Edutainment > Zhao Haipeng - born 1945

Zhao Haipeng, born 1945
copyright Zhao Haipeng

Zhao Haipeng is a well-known Chinese printmaker who has exhibited in more than 20 countries outside China. His works represent the traditional Chinese method of woodblock printmaking with water-soluble inks.

The Woodcut Art of Zhao Haipeng

Mr. Zhao Haipeng's subjects and his technique are rooted in the typical style of the artists of Eastern China. The focus is on landscape images and nature. The old tradition in Chinese arts of "expressing more by showing less" is omnipresent in the artist's works.

Zhao Haipeng works in the traditional method of woodcutting using one separate block for each color (in contrast to the reduction woodblock print). The edition size is - typical for Chinese printmakers - small with 25 to 100 copies. All prints that we have seen were signed, numbered, titled and dated in pencil on the lower margin. The impressions are printed on a hand-made, thick Chinese paper - a kind of laid paper.

Education and Affiliations

Mr.Zhao Haipeng was born in Xian County in Hebei Province in January of 1945. He graduated from Tianjin Fine Arts College in 1969. Today he is a well-known and influential master artist in the North-East of China.

• Vice-chairman and associate researcher of the Literature and Art Federation of Tanggu/China.
• Member of Chinese Artist Association of Fine Arts.
• Director of the Chinese Artist Association of Woodcut of the Second Session.
• Director of the Tianjin Artist Association of Fine Arts.
• Chairman of the Tanggu Research Society of Woodcut.

Prizes and Awards

• 1980 - The woodcut Bathing won the 3rd prize of the 2nd National Youth's Art Exhibition in China.
• 1984 - Still Dawn won the copper medal of the 6th National Exhibition of Fine Arts and the Tianjin Luxun Prize of Literature and Art in China.
• 1985 - Tranquillity Sought won the prize for Excellent Work of the 9th National Woodcut Exhibition in China.
• 1992 - Listening to the Rain won the gold medal of the Japanese International Woodcut Institute and the gold medal of Japanese Siziki.
• 1994 - Sago Cycas in the Oil Field received the silver medal of the National Industrial Woodcut Exhibition of the 3rd Session in China.
• 1995 - Spring Snow got the silver medal of the 4th National Industrial Woodcut Exhibition in China.

Exhibitions

Singing in the Dusk, 1992
copyright Zhao Haipeng

• In 1991 an exhibition of Zhao Haipeng's Chinese woodblock prints was held at Xuan Gallery in Seoul/South Korea in 1991. In the same year Tanggu's Woodcut Exhibition was held at Fugimi Gallery of Tibashi City in Japan.
• In 1994, he participated in an exhibition of Chinese woodblocks made with water-soluble inks which was held at the East Mountain Gallery of Seoul in South Korea.
• In 1996 Mr. Zhao Haipeng visited Germany for a solo exhibition of woodblocks prints.
• In 2005 the artist visited again South Korea for a solo exhibition.

These events are only a short list. Zhao Haipeng's woodcut works have been shown in nearly 20 countries - among them Japan, South Korea, Germany, Austria, Norway, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Argentina, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao.

Collections

Mr. Zhao Haipeng's woodcut prints are to be found in a number of public and private collections in China and in many countries abroad. Here is an excerpt.

• National Museum of Chinese Art, Beijing.
• Central Academy of Fine Arts, China.
• Tianjin Art Museum, China.
• Tianjin Artist Association of Fine Arts, China.
• Woodcut Cultural Institute of South Korea.
• State Prehistoric Museum, Berlin/Germany.
• Government of Japan.

Publications

Early Sprint, 1993
copyright Zhao Haipeng

We received the following list of national publications from China. Although the list does not meet the usual standard for references to publications, we want to display it here. the artist also wrote a thesis about woodcut printmaking that was published in professional magazines.

• 50 Years of Chinese Fine Arts.
• Collection of Fine Arts of Chinese New Artistic System.
• Selected collection of Chinese Art Exhibition.
• Chinese Woodblocks with water-soluble inks.
• Chinese Modern Woodcut.
• Exhibition of Chinese Fine Arts.
• Fine Arts.
• Research on Fine Arts.
• Arts.
• Observation of Fine Arts.
• Woodcut World.
• Fine Arts of the North.
• Chinese Almanac of Fine Arts.
• International Who's Who.
• Dictionary of Chinese Modern Artist of Fine Arts.
• Who's Who of Chinese Contemporary Arts.
• Dictionary of Chinese Modern Senior Professionals.

Li Pingfan about Zhao Haipeng

Roost, 1991
copyright Zhao Haipeng

The following article is published with friendly consent by Mr. Li Pingfan, art critic and journalist, and Mr. Zhao Haipeng. Copyright Mr. Li Pingfan. The article accompanied an album publication of the artist's woodblock prints.

"The news that Collection of Zhao Haipeng's Woodblock Prints is going to be published soon is exciting as well as gratifying. The publication of this album embodies the achievement of his woodcut art, which is worth congratulating."

"Mr. Zhao Haipeng graduated from Tianjin College of Fine Arts in 1969, and began to create woodcuts in the 1970s. He has created a series of excellent pieces for the past 20 years. His woodblocks with water-soluble inks are permeated with unique taste and artistic charm, which cannot be expressed by language. The wood-block prints by Mr. Zhao Haipeng are of fine and delicate features, producing quietness and beauty of pastoral poetry, which permeate the artist's infinitive love for the natural scenery of his motherland and form his deep and serene conception."

"His many works have been treasured by famous galleries, museums and collectors at home and abroad, making him a Chinese outstanding woodcut artist in the world. Mr. Zhao's outstanding achievements in woodcut printmaking have a very close link to his whole-hearted devotion to the research and development of Chinese traditional woodblocks using water-soluble inks."

"During his studies and his research work, Mr. Zhao Haipeng has overcome many difficulties. He did it with perseverance and found new solutions - a special paper for woodblocks with water-soluble inks as well as an important break-through in the water printing technique of rice paper under the dry climate of the north. Mr. Zhao Haipeng made great contributions to the improvement and new creation of the Chinese traditional woodblocks with water-soluble inks."

"His skill in the method of Chinese woodblock printmaking with water-soluble inks has won him public admiration from the woodcut circles at home and abroad and the gold medal of the Japanese International Woodcut Institute."

"Mr.Zhao Haipeng is in charge of the Tanggu Research Society of Woodcut Printmaking. In this position he has made great progress in making the technique of Chinese woodcut popular in China and abroad."

Li Pingfan
(text edited and shortened by artelino)

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