Lu Fo-ting

Lu Foting (Chinese: 呂佛庭, November 29, 1911 – July 24, 2005) was born in Biyang County, Henan Province. His original name was Lu Tianci, also known by the courtesy names Futing and Fotin, as well as the pseudonyms Banseng and Yuweng. He adopted the Dharma name Puxian. Lu Fo-ting was a renowned Taiwanese ink painter and calligrapher, particularly recognized for his landscape paintings.

In 1948, he relocated to Taiwan and held a long-term position at Taichung Normal University (now National Taichung University of Education). His notable works include "Ten Thousand Miles of the Great Wall," "Ten Thousand Miles of the Yangtze River," "Cross-Island Highway," and "Ten Thousand Miles of the Yellow River."

Due to his significant contributions to the field of painting and art education, he was honored with the National Literary and Art Award for Special Contributions in 1988. Subsequently, he received the Executive Yuan Cultural Award in 1993 for his achievements.

Life Early Years in Mainland China

Lu Fo-ting began his artistic journey by studying calligraphy and poetry under the guidance of his father since childhood. He also learned foundational ink painting techniques through the emulation of the "Jieziyuan Huapu" (Manual of the Mustard Seed Garden), and later sought further instruction from the flower-and-bird painter Lu Shixun. In 1925, Lu attended a Christian high school, where he gained basic knowledge of Western painting. In 1927, he enrolled in the Biyang County Rural Normal School, where he studied figure and lady paintings under the painter Jiao Junfeng. Lu Fo-ting graduated from the Beijing School of Art in 1934.

Lu Fo-ting's artistic focus was on landscape painting. During the 1960s, he completed three lengthy scroll paintings: "Ten Thousand Miles of the Great Wall" (1963), "Ten Thousand Miles of the Yangtze River" (1965), and "Cross-Island Highway" (1969). He also completed his fourth monumental landscape scroll, "Ten Thousand Miles of the Yellow River," in 1985.

Alongside this development, he began to incorporate pictographic characters from oracle bone script, seal script, brick inscriptions, and mirror engravings into his paintings, creating "calligraphy paintings" that represented an innovative experiment in the realm of art.