His painting of Chairman Mao Zedong was printed on the textbook of primary schools. In 1982, under the policy of opening all avenues for people of talent, especially at the earnest invitation of Mo Pu and Xiao Feng, he left Xi-an for Hangzhou and taught in the oil painting department of Zhejiang Institute of Fine Arts.