Pang Xunqin

Pang Xunqin (; June 20, 1906 – March 18, 1985) was a Chinese painter and teacher who, after studying in Paris, moved back to China and gave "traditional decoration art a modern context." Pang was also a co-founding member of the Storm Society, which aimed to bring a Parisian-style art world to China. He was greatly inspired by the French Art Nouveau movement.

Early life Pang was born in Jiangsu to a landlord family. Demonstrating an inclination towards color and design at a young age, he started learning about the traditional Chinese painting of flowers at eleven. He studied medicine in Shanghai from 1921 to 1924 after being told by a foreign priest that the Chinese could never become great artists. In September 1925, Pang moved to Paris to study oil painting at the Académie Julian at the age of 19, following fellow patriots such as Xu Beihong. At the time, Paris was at the epicenter of newfound artistic trends, from Cubism to Fauvism, and was flocked to by foreign artists.

Pang spent over a year at the Académie Julian learning technical skills through live sketching, and receiving critiques from teachers at the prestigious École Nationale des Beaux-Arts. Influenced heavily by fellow artist Chang Yu, Pang followed Chang's advice not to enter the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts after his time at the Académie Julian. He began using Chinese ink brushes to sketch after observing Chang using the same technique. This technique supported Pang's desire to meld European modernism with traditional Chinese sketch conceptualism, in spite of many of his contemporaries resurrecting the Chinese tradition as an alternative to modernism. Most of Pang's work at the time was portraiture, self or otherwise.

Pang wedded female artist Qiu Ti in 1932. During wars in the 1930s to early 1940s, Pang was forced to move frequently, all the while teaching and painting. In 1936, after the disbandment of the Storm Society, he taught at the Beiping Art Academy.

Storm Society In 1931, Pang co-founded the avant-garde (Chinese: 決瀾社 Juelan She "a great wave") with Ni Yide; an artist, critic, and writer. Three other artists, including Lin Fengmian, joined the Post-Impressionistic and Expressionist group. He often quoted Picasso as his favorite artist because of his impulsivity in rejecting his own previous styles in favor of the search for new ways of expression. He valued technical skill, but acknowledged the decreased need for it as photographs became more popular. Above all, young Pang praised self-expression.

Later in life, facing wars, Pang would come to call his stress on individuality "superficial," remarking instead on the power of art against oppression.