AN exhibition of the paintings of the late artist Peng Youshan is to open on March 26 in the China National Art Museum,Beijing.
On show are his paintings of tigers,flower-and-bird works and landscapes.
Peng was especially good at drawing tigers in various postures and moods.Some are roaring,some ready to pounce,some frolicking with each other.
With his brush,he created an imaginary haven for tigers,expressing thus his love this graceful and powerful animal now on the brink of extinction.
The show,which is organized by the Chinese Artists Association,Jiangxi Provincial Artists Association and the Research Institute of Chinese Painting,will continue until March 31.
Peng was born in 1911 to a scholar’s family in Yugan in Jiangxi Province and passed away only last year.
　　Influenced by the strong cultural traditions of his family, Peng showed an early interest in painting. His teachers included Xu Beihong and Qi Baishi,two of the most renowned Chinese masters of his time.Later he devoted himself to forging a style that combines elements of Chinese and Western painting. He never wavered from that path.
Peng rose to fame as early as the 1930s.
　　His best-known works at the time included“Nightmare.”“Companion”and “Hero and Beauty.”
His huge painting “The People Leap with Joy for Peace,”which was done in 1945 to celebrate the Allies’victory over Japan,was sent to US President Harry S.Truman through George Marshall in 1946.
The piece,which features hundrdes of chirping sparrows flying around a plum tree,is still in the Harry S.Truman Library collection.
　　Another three of his pieces-“Chicken Perched atop the Hedge,”“LongRoar”and“Chicken and Chrysanthemums”-have entered the collection of the china  National Art Museum,the most prestigious art museum in the country.”
　　Peng was also an art educator, having worked for many years in the Art School of Jiangxi Normal University.
　　His books include“The Major Painting Techniques,”“The Art of Tiger Painting”and “An Album of Peng Youshan’s Works.”
（CD News）